Launched in 2002 Avie are a most enterprising
record company who operate their label
for and on behalf of the musicians who
retain ownership and copyright of their
recordings. For this recording Avie have
assembled three core examples of mainstream
Romantic Violin Sonatas all composed within
thirty-five years of each other. Avie
are to be congratulated for continuing
to demonstrate their commitment to younger
performers by spotlighting the talents
of Albanian born Rudens Turku, who plays
the 1750 Januarius Gagliano violin, and
Ukrainian born pianist Milana Chernyavska.
Brahms: Sonata for Violin & Piano
No. 2 in A major Thun, Op. 100
(1886)
While on vacation at
Hofstetten, close to the Swiss holiday
resort of Lake Thun during August 1886,
Brahms found himself refreshed and musically
invigorated such that he proclaimed
the resort to be "so full of
melodies that one has to be careful
not to step on any." In fact,
during his time there Brahms composed
most of his three best loved chamber
works in just a matter of days; the
Second Cello Sonata Op.99, the Violin
Sonata No. 2 ‘Thun’ and the great C
minor Piano Trio Op. 101. The Violin
Sonata is sometimes described as the
Prize Song Sonata as a result
of the main theme of the first movement
resembling a brief few notes from the
‘Prize Song’ from Wagner’s Opera Die
Meistersinger von Nürnberg.
The three movement
work is both the shortest and
the most immediately appealing of Brahms’
three violin sonatas. Not for a single
moment is the radiant, joyful mood ever
put in real jeopardy and the melodies
are of the long-spun, heart-warming
variety that are particularly memorable
and pleasing on the ear. Turku displays
fine playing throughout controlling
the idyllic nature of the score expertly
without any sign of self-indulgence.
In the compact and straightforward opening
allegro amabile his playing is
expressive and unsentimental with Chernyavska’s
impressive keyboard colour. The second
movement andante tranqillo - vivace
is a fusion of a slow movement and
a scherzo and the duo offer a
blend both vivacious and tender. I especially
enjoyed the infectious lyric quality
to the playing in the final rondo
movement marked allegretto grazioso.
My first choice recommendation
in the Second Sonata is the greatly
admired account by Josef Suk and Julius
Katchen on Decca 421 092-2. Alternatively
the far lesser known but equally impressive
interpretation by Nils-Erik Sparf and
Elisabeth Westenholz on BIS-CD-212 has
delighted a enthusiastic group of admirers.
Other fine accounts are available from
Pinchas Zukerman and Daniel Barenboim
on Deutsche Grammophon DG 289 453 121-2
and Shlomo Mintz and Itamar Golan on
Avie AV2057.
Schumann: Violin Sonata No. 1 in A minor,
Op. 105 (1851)
Schumann believed that
the city of Düsseldorf had not
been not kind to him. Although he was
initially welcomed to the city with
a great fanfare it was not long before
events turned sour. His fragile mental
health and indifferent conducting ensured
that he was soon relieved of his post
as Municipal Musical Director with the
suggestion that he concentrate his creative
energies on composing. In spite of the
significant difficulties that Schumann
experienced during his tenure there
he enjoyed substantial periods of remarkable
musical inspiration. Nearly a third
of his compositions were written during
his four year period in the city.
Schumann’s two Violin
Sonatas were both composed in 1851 and
in neither work does he choose fully
to exploit the technical possibilities
of the violin preferring to use the
instrument at its most expressive. Clearly
mirroring the composer’s state of mind
at that time the two works in their
minor keys give the music a sense of
uncertainty and tension, a grave sombre
disharmony and a disquieting state of
unresolved strain. Equally unmistakable
is their mood of negative introspection
and the subdued and fatalistic tone.
The violin speaks almost entirely from
the middle register with few opportunities
for virtuosity and little in the way
of pizzicato and tremolo effects. In
fact, the two works were described by
biographer Philipp Spitta as, "...
gloomy, impassioned compositions,
which can hardly be listened to without
a feeling of oppression."
The three movement
A minor Violin Sonata No. 1 has an impressive
opening movement with a passionately
expressive theme played first in the
lower register of the violin, from which
the rest of the extended movement develops.
Turku and Chernyavska are highly impressive
in this opening movement and play as
if their lives depended on it. There
is warm and expressive playing from
the duo in the central movement allegretto
which is actually a pleasant intermezzo
taken at a brisk pace, somewhere between
a slow movement and a scherzo,
in the form of a rondo. The sonata-form
finale resumes with the restless
mood of the opening movement, although
the level of tension is heightened by
the music’s faster tempo and tightly
packed textures. The Sonata ends determinedly
with agitated cadential gestures that
reaffirm the score’s pervasive anxious
mood. Turku and Chernyavska play this
closing movement as to the manner born
in a thrilling and highly driven interpretation.
This is a wonderful performance that
rightly becomes one of the leading accounts.
A favourite version
of the Schumann Sonata Op. 105 is from
the eminent partnership of Gidon Kremer
and Martha Argerich on Deutsche Grammophon
419 235-2. In addition, I would not
wish to be without the account from
Anthony Marwood and Susan Tomes on Hyperion
CDA67180.
Franck: Violin Sonata in A major (1886)
The Violin Sonata in
A major composed by Belgium born composer
César Franck in 1886 is a war-horse
in chamber music repertoire and remains
a hard nut to crack for performers.
Composed as a wedding present for his
friend and fellow-countryman, the violin
virtuoso Eugene Ysaÿe, the four
movement sonata is an epic work and
is regarded by many as the finest violin
sonata in all French music. Personally,
I would go so far as to say that the
score, which is so fresh and packed
with original character, has worthy
claims to be the finest violin sonata
ever written; certainly in the Romantic
repertoire.
It is a work that runs
the gamut of emotions from unbridled
passion to sublime serenity and successfully
employs cyclical themes. The violin
soars over the piano part with the most
uplifting of melodies. The complex and
delightful echoing finale, with
the violin and piano voices playing
off each other, is justly famous. In
the dreamy first movement allegretto
ben moderato I was particularly
impressed by the way Turku and Chernyavska
expertly contrast the contemplative
mood with the underlying element of
tension. The duo are expressive and
compelling in the turbulent second movement
allegro. The noble recitative-fantasia
is ravishingly given with
a passionately Romantic interpretation
of the youthful gaiety of the final
movement allegretto poco mosso.
This is wonderful playing from Turku
and Chernyavska in what is a most enjoyable
and desirable account.
Franck’s A major Violin
Sonata is an often recorded work and
the catalogues contain numerous fine
versions. The celebrated recording from
Kyung Wha Chung and Radu Lupu is a confident
recommendation on Decca 460 006-2. I
am also extremely fond of the account
from Sarah Chang and Lars Vogt on EMI
Classics 5 57679 2.
The playing on this
release from Turku and Chernyavska is
never self-indulgent or showy. Their
sensitive and thoughtful approach blends
well with episodes of considerable vitality
and high enthusiasm. Turku does not
play with the robustness or possess
the weight of tone of some performers,
which is especially noticeable in the
Brahms work. However, Turku’s perceptive
and affectionate approach soon becomes
extremely endearing.
Well done Turku and
Chernyavska, and congratulations to
Avie for an excellent release.
Michael Cookson
AVIE
AV2080 
[65.29] 
