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Salut D'amour - R. Strauss: Violin Sonata, Etc / Chuanyun Li
Haenssler Classic

Salut D'amour - R. Strauss: Violin Sonata, Etc / Chuanyun Li

$5.99 Only 2 left

Details

Composer
VARIOUS
Artist
Koenig, Li, Various
Format
CD
Label
Haenssler Classic
Released
Feb 12, 2007
Catalog #
98278
UPC
4010276019565

About



SALUT D’AMOUR • Chuanyun Li (vn); Robert Koenig (pn) • HÄNSSLER 98.278 (67:08)


DVO?ÁK Slavonic Dance, op. 72/2. KROLL Banjo and Fiddle. ELGAR Salut d’amour. BAZZINI La ronde des lutins. GLAZUNOV Raymonda: Intermezzo. SARASATE Zapateado. GLUCK Orfeo ed Euridice: Melody. PAGANINI Introduction and Variations on “Nel cor più non mi sento.” GERSHWIN (arr. Heifetz) It Ain’t Necessarily So. R. STRAUSS Violin Sonata


In how many programs does the obligatory sonata follow the encores (the jewel box lists the sonata first)? Chuanyun Li mixes simple and expressive numbers like Elgar’s Salut d’amour with virtuoso showstoppers like Paganini’s Variations on “Nel cor più non mi sento,” Bazzini’s Dance of the Goblins , and Sarasate’s Zapateado as an appetizer for the main course, Strauss’s concerto-like Violin Sonata. Those not familiar with Li from his playing on the soundtrack for the Chinese-produced movie, Together (and his appearance in the movie as a student emerging into the professional world playing Vieuxtemps’s Fifth Concerto), or from his video recordings produced by Bein and Fushi (both in a Ruggiero Ricci lesson and as a participant in a festival of Chinese violin music), should be struck in Hänssler’s issue of a 1999 recording he made at the Cincinnati Conservatory, by his soaring tone, his brilliant technical command, and his grasp of the many styles he’s assembled in his program. Idiomatic Elgar rubs shoulders with Slavonic Dvo?ák, darkly glowing Glazunov, and steamy Gershwin. Bazzini’s Ronde des lutins might as well have been retired for decades after Heifetz’s first recording of it in 1917; later recordings may have included all the notes but not the sizzle. Some, even as recent as Gil Shaham’s (24:3), seemed almost somber in comparison to the young Heifetz’s. Those who might not have heard that earlier recording might come to the end of Li’s with a very similar impression of overwhelming virtuosity coupled with heroic dash and élan. For example, at the section of notes repeated on each of four strings, some violinists simply struggle to play solidly, while Li manages to add tangy nuances. Glazunov’s Intermezzo offers many opportunities for portamentos, and violinists of earlier generations would have taken them with relish. So does Li, but never to the detriment of the music’s lyrical flow, which he builds in waves to a powerful climax. When the music settles to its quiet conclusion, he draws a pure tone from both strings in the final double-stops, a feat perhaps as difficult as the left-hand pizzicato in Bazzini’s Ronde . Li introduces stronger accents than Sarasate did into the Zapateado , and he adds some twangy timbral graces of his own. His performance goes beyond the heavier Russian style that became common in readings of the mercurial Sarasate; but, taken on its own terms, it’s a heady sprint to the finish. Heifetz and Milstein both played Gluck’s Melody, which Fritz Kreisler had arranged for violin and piano. Li’s performance matches theirs in elegance and warmth, and his special personal touches make it his own rather than a copy of theirs. Paganini’s Variations fare well in Li’s reading, sweetly lyrical in the manner of Rossini as devilish in the style of Locatelli. His gift for sumptuous melody alternates in this violinist’s compendium with his knack for brash pyrotechnics (which he fires off with surprising sweetness), and those mount to the conclusion in an unstoppable juggernaut.


Strauss’s early Sonata has been taken almost as a Concerto for Violin and Piano, and Heifetz (who reputedly tried to commission such a Concerto from Prokofiev) seemed always on the lookout for pieces he could play that way, like this one, Saint-Saëns’s First Sonata in D Minor, and Respighi’s. Memory of Heifetz remains strong, but Li manages to create his own forceful identity from the bold first movement. Arguably the slow movement of the Sonata makes a more glowing musical statement than does the slow movement of the (also youthful) Violin Concerto, and Li warms not only to its initial sentiment but also to its more agitated central section. He also seems comfortably at home in the finale’s broad rhetoric.


Here’s an old-fashioned violin recital with a Sonata thrown in to please everyone (the reverse of the usual procedure), and only those with almost unreasonably strong preferences should complain. It’s individual, brilliant, and musically both protean and probing—a substantial accomplishment for anyone, and certainly so for a 19-year-old. As Mischa Elman supposedly remarked to his accompanist, Joseph Seiger, when he heard Michael Rabin’s recording of Wieniawski’s First Concerto, that’s the way the violin should be played. Robert Koenig remains an insightful supporter through the many changes in style, and the lifelike recorded sound makes both players almost bodily present. Strongly recommended.


FANFARE: Robert Maxham

Tracklist 12 tracks

  1. 1 Slavonic Dance, Op. 72, No. 2 04:27
    Track
    1
    Title
    Slavonic Dance, Op. 72, No. 2
    Duration
    04:27
    Composer
    Antonín Dvořák
    Performer
    Robert Koenig, Chuanyun Li
  2. 2 Banjo and Fiddle 03:00
    Track
    2
    Title
    Banjo and Fiddle
    Duration
    03:00
    Composer
    William Kroll
    Performer
    Robert Koenig, Chuanyun Li
  3. 3 Salut d'amour (Liebesgrüss), Op. 12 (arr. D. Sosin for flute and harp) 02:38
    Track
    3
    Title
    Salut d'amour (Liebesgrüss), Op. 12 (arr. D. Sosin for flute and harp)
    Duration
    02:38
    Composer
    Edward Elgar
    Performer
    Robert Koenig, Chuanyun Li
  4. 4 La Ronde des Lutins, Op. 25 05:32
    Track
    4
    Title
    La Ronde des Lutins, Op. 25
    Duration
    05:32
    Composer
    Antonio Bazzini
    Performer
    Robert Koenig, Chuanyun Li
  5. 5 Raymonda, Op. 57: Intermezzo 04:33
    Track
    5
    Title
    Raymonda, Op. 57: Intermezzo
    Duration
    04:33
    Composer
    Alexander Glazunov
    Performer
    Robert Koenig, Chuanyun Li
  6. 6 Spanish Dances, Op. 23: No. 2. Zapateado 03:27
    Track
    6
    Title
    Spanish Dances, Op. 23: No. 2. Zapateado
    Duration
    03:27
    Composer
    Pablo de Sarasate
    Performer
    Robert Koenig, Chuanyun Li
  7. 7 Orfeo ed Euridice, Act II: Dance of the Blessed Spirits. "Melody" 02:50
    Track
    7
    Title
    Orfeo ed Euridice, Act II: Dance of the Blessed Spirits. "Melody"
    Duration
    02:50
    Composer
    Christoph Willibald Gluck
    Performer
    Robert Koenig, Chuanyun Li
  8. 8 Introduction and Variations on Nel cor più non mi sento from Paisiello's La molinara, Op. 38, MS 44 12:36
    Track
    8
    Title
    Introduction and Variations on Nel cor più non mi sento from Paisiello's La molinara, Op. 38, MS 44
    Duration
    12:36
    Composer
    Niccolò Paganini
    Performer
    Robert Koenig, Chuanyun Li
  9. 9 Porgy and Bess: It ain't necessarily so (arr. J. Heifetz) 02:32
    Track
    9
    Title
    Porgy and Bess: It ain't necessarily so (arr. J. Heifetz)
    Duration
    02:32
    Composer
    George Gershwin
    Performer
    Robert Koenig, Chuanyun Li
  10. 10 I. Allegro ma non troppo 10:27
    Track
    10
    Title
    I. Allegro ma non troppo
    Duration
    10:27
    Composer
    Richard Strauss
    Performer
    Robert Koenig, Chuanyun Li
  11. 11 II. Improvisation: Andante cantabile 07:49
    Track
    11
    Title
    II. Improvisation: Andante cantabile
    Duration
    07:49
    Composer
    Richard Strauss
    Performer
    Robert Koenig, Chuanyun Li
  12. 12 III. Finale: Andante - Allegro 07:25
    Track
    12
    Title
    III. Finale: Andante - Allegro
    Duration
    07:25
    Composer
    Richard Strauss
    Performer
    Robert Koenig, Chuanyun Li