A Tribute To Ysaÿe

The Strad Issue: April 2020

Description: Superb and extensive tribute to one of the greatest violinist–composers 

Musicians: Nikita Boriso-Glebsky¹, Elina Buksha² Renaud Capuçon³, Hyeon Jin Jane Cho^4, Augustin Dumay⁵, Lorenzo Gatto⁶, Yossif Ivanov⁷, Kerson Leong⁸, Vladyslava Luchenko⁹, Maria Milstein¹⁰, Tedi Papavrami¹¹, Júlia Pusker¹² (violins) Miguel da Silva¹³, Hélène Desaint¹⁴ (violas) Henri Demarquette¹⁵, Gary Hoffman¹⁶, Astrig Siranossian¹⁷, Danilo Squitieri¹⁸ (cellos) Jonathan Fournel^19, Pavel Kolesnikov²⁰, Julien Libeer²¹, Jean-Claude Vanden Eynden²² (pianos) Hermès Quartet²³; Brussels Philharmonic/Stéphane Denève²⁴; Royal Philharmonic Orchestra Liège²⁵; Christian Arming²⁶, Jean-Jacques Kantorow²⁷, François-Xavier Roth²⁸ (conductors)

Works: Ysaÿe: Violin Concerto in E minor (first movement)^7,25,27; Violin Concerto in D minor (first movement)^1,25,27; Poème élégiaque for Violin and Orchestra in D minor op.12^11,25,28; Caprice d’après l’Étude en forme de valse de Saint-Saëns for Violin and Orchestra^10,25,26; Amitié for Two Violins and Orchestra op.26^6,7,24; Harmonies du soir for String Quartet and String Orchestra op.31^23,24; Méditation for Cello and Orchestra op.16^16,24; Trio de concert ‘Le Chimay’ for Violin, Viola and Cello^2,14,17; Légende norvégienne for Violin and Piano^8,19; Sonata for Two Violins^4,9; Trio de concert en une partie ‘Le Londres’ for Two Violins and Viola^4,9,13; Rêve d’enfant for Violin and Piano op.14^5,19 Chausson: Poème for Violin and Orchestra op.25^3,24; Concert for Violin, Piano and String Quartet in D major op.21^2,20,23 Lekeu: Sonata for Violin and Piano in G major^8,22; Piano Quartet^12,13,18,22 Franck: Sonata for Violin and Piano in A major^6,21 Debussy: String Quartet in G minor op.10^4,5,13,15

Catalogue Number: FUGA LIBERA FUG 758 (5 CDs)

A Tribute To Ysaÿe

This is music by Ysaÿe, for Ysaÿe and inspired by Ysaÿe. The major share of it is his, although his most famous works, the Six Solo Violin Sonatas, are not here; they are well served elsewhere. Movements from his early unfinished concertos, crafted in Germanic shadow and played with glistening tone and bravura, come first. After them the harmonies become impressionistic, the melodies coiling and beguiling. In the Poème élégiaque Papavrami conjures a world of shaded emotional complexity. Gatto and Ivanov play Amitié, with its impressionistic harmony and grand statements, in easy flowing dialogue. In perhaps the lushest of these pieces, Harmonies du soir, the Hermès Quartet plays with silky tone in chromatic counterpoint with the Brussels Philharmonic.

The complex harmonies, fluid lines and restless counterpoint of his late Trio de concert Le Chimay are vividly shaped; in the Légende norvégienne Leong plays with rhythmic freedom, as if improvising; the players deal splendidly with the multi-stopped contrapuntal challenges of his Sonata for Two Violins, and its reworking as the Trio de concert Le Londres.

There are four other composers here, of whom the least known today is probably Guillaume Lekeu, who wrote a sonata for Ysaÿe, performed by Leong with passion and urgency. He didn’t live to complete his Piano Quartet, revealed here as an emotional maelstrom. In Chausson’s Poème the long opening paragraph grows wonderfully to the great E flat major release, and his Concert is florid and sweeping. Gatto plays Franck’s Sonata with wispy eloquence and vibrato-rich power. Debussy’s Quartet is sparkling, alive with dynamic detail. The playing on these discs is uniformly superb, and the recordings excellent.

TIM HOMFRAY