Wolfgang Rihm is one of the world’s most eminent and prolific composers. His works for violin and piano encompass almost his entire compositional career, from...

Wolfgang Rihm is one of the world’s most eminent and prolific composers. His works for violin and piano encompass almost his entire compositional career, from Hekton in 1972 to the solo violin Über die Linie VII in 2006. Each draws on a wide range of influences, from folk-like moments, embedded quotations and dazzlingly virtuosic episodes. They reflect the breadth of Rihm’s various changing styles, which are almost unique in today’s music in marrying contemporary technique with emotionally powerful resonances.

REVIEW:

Although a prolific composer, Wolfgang Rihm is hardly a household name. You could scarcely do better than this CD for an introduction to some of Rihm’s more intimate pieces: at Naxos’s better-than-reasonable price, it is virtually risk-free. Tianwa Yang and Nicholas Rimmer sound quite at home, even in the most difficult passages, and imbue these works with emotion, as well as meeting their technical challenges with aplomb.

Despite his ascetic and often hard-hitting approach, Rihm’s music is neither overly formalist nor over-cerebral. It makes you feel as well as think. Nor is it unaccommodating and forbidding, though it does make you work a little. Turbulent episodes alternate with passages on the edge of audibility, neo-Romantic gestures jostle the sparsest textures, or transform and tame fierce outbursts.

Yet again, Naxos deserves praise for making contemporary music accessible at reasonable cost, and through excellent performances.

-- BBC Music Magazine

The astounding technique of Yang and Rimmer bring these pieces vividly to life. My impression of Yang as a blisteringly incisive and stylish musician is only bolstered by this recital and she’s well served by Naxos’s clear recording.

-- International Record Review