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Eugène YsaŸe (1858 - 1931) Sonatas (6) for Solo Violin, Op 27 (1924) [67.50]: #1 in g "To Joseph Szigeti" [16.40]; #2 in a "To Jacques Thibaud" [12.49]; #3 in d "To Georges Enesco" [7.34]; #4 in e "To Fritz Kreisler" [12.44]; #5 in G "To Mathieu Crickboom" [10.07]; #6 in E "To Manuel Quiroga" [7.56] Ilya Kaler (violin) Recorded at St John Chrysostom Church, Newmarket, Ontario, Canada, 9 Dec 2001 Notes in English and Deutsch. NAXOS 8.555996 [67.50]

Comparison Recordings: Lydia Mordkovich Chandos CHAN 8599 Mateja Marinkovic Collins Classics 13762 These wonderful works, ignored for so long, now seem to have become violinistic war-horses. Ysaÿe accomplishes an impossible task, writing violin music which is almost independent of any period or place. This is not so much modern music or baroque music or romantic music, as it is all of these — it is violin music. One can imagine Corelli or Biber enjoying playing these works as well as Paganini or Heifetz. To emphasise that, the composer has dedicated each one to a violinist friend of his as if to say, "This is music just for us." Mathieu Crickboom (1871-1947) was a student of Ysaÿe’s who played in the Ysaÿe quartet, later founding his own quartet with Josep Rocabruna as the second violin, Rafael Gálvez on the viola, and Pablo Casals, cello; Enrique Granados joined them when they played chamber music with piano. Manuel Quiroga (1892-1961) was compared to Sarasate in his interest and ability to project violin music with a Latin flavour. Violinists who can play this music are rare enough, and to try to rank these three performances in order of quality is all but impossible. No two virtuosi will play them the same way, with the enormous variety of shifting moods and styles. But if held at gun-point and forced to make a choice, I would say: Mordkovich first, then Kaler second by the thinnest of margins, then Marinkovic. But that opinion would not stand up to cross-examination, based as it is only upon very subjective feelings of the relative comfort and assurance in the playing. If you buy this disk you will certainly not regret it if later you should hear the Mordkovich recording. I will always associate these sonatas with my dear, generous, and brilliantly talented friend Ronald L. Russell. He performed the second sonata at his final public appearance before increasing deafness forced him to put away his violin forever. Without music his life meant little to him, and he collapsed mentally, and then physically, and died in a few years. His performance was brilliant, but to deepen the tragedy, as the audience sat down to hear it, the microphone cable was inadvertently kicked and the recording failed. Paul Shoemaker   Advertising Rates Visitor stats MusicWeb International has over 40,000 Classical CD reviews on offer Discs received Having a problem Donating? Gerard Hoffnung Concerts & The Bricklayer Story   New Releases New Releases   MusicWeb sells the Polish catalogue CDAccord £10.50 post free W-W MusicWeb sells the Arcodiva catalogue £12.00 post free W-W £11.75 post-free world- wide MusicWeb can now offer you discs from the following catalogues: Prices include postage [Acte Préalable £13.50] [Arcodiva £12.00] [Avie from £6.25] [British Music Society £12.00] [CDACCORD from £13.50 ] [ClassicO £12.50] [Hallé from £11] [Heritage £10] [Hortus £14.99 ] [Lyrita ONLY £11.75 ] [Nimbus Special prices] [Northern Flowers £13.50] [REDCLIFFE £11 ] [Sheva £11] [Tactus £11.50 ] [Talent from £12.00 ] [Toccata Classics £10.50 ] Musicweb Special Offers Monthly Best Buys     Google Ads - for information about privacy matters, click here.  Amazon Musicweb International is a participant in the Amazon EU Associates Programme, an affiliate advertising programme designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com

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