In
1990, Akiko Suwanai became the youngest ever first prize winner
at the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, and launched immediately
into an international recital and concerto career. Her début
recording of Max Bruch’s Violin Concerto with Sir
Neville Marriner in 1996 was highly acclaimed, and augmented her
already extensive international career as a soloist.
Her
latest album features two composers of nearly identical time periods
but very different professional and compositional backgrounds.
Dvořák was the son of an innkeeper and a failed violinist
who turned to composition in his thirties, emerging as Eastern
Europe’s most prominent romantic symphonist. Sarasate was a young,
internationally celebrated virtuoso violinist who spent much of
his life arranging opera arias and fantasies, only turning to
his own compositional career later in life. But both Dvořák
and Sarasate were strongly influenced by their native folk music,
and the compositions of each demonstrate an acute awareness of
this style.
Pablo
de Sarasate’s two most famous offerings open the album. The familiar
Zigeunerweisen ("Gypsy Airs") is the quintessential
showpiece, and one is immediately aware that it was composed by
a violinist. Based on Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsodies, the
opening section is an adagio featuring such tricks of the trade
as pizzicato and vast slides over the fingerboard. Ms. Suwanai
displays a wonderful dynamic range, capturing the overtly dramatic
style to great effect. The ensuing allegro integrates pizzicato
into the frantic melody, and this treacherous section is not executed
as flawlessly as in other recordings. Nor is the tempo as furiously
fast as in recordings by Heifetz or, especially, Ruggiero Ricci,
but is quite exciting nonetheless.
The
Carmen Fantasy is an abbreviated version of the
two Suites as seen through the eyes of Sarasate. This typifies
the composer’s earlier propensity for orchestration, using the
abovementioned acrobatic techniques as well as offsetting melodies
between soloist and orchestra and displacing themes by up to three
octaves. Sarasate has a seemingly inexhaustible arsenal of ornamental
ideas to spice up the already provocative dances, and Ms. Suwanai’s
abundant virtuosity is on full display.
Though
dedicated to Sarasate, Dvořák’s Mazurek is
a markedly different concept of the violin showpiece. A driving
Bohemian rhythm is the central idea, rather than a flashy, heavily
ornamented melody, and one can hear the heavy hands of a composer
in contrast to the fleeting fingers of Sarasate. But the Mazurek
has a charm all its own. Dvořák intersperses flourishes that
complement the melody rather than dominate it, and its more flowing
formal structure is quite cohesive. Even here, Dvořák’s symphonic
nature is evident. The accompaniment plays a more vital role,
and Iván Fischer and the Budapest Festival Orchestra shine in
this idiom. Ms. Suwanai is equally comfortable in this less common
work, and gives a beautiful performance.
Dvořák’s
Violin Concerto stands as one of the titans of the
romantic violin literature. Written for the legendary Joseph Joachim
(for whom Brahms composed his concerto), the Concerto underwent
an extensive period of revision before its première, illustrating
Dvořák’s awareness of the genre’s importance. It is
more symphonic in nature than a virtuoso tour de force, and requires
a rich tone to compete with the substantially scored accompaniment.
The orchestra opens with the rhapsodic minor theme, and, omitting
the extended introduction common to the period, the violin interrupts
with a more solemn thematic statement. Both Ms. Suwanai and Mr.
Fischer display a beautiful ensemble throughout the movement,
and the soloist displays an acute awareness and ability to by
turns dominate and accompany the orchestra. Brilliant technical
control and dynamic range mark this movement. Dvořák elected
to forgo a recapitulation and instead segues directly in to the
Adagio, a passionate and dynamic cantilena. The
Finale exhibits Dvořák’s affinity for folk melodies
with a giocoso, syncopated theme. The movement displays an array
of distinctly Bohemian rhythms, and the rhythmic precision of
both orchestra and soloist faithfully conveys its playful nature.
Mr.
Fischer and the Budapest Festival Orchestra have collaborated
for years on music of composers such as Bartók and Liszt,
always bringing a regional flair seldom captured by the more prominent
European orchestras. The winds stand out for their warmth of sound,
and the whole ensemble demonstrates an unsurpassed attention to
detail. Ms. Suwanai on this album seems to have gained a new level
of maturity and subtlety in her playing, and can surely be counted
among today’s most dynamic and talented young violinists.
Erich Heckscher
Akiko Suwanai (violin)
