Bolcom: Sonatas For Violin & Piano / Lewin-muresanu Duo
Centaur Records

Bolcom: Sonatas For Violin & Piano / Lewin-muresanu Duo

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Details

Composer
BOLCOM, WILLIAM
Artist
LEWIN-MURESANU DUO
Format
CD
Discs
1
Label
Centaur Records
Released
Nov 01, 2007
Catalog #
CRC2910
UPC
044747291024

About

I touched on the wide stylistic gamut and nearly half-century of compositional activity of William Bolcom's four violin sonatas in my review of the cycle's first integral recording (type Q9749 in Search Reviews). Although Bolcom himself annotated and rightfully endorsed the Soroka/Greene duo's excellent performances, violinist Irina Muresanu and pianist Michael Lewin offer formidable, and at times superior competition to the Naxos edition.

Compared to the latter's richly detailed, close-up sonic perspective, producer Joseph Patrych achieves a mellower, less "in your face" ambience that suggests an intimate chamber music venue. Perhaps this factors into the more texturally transparent and finely nuanced impression conveyed by the generally faster tempos that Muresanu and Lewin favor. For example, the hushed imitative writing in the middle of the First sonata's central Nocturne movement alluringly shimmers here, while Muresanu's more consistently even tone and uniform phrasing in the third movement's lyrical episodes address Bolcom's "semplice" request more effortlessly than does Solomia Soroka's heavier touch.

Muresanu's portamentos and accents also prove more idiomatic in the Second sonata's finale (dedicated to the memory of jazz violin great Joe Venuti), if not quite with Maria Bachmann's flair or Sergiu Luca's unbridled joy with the composer digging into the keyboard (when will this Nonesuch recording make it to CD?).

There's something to be said for the Naxos team's starker, weightier drama in the Third sonata's outer movements, yet the Centaur duo's brisker, quieter execution best conveys the third movement's "shivering" directive. Because Muresanu and Lewin take trouble to distinguish the Andante's carefully varied articulations and phrase groupings, you really notice how the violin and piano parts intertwine.

Both Fourth sonata performances are excellent, and are different enough in detail to make a clear-cut preference difficult. Soroka and Greene boast the incisive edge in the first movement, make more of the second movement's volatile tempo changes and dynamic contrasts, and truly observe the third movement's melody/"drumbeat" call-and-response narrative to Bolcom's "inexorable" specification (Lewin falls into an "espressivo" bag once or twice when making decrescendos). At the same time, Muresanu and Lewin achieve amazingly flexible unanimity in the second movement's Grazioso section. A bonus track in the form of Bolcom's 1983 concert variation on his piano rag Graceful Ghost brings this program to a sensitive and memorable close.

--Jed Distler, ClassicsToday.com

Tracklist 16 tracks

  1. 1 I. Summer Dreams 05:52
    Track
    1
    Title
    I. Summer Dreams
    Duration
    05:52
    Composer
    William Bolcom
    Ensemble
    Lewin-Muresanu Duo
  2. 2 II. Brutal, fast 01:52
    Track
    2
    Title
    II. Brutal, fast
    Duration
    01:52
    Composer
    William Bolcom
    Ensemble
    Lewin-Muresanu Duo
  3. 3 III. Adagio 05:27
    Track
    3
    Title
    III. Adagio
    Duration
    05:27
    Composer
    William Bolcom
    Ensemble
    Lewin-Muresanu Duo
  4. 4 IV. In Memory of Joe Venuti 03:38
    Track
    4
    Title
    IV. In Memory of Joe Venuti
    Duration
    03:38
    Composer
    William Bolcom
    Ensemble
    Lewin-Muresanu Duo
  5. 5 I. A piacere, drammatico - Allegro con fuoco 06:54
    Track
    5
    Title
    I. A piacere, drammatico - Allegro con fuoco
    Duration
    06:54
    Composer
    William Bolcom
    Ensemble
    Lewin-Muresanu Duo
  6. 6 II. Andante 05:07
    Track
    6
    Title
    II. Andante
    Duration
    05:07
    Composer
    William Bolcom
    Ensemble
    Lewin-Muresanu Duo
  7. 7 III. Like a Shiver: Presto 01:00
    Track
    7
    Title
    III. Like a Shiver: Presto
    Duration
    01:00
    Composer
    William Bolcom
    Ensemble
    Lewin-Muresanu Duo
  8. 8 IV. Moderato, risoluto, all' arabesca 06:09
    Track
    8
    Title
    IV. Moderato, risoluto, all' arabesca
    Duration
    06:09
    Composer
    William Bolcom
    Ensemble
    Lewin-Muresanu Duo
  9. 9 I. Legend 07:59
    Track
    9
    Title
    I. Legend
    Duration
    07:59
    Composer
    William Bolcom
    Ensemble
    Lewin-Muresanu Duo
  10. 10 II. Nocturne 03:11
    Track
    10
    Title
    II. Nocturne
    Duration
    03:11
    Composer
    William Bolcom
    Ensemble
    Lewin-Muresanu Duo
  11. 11 III. Quasi-Variations: Scenes From a Young Life 09:02
    Track
    11
    Title
    III. Quasi-Variations: Scenes From a Young Life
    Duration
    09:02
    Composer
    William Bolcom
    Ensemble
    Lewin-Muresanu Duo
  12. 12 I. Allegro brillante 03:01
    Track
    12
    Title
    I. Allegro brillante
    Duration
    03:01
    Composer
    William Bolcom
    Ensemble
    Lewin-Muresanu Duo
  13. 13 II. White Night: Slow; Faster, nervous 05:19
    Track
    13
    Title
    II. White Night: Slow; Faster, nervous
    Duration
    05:19
    Composer
    William Bolcom
    Ensemble
    Lewin-Muresanu Duo
  14. 14 III. Arabesque: Molto moderato 02:39
    Track
    14
    Title
    III. Arabesque: Molto moderato
    Duration
    02:39
    Composer
    William Bolcom
    Ensemble
    Lewin-Muresanu Duo
  15. 15 IV. Jota: Vivo, risoluto 03:40
    Track
    15
    Title
    IV. Jota: Vivo, risoluto
    Duration
    03:40
    Composer
    William Bolcom
    Ensemble
    Lewin-Muresanu Duo
  16. 16 The Graceful Ghost Rag 05:19
    Track
    16
    Title
    The Graceful Ghost Rag
    Duration
    05:19
    Composer
    William Bolcom
    Ensemble
    Lewin-Muresanu Duo