Ksenia Milas, violin
1. Obsession; Prelude 0:00
2. Malinconia 2:37
3. Danse des ombres; Sarabande 4:51
4. Les Furies 9:14
Eugène Ysaÿe's set of Six Sonatas for solo violin, Op. 27, was written in July 1923. Each sonata was dedicated to one of Ysaÿe’s contemporary violinists. This sonata is dedicated to Jacques Thibaud. All six sonatas are very difficult.
I. Obsession; Prelude
At the very beginning of the movement, Ysaÿe directly quotes the beginning of Prelude from J. S. Bach's Partita No. 3 in E major for solo violin. Much like Bach's E major Prelude, the movement consists of virtuosic sixteenth notes throughout, yet Ysaÿe's use of chromatic tonality clearly sets the piece in the genre of early 20th century music. Direct quotes from Bach's Prelude appear frequently, showing Ysaÿe's "obsession" with Bach's work. Another prominent theme is the "Dies Irae", a plainchant from the Catholic Mass for the Dead.
II. Malinconia
The Malinconia contrapuntally resembles the style of Bach, perhaps most of any of the movements of the second sonata. It employs the siciliano rhythm, found in the first solo sonata for violin by Bach. It specifies the violinist to play with a mute, to dampen the tone and volume, something fairly unusual for a solo sonata. The Dies irae is not stated within the movement until the final few bars, where it is played uninterrupted on top of a drone.
III. Danse des ombres; Sarabande
The sarabande is based on a theme-and-variation pattern. The theme itself is again a variation of Dies irae. In the first few bars, the theme is played with pizzicato, making it sound as if played by guitar or lute. The movement consists of six variations, and each variation develops gradually to the end.
IV. Les furies
The Dies Irae melody appears recurrently throughout the movement.
Score in the public domain. Recording by Ksenia Milas published by ANIMA Records and licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Information from Wikipedia, under the 3.0 version of said license, taken from en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six_Son...) and en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Violin_...)
8 авг 2024
