De Bériot’s Scènes ou Caprices pour
le violon are
no mere practice room staple. They’re written in an easy-going narrative
or pictorial way, with descriptive titles to titillate the imagination. Thus
stimulated the ear latches onto the marches or genial alacrity with which he
presents the pieces, laced as they are with considerable, though not officiously
Paganinian, difficulty.
But they do serve both the recital and study rooms quite well, albeit it’s
highly unlikely that you’ll have heard any of the caprices on stage. I’m
not aware that many, if any, were recorded even in the days of LPs. All this
makes a budget price CD entrant all the more welcome, especially when Bella Hristova,
Bulgarian born and American resident, plays with such surety, tonal sensitivity
and technical polish.
The narrative musical devices are augmented by Paganini-derived gymnastics, though
the stretches and wrist-grazing pyrotechnics of the great violinist-composer
are not really central to Bériot’s plan. So we have a genial Polka
and a strongly Paganinian ethos in Le Lézard. The fifth Caprice, La
Fougue, is particularly demanding, its March themes having to survive strong
left and right hand co-ordination issues. Then there are the tricky triplets
in Le Caprice which Hristova negotiates with panache. I was especially
taken by the silvery refinement she brings to La Reine which she characterises
most adeptly, its arpeggiated chords holding no problems for her. The Marche
russe is something of a pretext for fast double stops whilst the agitated
chording of L’Inquiétude lead on to a becalmed and lyric
B section, also well done.
The Nine Studies are in general a touch more compact, and eschew descriptive
titles. But there are discernable features that add significantly to the pleasure
of these rather more pedagogic pieces. Note the hunting motifs in No.3 for instance
or the light melancholia of the Largo fifth. Then there’s the lightly pomposo March
elements of the seventh or the fugal byplay of the final Study, In imitation
of the old masters. The final item is a compendium of Bériot’s
virtuosic devices, the Prélude ou Improvisation, which was published
posthumously.
Strong advocacy is needed for solo works such as these to come over well, and
that quality is certainly in evidence. The recording venue is a familiar one
to Naxos auditors, and it works as well for the solo violin as it did for, say,
solo lute. It has a pleasing but not engulfing acoustic and echo.
Jonathan Woolf
see also review by Nick Barnard
Bella Hristova (violin)
