Chopin, Laks, Szymanowski: Cello Sonatas / Raphael Wallfisch, John York
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CHOPIN Cello Sonata. Etude in e? , op. 10/6. LAKS Cello Sonata. SZYMANOWSKI Violin Sonata in d • Raphael Wallfisch (vc); John York (pn) •...
CHOPIN Cello Sonata. Etude in e? , op. 10/6. LAKS Cello Sonata. SZYMANOWSKI Violin Sonata in d • Raphael Wallfisch (vc); John York (pn) • NIMBUS 5862 (75:53)
Instrumental virtuosos often inspire composers to write great works. Thus it was that Chopin, a composer who wrote almost exclusively for piano, came to write his G-Minor Cello Sonata, one of his very last completed works. The virtuoso who inspired it was the French cellist Auguste Franchomme, and the two men premiered the piece at Chopin’s final public appearance, on February 16, 1848. The sonata remains, alongside Beethoven’s and Mendelssohn’s contributions to the genre, one of the finest works of its type from the first half of the 19th century, and perhaps the most important before Brahms. If you didn’t know the sonata was by Chopin, my guess is you wouldn’t guess. It’s really quite like nothing else he wrote, and for a composer whose genius lay in the perfection of smaller forms, the structural discipline he brought to bear on his vast sonata-allegro first movement (16 and a half minutes) exhibits a new mastery, which, had he lived longer, might have taken his art in a new direction.
As magnificent as the Chopin sonata is, and as beautifully played as it is here by Raphael Wallfisch and John York, there are so many excellent recordings of it—Alban Gerhardt with Stephen Osborne on Hyperion and Truls Mørk with Kathryn Stott on Virgin Classics, to name just two relatively recent entries—that it’s hard to single this one out as special. What does make this recording special, though, is a real rarity, a cello sonata by 20th-century Jewish Polish composer Simon (Szymon) Laks (1901–83).
During the interwar years, Laks moved to Paris, joining other Polish expatriates to form the Association of Young Polish Composers. His works gained a bit of a foothold in the French capital, his Cello Sonata receiving its premiere there by Maurice Maréchal and Vlado Perlemuter. But in 1941, Laks was arrested by the German occupying forces and deported first to Auschwitz and then to Dachau. He was one of the survivors, claiming in a book he published in 1948, Musique d’un autre monde, that his organizing and participating in musical events at the camps were instrumental in keeping him alive. After the war, Laks resettled in Paris and resumed composition, writing some works— Huit chants populaires juifs (1947) and Elégie pour les villages juifs (1961)—that focused on Jewish themes, along with film music under a pseudonym. In his final years, he cultivated an interest in linguistics and translation, as well as publishing polemic views on music, politics, and social issues. Laks’s musical allegiances are said to have been to the École de Paris, which included composers like Honegger, Martin?, and fellow Polish Jew Alexander Tansman. Honegger was of course also a member of the noisier Les Six crowd, there being at this time in Paris a heady mix of avant-garde clubs that welcomed all comers, regardless of other affiliations.
I wouldn’t want to mislead anyone about Laks’s Cello Sonata by calling it a work of irresistible comeliness. It’s a crabby, crusty thing in three fairly short movements that yield little in the way of comprehensibility, even on repeated hearings. Only in the 6/8 concluding Presto movement did I find myself, admittedly in a rather perverted way, enjoying what sounds like a Mendelssohn scherzo throwing a temper tantrum. This is the first and only piece by Laks I’ve ever heard, so I can’t comment on what his other music might sound like. The Cello Sonata may grow on me after a few more hearings, but for now I will reserve judgment. Wallfisch and York’s playing of it, though, sounds thoroughly committed, and they are to be commended for ferreting out this fairly obscure composer and work for this program.
Though certainly better known than Laks, Karol Szymanowski (1882–1937) is, to me, almost as unfamiliar. Yet recordings of his works have amassed enough entries in the Fanfare Archive to place his name on the primary page of major composers. So it would seem I have some catching up to do. The Violin Sonata in D Minor, op. 9—here transcribed for cello by Kazimierz Wi?komirski, 20th-century cellist, composer, conductor, and brother of Wanda Wi?komirska—was written in 1904. Other than informing us that the work is an early effort from Szymanowski’s pen and a favorite of many violinists—I count a baker’s dozen currently listed recordings—John York’s booklet note doesn’t say much about the music, but does note that inexplicable cuts made by Wi?komirski in his cello version have been restored, and that “We have made our own minor improvements along the way.”
Different sources claim to hear different influences in Szymanowski’s sonata—Brahms, Franck, Chopin, Scriabin, and even Grieg are mentioned. None, I suppose, are that far-fetched. The work is infused with the dramatic flourishes and intense romantic yearnings common to much late 19th- and early 20th-century music. “Improvements” notwithstanding, it’s a beautiful score and gorgeously played by Wallfisch and York. I really must explore more Szymanowski.
This, by the way, is not the first recording of Wi?komirski’s cello version of the sonata. Jan-Erik Gustafsson and Heini Kärkkäinen play it in a 1994 performance on Ondine, though I can’t tell you if they also restore the cuts or make “improvements.”
Wallfisch and York get an A+ for programming ingenuity and performing excellence; and Nimbus gets an A+ for superb recording. That adds up to a strong recommendation.
FANFARE: Jerry Dubins
Product Description:
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Release Date: May 01, 2010
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UPC: 710357586224
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Catalog Number: NI5862
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Label: Nimbus
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Number of Discs: 1
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Composer: Frédéric Chopin, Karol Szymanowski, Szymon Laks
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Performer: John York, Raphael Wallfisch