Ursula Bagdasarjanz - Volume 4
Ursula BAGDASARJANZ (b.1934)
Sept Poesies pour Violon et Piano:-
Berceuse in C minor [3:26]
2
Dracula in F major [2:51]
2
Gipsy-Romance in B minor [5:05]
2
Caprice in B minor [4:51]
2
Joie de vivre in G major [3:47]
2
Reverie in B minor [3:35]
2
Introduction et petite Valse des Alpes in G major [3:28]
2
Wolfgang Amadeus MOZART (1756-1791)
Sonata in B flat major for violin and piano K.378: Allegro moderato
[9:04]
1,3
George Frederick HANDEL (1685-1759)
Sonata in F major for violin and piano [11:26]
1,4
Pietro NARDINI (1722-1793)
Sonata in D major for violin and piano: Adagio [2:14]
1,5
Niccolo PAGANINI (1782-1840)
Sonata No. 12 for violin and piano Op.3 [3:59]
1,4
Ursula Bagdasarjanz (violin)
1
Melanie Di Christino (violin)
2; Raluca Stirbat (piano)
2;
Fernane Kaeser (piano)
3; Bruno F. Saladin (piano)
4;
Luciano Sgrizzi (piano)
5
rec. Soundville Recording Studios, Lucerne, 7 November 2007
2
rec. 1969 (Mozart ); 1964, live (Handel); 1960 (Nardini); 1964, live
(Paganini)
GALLO CD-1251 [54:46]
In 2008 the Swiss Label Gallo released four volumes of recordings by
the violinist Ursula Bagdasarjanz. Last year saw the release of volume
5 which contains works by Mozart, Beethoven and Brahms. The discs are
resurfacing, and I was pleased to be given the opportunity to review
volume 4 as a few months ago, I had the pleasure of
reviewing
volume 1.
Being familiar with all the other volumes, which have formed a very
welcome part of my collection, this one seemed to have slipped my attention
first time around.
Born in Winterthur, Switzerland in 1934 to a mother who was a violinist
of some stature and a Romanian father, Ursula gave her first concert
at the age of ten. She went on to study with Aida Stucki, Marcel Reynal
and with Sandor Vegh in Basel. She later attended master-classes with
Max Rostal, who had been a pupil of the great violin pedagogue Carl
Flesch.
Interspersed throughout the CD are Bagdasarjanz’s own ‘
Sept
poesies pour violon et piano’, described in the booklet notes
as ‘
Seven romantic violin encores’, with piano parts
composed by Brigitta Meister. They were recorded in 2008 by the violinist
Melanie Di Cristino, and accompanied by Raluca Stirbat (piano). The
first piece,
Berceuse in c minor is a simple melodious work,
characterized by expressive lyricism yet with an underlying melancholy.
This is followed by
Dracula, a piece guaranteed to make the listener
sit up and take notice. Jaunty and astringent, the sounds emanating
from the violin have a Mephistophelian character, over an ostinato bass.
Gipsy Romance is, as it’s title suggests, romantic and
rhapsodic, interrupted twice by a Hungarian dance-like section.
Caprice,
with its recitative section is very much cloaked in Paganiniana.
Joie
de Vivre is bright, cheerful and exuberant. I detected some echoes
of Wieniawski.
Reverie is effusive and charming. The final piece
Introduction et petite Valse des Alpes in G major has a declamatory
opening followed by a melody closely resembling Paganini’s ‘
Carnival
of Venice’.
It is disappointing that, apart from the Handel Sonata and the very
short Paganini Sonata, we are only given one movement from the Mozart
and Nardini works. These
two isolated movements are to be found in their full versions in Volume
One. I would like to
have heard more of Bagdasarjanz’s playing than is offered on this
CD. Nevertheless, what we have here gives one a general idea of the
qualities which distinguish her playing. All the elements are there:
faultless intonation, beauty of sound, expressive phrasing and wonderful
dynamic control. Her vibrato is varied, and furnishes her sound with
a tonal opulence. Most of all, however, her playing has a wonderful
sense of line.
Melanie Di Cristino and Raluca Stirbat play the Bagdasarjanz items with
great commitment, and the recorded sound is second to none. The tracks
featuring Bagdasarjanz, are re-mastered recordings from the 1960s, and
are very well reproduced.
Stephen Greenbank
