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Site review by Castor April 1, 2007
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Performance: Sonics (S/MC): / |
Strauss’s only Violin Sonata and the 3rd Violin Sonata of George Enescu make a well-contrasted coupling. The former is a young man’s music, confident, thrusting and affirmative; the latter often dark and restless, its Romanian folk-inspired melodies tinged with sadness.
The witty use of the Klimt on the front cover illustrates the mood and character of both works perfectly.
Strauss wrote his sonata while working on his first two tone poems Macbeth and Don Juan and it received its first performance in October 1888. It is with this piece that Strauss finally turned his back on chamber music and it does often seem to be conceived more in orchestral terms rather than for just two instruments.
Kolbjørn Holthe and Tor Espen Aspaas play the opening movement of the sonata with an expansive line, and if they lack some of the panache of Kyung Wha Chung and Krystian Zimerman on DGG (RBCD only) their attention to the lyrical aspects of the music is most winning, allowing the unmistakably Straussian second subject to soar magnificently. The second movement, whose piano part suggests the accompaniment to a Strauss song, is played with touching tenderness, while the underlying weakness of the finale is easily ignored thanks to this Duo’s spirited playing.
The Enescu sonata is a fascinating piece and it is wonderful to have a modern recording of it on SACD.
The opening movement sounds almost improvised, a nostalgic meditation on the character of the folk music of Enescu’s homeland. It moves between introspection and lively dance rhythms. The Adagio of Bartok’s Music for Strings Percussion and Celesta is brought to mind by the eerie opening of the second movement, but after some very oriental sounding violin passages, it becomes more animated before finally reaching a wonderfully tranquil close. Holthe and Aspaas handle the fireworks of the finale with a breathtaking virtuosity, and the fearsome technical difficulties of the piece as a whole seems to present no difficulties for either of them. This is a truly astonishing performance.
The 24bit / 44.1kHz recording, made in the Sofienberg Church, Oslo, which seems to be 2L’s favourite venue for small scale works, is excellent and achieves a well-nigh perfect balance between the two instrumentalists. Also, the benefit, in increased realism, of multi-channel sound is vividly illustrated when one switches to it from the stereo layer.
If either or both of these works appeal, don’t hesitate to buy this superb disc.
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Copyright © 2007 Graham Williams and SA-CD.net
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Site review by akiralx March 26, 2007
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Performance: Sonics (S): |
Outstanding coupling in excellent sound, with both instruments ideally balanced. The Strauss was composed around the time of his early tone poems and is an agreeable piece, if hardly ranking among his best works. Holthe and Aspaas play superbly - the competition here is clearly Chung and Zimerman on DG, but comparisons are not in any way to the detriment of the newcomers, and their recording is more ideal.
The Enescu is a rhapsodic work containing quarter tones in places, rather amorphous alongside the Strauss but still enjoyable, even if it doesn't quite hold the attention as well. One simply enjoys the melodic cells rather than waiting for big melodies - and as violin playing this performance is really top notch. Recommended.
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Copyright © 2007 Alex Leach and SA-CD.net
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