Ivan Khandoshkin (1747-1804)
Sonata Marcia No 1, Op 3 in G minor (1780s)
Sonata No 2, Op 3 in E-flat major (1790s)
Sonata No 3, Op 3 in D major (1790s, publ. 1807)
Aleksandra Kwiatkowska (historical violin)
rec. 2022, Westvest 90, Schiedam, The Netherlands
ETCETERA RECORDS KTC1772 [48]
One of the main privileges of working in music education is seeing young musicians flourish and become world-class performers, some of whom ending up with well-produced and fascinating recordings to their name. Aleksandra Kwiatkowska is just such a musician. Always industrious and entrepreneurial, her musical flexibility has brought success in both modern and historical violin, and as soloist and chamber musician. This release is a co-production between the Etcetera label and The Hague’s Royal Conservatoire Recordings, a potent collaboration from which I hope to hear much more in the future.
Ivan Khandoshkin was a new name to me, though this is by no means the first CD to have brought his music to the world’s attention. Ukranian born, Khandoshkin studied with Tartini in Italy, and returned to Russia to become a favourite in the court of Catherine the Great. Passionate about Russian folk music and a brilliant improvisor, his talent was acclaimed in his earlier years but he apparently died in poverty. The dates of these Op. 3 sonatas are not known accurately, but speculation puts them later in his career.
With wide leaps, unusual double-stopping and other technical requirements including spaces for improvisation, these pieces are very demanding even for today’s players. Some of this detail descends from folk music traditions and differs in this respect from other schools while also making use of the innovations of Locatelli, Tartini and others. The Sonata Marcia is a substantial three-movement work that has plenty of baroque style characteristics and a healthy dose of theatricality in its shocking dissonances, sudden dynamic contrasts and plenty of rhetorical expression amongst the more expected polyphony, including a final ten-minute Andante con variazioni.
The Second and Third Sonatas are less complex than the Sonata Marcia though, while they adopt some of the more melodic ‘galant’ classical style of the later 18th century they are still determinedly virtuosic and uncompromising in the continuous harmonic accompaniments required from the player. Aleksandra Kwiatkowska’s booklet notes point out some of the technical aspects of these pieces, including the use of tradition instrument sounds from the drone effects of the gudok and ‘rapid strumming’ of the balalaika. This is all excellent music, full of character and very much deserving of attention even if you are perhaps not so keen on solo violin. Kwiatkoswka’s skill in bringing out these effects while maintaining musicality and idiomatic stylishness is second to none.
I mentioned another recording of Khandoshkin’s violin sonatas, and this can be found on the Naxos label (review) with violinist Anastasia Khitruck. This is another very well performed set but in a much more modern style, with plenty of vibrato and sounding at times more like Paganini than ‘Period’. Khitruck attacks the Allegro assai of the Sonata Marcia more fiercely where Kwiatkowska is more rhapsodic, and the period approach lends the whole a greater feeling of space even where Khitruck is slow and expressive. These two versions complement each other rather than competing in the same field, such are the contrasts in style, the main advantage of the Naxos recording being the addition of the Six Old Russian Songs for Violin in trio with viola and cello. With its excellent recording quality in a spacious acoustic, nicely presented disc and characterful and sensitive interpretations, this set of Ivan Khandoshkin’s 3 Sonatas for violin solo Op 3 is highly enjoyable and worth acquiring in every regard.
Dominy Clements
