This
Proprius disc has made quite an impression on me. Sjögren
had really only been a name to me before – and that a faint one
– and one I primarily associated with song but here are some fine,
lyrical and effortlessly constructed works for violin and piano
that show real flair. A few words about the composer; born in
Stockholm in 1853 he studied at the Conservatory there from the
age of seventeen and gravitated to the salons of the city and
writing song settings. In his mid twenties he went abroad to Berlin
and for a decade, although fairly inconspicuous, he continued
to travel to the continent. It was in Paris, in fact, that he
completed the first of the sonatas in this double CD conspectus
of the violin works. Back home in 1886 he began to teach – Stenhammar
was briefly a pupil – and he embarked on a new phase of his musical
life by becoming an organist at Johannes Church in Stockholm.
He married, made repeated trips to Paris – where he was quite
popular – but suffered increasing ill health and died in 1918.
The
biography lacks violent upheaval but then most people’s do. What
Sjögren cultivated, maybe due to his early immersion in song
composition, was a distinct lyrical gift and a compositional technique
to sustain it. The violin works are direct and appealing and were
performed by some of the most outstanding players of the day;
Émil Sauret premiered the First, Tor Aulin the Second (with
Sjögren at the piano) and the Third, accompanied this time
by erstwhile Sjögren pupil Wilhelm Stenhammar. The fourth
was premiered in 1907 by the young Frenchman André Mangeot
who was later to become so prominent a figure in British musical
life encouraging the revival of the chamber music of Purcell and
Locke and playing and recording Warlock, Vaughan Williams and
so much else. The Fifth was first performed by Georges Enescu,
no less. Quite a roll call of fiddle players.
The
first sonata falls into a three-movement structure; the others
utilise four. The First opens in High Romanticism, lyrically effulgent
and brimming over with melody. The Allegro vivace has a Grieg
like second subject and a Brahmsian energy and in between there’s
real elasticity of phrasing and some soaring E string work. The
songful slow movement with its rocking piano accompaniment is
full of delicious sentiment that shows his strong gift for organisation.
The second subject is more sharply etched but what one most remembers
is the unforced naturalness of expression that Sjögren cultivates
and how naturally it seems to fall under the fingers. The finale
is open hearted and rhythmically strong, with good opportunities
to show some bowing dexterity; the ending is finely characterised
and dramatic. Here’s a work that inquisitive violinists should
take a look at. It’s securely in the German-Nordic emotive world
and would make a rewarding change from the canonical Brahms and
Grieg and Franck.
The
Second Sonata intrigued me. It opens in Grieg influenced impressionist
reflection, sounding uncannily – though not unexpectedly in the
circumstances – proto-Delian. But it soon ratchets itself up embracing
a more direct romanticism. There are some fine dynamics from the
pairing of Nils-Erik Sparf (violin) and Lucia Negro (piano) and
I admired in particular the way the latter responds to the piano-led
song embedded, burnished and auburn hued, in this movement. Sjögren
alternates soaring lyric and reflective intimacy with a strong
sense for drama. He also exercises nice touches as when, for example,
the bass in the piano shadows the violin in single notes and then
quietly "relinquishes" the job; an exercise in the establishment
and relaxation of tension. The slow movement has some little classical
"fillips" along the way with a central section that
feeds on contrast by being elegantly refined; some of the rhythmic
emphases are deeply Grieg-like – there’s no escaping the influence.
The finale is lyric but tinged with the salon style – light, effective,
not straining for Romantic effect.
The
Third is perhaps not quite so compelling. Its effusive lyricism
is attractive but a mite unrelieved. Its occasional Brahmsian
influence is most evident in the opening movement and there is
a sweet simplicity throughout. There are some delicate pizzicato
episodes in the scherzo and a rather disappointing Andante. The
finale adopts a cosmopolitan, jaunty air. There’s confident and
assertive melodic impress and some vamping right hand from the
piano and perky little bass notes in the left. An attractive work
rather than an impressive one. The Fourth Sonata dates from 1906.
There is some unusually whimsical and decorative writing for the
piano – the piano parts aren’t particularly subservient, thankfully
– and some skittering for the violin protagonist and this air
of humour is continued in the fizzing scherzo, quicksilver and
darting. The slow movement is – for him – unusually active. His
Andantes tend to be reflective and intimately lyrical but here
a spine of deliberation augments the songfulness – though Sjögren’s
ability to relax into generous lyricism is never compromised.
I liked the finale; it’s cocky and decisive. The last of the sonatas,
the one premiered by Enescu, continues the thread of his compositional
imperatives. Opening with lyricism but elegance there are some
hints that Sjögren had been listening to the French impressionists
– especially true in the piano part and the chording patterns
he uses – though he never abandons his robustly lyrical self.
The scherzo is rather note spinning this time but a deeper note
is struck in the Andante (marked con nobile) where there
is real keening depth and a concentrated sense of melodic direction
as well as admirable sweep. The finale gives us some staunchly
chordal piano, lyrical violin and then some virtuosic passagework
for the fiddle player. The close is placid, gentle, and reflective.
To
complete the pleasures of these discs – each sonata played by
a different pairing and they’re all excellent players – there
are the Fantasy pieces and the Poème in C. The first of
the Fantasy pieces, an Andante sostenuto, is impetuously lyrical
and dramatic and the second is a salon style charmer that has
just the right amount of gravity to keep it moving. The Poème
is more substantial. It’s written quite freely, rather more freely
than the slow movements of his Sonatas, in a rather rhapsodic
style that never leaves behind his essential lyrical generosity.
The
booklet is packed with information and musical examples; the print
is clear, the style attractive; texts are in Swedish and English.
As supporting documentation it makes a fine case for Sjögren
and I’m more than happy to recommend these two discs. In fact
his finest sonatas deserve wide hearing – and I hope that that’s
precisely what they get. The Second is available on BIS CD 995
coupled with the Two Lyric Pieces and played by Per Enokson and
Kathryn Stott but this Proprius conspectus gives you the Complete
Sonatas.
Jonathan
Woolf
Lennart Fredriksson (violin)
and Ulrika Berglund (piano)