Vengerov Plays Bach, Shchedrin, Ysaye

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Eugene Ysae's six unaccompanied violin sonatas, composed when his own playing days were over and dedicated to colleagues he admired, occupy a special niche in the repertoire. Though inspired by Bach's sonatas and partitas and peppered with quotes from them, they are unequalled for sheer virtuosity and romantic sensuousness; only a great violinist intimately familiar with the resources of his instrument could have written them. On this disc, Maxim Vengerov plays Nos. 2, 3, 4, and 6, along with a transcription by Bruce Fox-Lefriche of Bach's famous Toccata and Fugue in D minor for organ, which he claims was originally conceived for violin. He also performs Shchedrin's "Echo" Sonata, op. 69. Written in 1984 in a mixture of styles from conventional to abrasively dissonant, it outdoes Ysae's in hair-raising pyrotechnics and also honors Bach by quoting from his works. Vengerov's playing is spectacular and makes this disc a must for violin aficionados.

One of the sensational prodigies who emerged from Siberia, Vengerov is young enough to revel in his own virtuosity with relish and abandon. His technical command is unlimited, and he seems incapable of producing a bad sound, except for a strange habit of tearing off last notes with a crescendo and accent like a bad tenor. Tossing off the acrobatics--scales and runs in thirds, fingered octaves and tenths at top speed, leaps and jumps, bravura bowings, chords, pizzicato, ponticello--with effortless ease and infectious enjoyment, he captures the styles of Ysae's dedicatees and gives the pieces shape, character, and expression. For the Bach, he uses a baroque bow and a violin tuned a half-tone down, playing with little or no vibrato but in basically the same intense style. His encore, a pizzicato piece called "Balalaika," written for him by Shchedrin, was recorded live complete with applause and laughter. --Edith Eisler

Vengerov Plays Bach, Shchedrin, Ysaye, Music, Johann Sebastian Bach, Rodion Shchedrin, Eugene Ysaye, Maxim Vengerov, Chamber, Chamber Music, Chamber Music & Recitals, Classical, Classical Artists, Classical Music, Keyboard, Music for Organ, Violin Solo

Average customer rating:

Ear- and Nerve-Grating

transcends the years

Vengerov's butching of ysaye

a happy medium..

A triumphant release in every way

Vengerov Plays Bach, Shchedrin, Ysaye
Eugene Ysaye , and Maxim Vengerov
Manufacturer: EMI Classics
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Chamber Music | Forms & Genres | Classical (c.1770-1830) | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music
General | Classical | Styles | Music
General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music
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Brahms: Violin Concerto; Sonata No. 3

ASIN: B00006H1EI
Release Date: 2002-11-05

Tracks:

I. Obsession: Prelude (Poco Vivace - Meno Mosso - Tempo Vivo)
II. Mainconia: Poco Lento
III. Danse Des Ombres: Sarabande (Lento, Pizzicato) - Var.1 (Dolce E Semplice) - Var.2 Musette - Var.3 Minore - Var.4 (Tranquillo) - Var.5 (Semplice Non Piu Vivo) - Var.6 (Forte) - Sarabande (Lento, Arco)
IV. Les Furies: Allegro Furioso
Ballade: Lento Molto Sostenuto (In Modo Di Recitativo) - Molto Moderato Quasi Lento - Allegro In Tempo Giusto E Con Bravura - Tempo Piu Vivo E Ben Marcato
I. Allemanda: Lento Maestoso
II. Sarabande: Quasi Lento
III. Finale: Presto Ma Non Troppo
Allegro Giusto Non Troppo Vivo - Allegretto Poco Scherzando (Habanera) - Tempo I
Echo Sonata, Op.69
Preludio - Fuga - Recitativo
Balalaika, Op.100 (To Maxim Vengerov)

Amazon.com

Eugene Ysae's six unaccompanied violin sonatas, composed when his own playing days were over and dedicated to colleagues he admired, occupy a special niche in the repertoire. Though inspired by Bach's sonatas and partitas and peppered with quotes from them, they are unequalled for sheer virtuosity and romantic sensuousness; only a great violinist intimately familiar with the resources of his instrument could have written them. On this disc, Maxim Vengerov plays Nos. 2, 3, 4, and 6, along with a transcription by Bruce Fox-Lefriche of Bach's famous Toccata and Fugue in D minor for organ, which he claims was originally conceived for violin. He also performs Shchedrin's "Echo" Sonata, op. 69. Written in 1984 in a mixture of styles from conventional to abrasively dissonant, it outdoes Ysae's in hair-raising pyrotechnics and also honors Bach by quoting from his works. Vengerov's playing is spectacular and makes this disc a must for violin aficionados.

Customer Reviews:

Ear- and Nerve-Grating.......2007-05-29

Vengerov's technical proficiency in these extremely challenging pieces is beyond question. What are lacking in his performances are beauty of tone, euphony, and logical flow. In fast passages such as the last movement of Sonata no. 3, Vengerov's approach seems to be flashiness and velocity above substance. At times, as at the beginning of Sonata 6, he produces a tone that is downright ugly and harsh. The tendency, mentioned in the critical review above, to crescendo steeply to a sforzando on long notes is pervasive and irritating. Another serious downside of this recording is that it is not a complete set of the Ysaye sonatas - it is missing the first and fifth.

The performance of the Bach Toccata and Fugue transcription is an interesting case in itself. Vengerov here uses a baroque bow - in itself a commendable action, one that few "mainstream" violinists would do. The problem is that no one appears to have taught Vengerov how to use it; his bowstrokes are little different from the heavy manner of a modern bow. Although he uses a lower pitch, he makes no attempt at meantone intonation. And other aspects of the performance - such as his manner of spreading chords - show no knowledge of baroque style. What was the point of this semi-authentic experiment?

This is the only recording I have heard thus far of Ysaye's sonatas. It left me very unsatisfied, to the degree that I do not feel that I really know the works. Although the Ysaye sonatas are virtuoso pieces, they are also serious compositions informed by Bach, which puts them on a higher level than whiz-bang encore pieces by Paganini or Sarasate. As far as I can see, all Vengerov's version has going for it is technical wizardry - and that can be got with a number of other violinists with the added ingredient of musicality.

transcends the years.......2004-07-18

Vengerov knocks it out of the park. The Ysaye is stunning, especially 2 and 3. The most interesting feature is the tonality and feelings of the pieces, which are markedly similar, across composers. The Ysaye, Shchedrin, and Bach all capture a more ancient and common tonality and feel, and have an almost primitive and rustic feel. A must.

Vengerov's butching of ysaye.......2004-05-26

Vengerov has some interesting thoughts on music, i must say, but when he picks up the violin, he goes overboard. Just listen to the intro of Obsession. its sloppy, uneven, and just horendous...the rest of the pieces aren't much different. PLEASE do yourself a favor and save 7 dollars and gain infinite musical joy by getting Ilya Kaler's Ysaye sonatas...

a happy medium.........2002-11-29

You get the feeling Vengerov doesn't play the Ysaye, he channels it! This is stupefying music making, and the Ysaye Sonatas especially, hardly known, are musically brilliant pieces. Even apart from the Fox-Lefriche transcription, Bach is all over this disc. The secret metaphysic of Bach appears like a fragrance in whatever Vengerov plays; a violinist's musical construct must be endowed with Bach's rhythmic consciousness or it won't endure, and Vengerov loves the Master almost more in Ysaye than in Bach! A rich Bachian rhythmic core in this Russian master's violin playing is the beauty of this recording. It's curiously an effect even more accessible in his live performances, the physical dimensions of his playing are perfectly aligned, &all you get is freedom and joy in the music he makes. Reminiscent of Oistrakh in that way. This is one of Vengerov's best recordings musically, and the sonics are play-it-AGAIN captivating. Get it to hear the Ysaye sonatas, but the rest of the program also rewards. The Shchedrin sonata is shocking and pure, and Vengerov extracts all the juice, delivering a major performance of it. I agree it's interesting how much the live encore doesnt jar or intrude, it's a heady reminder of the art of the stage, and leaves a musical imprint too. While he's got a strapping pop star kind of personal charm, Vengerov is a musician of tremendous intellect and heart, distilling sheer music and refining an extraordinary art, qualities rampant hereabout.. check it for yourself.

A triumphant release in every way.......2002-11-06

Inspired by Bach's sonatas and partitas for solo violin, Eugene Ysaye wrote his six sonatas for solo violin in 1924. Not only are these pieces brilliantly constructed and hugely effective for the instrument (Ysaye was, after all, one of the great violinists of his age), they do indeed develop out of Bach's magnum opus, only that in writing his own set Ysaye has pushed the technical limits of the instrument to previously undreamt-of heights. Besides, they are also obviously products of a more romantic age, as there is often an air of improvisation and romantic passion in the writing.

Four of these sonatas, Nos. 2, 3, 4 and 6, are included in this new EMI recording. They are originally dedicated by the composer to such eminent violinists as Jacques Thibaud, Georges Enesco, Fritz Kreisler and Manuel Quiroga respectively. Here these technically spectacular and spiritually imposing masterpieces have found a magnificent modern advocate in Maxim Vengerov, whose playing, though perhaps different in style to those luminous dedicatees of these works, is technically immaculate and shiningly stylish. The ranges of dynamics and tone colour that the young Russian violinist commands are nothing short of staggering, and when these are put to the service of an intellectually probing, individualistic and yet spontaneous mind, we are hearing something that is really quite exceptional. There is also a sort of intensity and ardour in the performances that is literally breath-taking. More or less the same can be said for the performance of the Sonata in A minor, which actually is a transcription (by Bruce Fox-Lefriche) of the famous D minor Toccata and Fugue for organ, on which some scholars have expressed doubted as to whether the piece indeed came from the hands of JS Bach. Some are of the view that the piece actually began its life as a sonata in A minor for solo violin and Vengerov here plays this re-construction with panache, expression as well as a keen sense of proportion, even though I personally prefer him doing the piece on a modern violin rather than the (stylistically more accurate) baroque instrument that he employs specifically for this track.

Two works by the contemporary Russian composer Rodion Shchedrin are included here. The more substantial one is the Echo Sonata, which Shchedrin wrote in 1985 as a commemorative showpiece for Bach's tercentenary. It is a fiendishly difficult but mostly reflective modern piece with some eerie-sounding soft passages and quotes from Bach's solo pieces. The 15 minute work is not easy to bring off at all, but it is here effortlessly conquered through Vengerov's sovereign bowing and awesome musicianship. The violinist not only negotiates each and every technical hurdle with consummate ease, he also tosses off the notes with great elan and conviction and invests the contrasting sections with much light and shade, which renders the piece even more interesting than it may seem on paper. The recording ends (very appropriately) with the only "live" recording included in this release, a performance of Shchedrin's Balalaika taped from a recital at London's Barbican Hall in 2000. Vengerov delivers this pizzicato piece, dedicated to him by the composer, with aplomb and a disarming sense of humour, which draws much laughter from the audience as well as thunderous applause at the end. In fact, such applause is not out of place at all even in the context of the entire album, for it is difficult to resist from voicing one's strong approval after hearing 66 minutes of such scintillating and supremely musical performances on the solo violin.

These treasurable performances are further enhanced by a good recording quality ¡V Vengerov's violin tone sounds fuller and more beautiful than ever. A triumphant release in every way.

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