SEEN AND HEARD INTERNATIONAL

Ysaÿe: Sonata No.1 in G minor, op.27/1 (1924)

Franck: Violin Sonata in A (1886)

 

I have to admit that it’s somewhat of a mystery to me why violinists keep on rolling out the Ysaÿe Sonatas. It isn’t because there’s any real intrinsic musical worth to them, they exist simply because the composer was a virtuoso violinist and wanted to create some showstoppers which he dedicated to fellow fiddlers. In the hands of someone like Julia Fischer the music can sound better than it actually is, and this was the case this lunchtime. Fischer played with an exaggerated romantic swagger and really made the music communicate. It was really too much but it was great fun. I wish I could say the same of the Franck Sonata. This is a marvellous work, full of the passion which is missing from the Ysaÿe, and written with the broadest of strokes. Although Fischer and Chernyavska have all the notes under their fingers they didn’t really have a coherent interpretation for the work. The first three movements passed without any real incident, the finale, with its delectable canon, grew to overlarge proportions and the climax was a wash of sound without sense or meaning: far too much for the scale of the music. Although Fischer could not be criticised for her virtuoso playing I found that when essaying the lyrical music on the E string her tone became unsympathetic and very hard.

 

As an encore we were given the Andante – a posthumous publication – by Ysaÿe and here Fischer was, again, in her element. But I am left wondering why we have to endure the Ysaÿe solo Sonatas when there are other great solo Sonatas by both Skalkottas and Graham Whettam which are more deserving of our attention.

 

Bob Briggs

 

Back to Top                                                 Cumulative Index Page