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Eugène YSAŸE (1858-1931)
Six sonatas for solo violin, Op 27 (1923)
Sonata No 1 in G minor ‘To Joseph Szigeti’ [13:50]
Sonata No 2 in A minor ‘To Jacques Thibaud’ [17:05]
Sonata No 3 in D minor ‘Ballade’, ‘To George Enescu’ [8:15]
Sonata No 4 in E minor ‘To Fritz Kreisler’ [12:25]
Sonata No 5 in G major ‘To Mathieu Crickboom’ [10:30]
Sonata No 6 in E major ‘To Manuel Quiroga’ [7:29]
Maxim Brilinsky (violin)
rec. Dec 2018; Jan 2019 St. Jakob Kirche, Heiligenstadt, Vienna
HÄNSSLER CLASSIC HC20087 [69:40]

Liège-born Eugène Ysaÿe was one of the foremost violin virtuosos from the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and also a composer; 2021 is the ninetieth anniversary of his death. In commemoration, Maxim Brilinsky has recorded Ysaÿe’s widely acclaimed six sonatas for solo violin, which may be regarded as one of the three summits of the solo violin repertoire along with the J.S. Bach six sonatas and partitas for solo violin and Paganini’s twenty-four caprices.

Although Ysaÿe wrote a generous number of chamber works for the violin with other instruments and concertante works featuring his instrument, surprisingly, he composed only a comparatively modest number for soloist. As well as the set of six solo violin sonatas, he also wrote the short Étude posthume, a set of ten exercises and his own cadenzas for the violin concertos of Beethoven, Mozart (No 3), Tchaikovsky and Brahms. Incidentally, in 2020 Brilinsky recorded the Paganini caprices on Sony Classical.

In general, I encounter Ysaÿe’s music only rarely, the exception being these six solo violin sonatas which have been recorded many times. Prior to this new release, it has certainly been a number of years since I last played a recording of this set. Having now auditioned it, I am grateful to have made my reacquaintance with such outstanding works. 

Ysaÿe was inspired to write his six solo sonatas after hearing Hungarian virtuoso Joseph Szigeti perform J.S. Bach’s set of sonatas and partitas. Completed in 1924, each of the six solo sonatas was dedicated to a particular virtuoso violinist that he knew or was friendly with, notably George Enescu and Fritz Kreisler, and each sonata was custom-made to suit the individual playing style of the dedicatee. Ysaÿe’s intention was to expand the possibilities of violin playing, so each movement contains something surprising, often startling, with regard either to technical virtuosity or expressive quality.

Maxim Brilinsky (b. 1985) the soloist on this new album was born in the Ukraine city of Lviv and began violin lessons aged five. He soon entered the Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst in Vienna where he studied with Michael Frischenschlager. Progressing to the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris, he came under the tutelage of Jean-Jacques Kantorow. In 2008 he joined the Orchester der Wiener Staatsoper and in 2011 the Vienna Philharmonic where he serves as first violin. In 2018, he became a member of the Vienna Hofmusikkapelle and is now its concertmaster.

Brilinsky’s playing throughout is first-class, conspicuous for its impeccable technique and natural assurance and brimful with vitality and exuberance, but certainly not short of finesse when it is needed. It makes an impact not just via virtuosic display but also for the of pathos of the more meditative passages such as Malinconia from Sonata No 2. Of the six sonatas in the set, I find the first three particularly conspicuous.

Sonata No 1 in G minor is dedicated ‘To Joseph Szigeti’ and Brilinsky makes light work of its technical challenges, such as the multiple stopping. The soloist’s interpretation of the serious, rather unsettling quality of writing that shifts between Baroque and Romantic styles, is captivating. Brilinsky’s playing of the brooding opening movement, with its baroque-era tempo-marking Grave, is especially striking.

Ysaÿe dedicated Sonata No 2 in A minor to Jacques Thibaud, a devotee of J.S. Bach. Each of its four movements is assigned a title no doubt suggestive of the mood of the piece. The first movement, a prelude titled Obsession, is notable for its quotations from the prelude of J.S. Bach’s Partita in E major and the spectre of death in the Dies Irae motif from the Requiem Mass. Brilinsky seems especially stimulated by such expressive writing, producing brilliant playing characterised by unfaltering vivacity. By contrast, the second movement, Malinconia, is muted, Brilinsky delicately communicates the sorrowful mood which is said to reflect Ysaÿe’s disappointments in life.

Maybe the most popular, and often considered the most ‘rhapsodic’ of the set, is the Sonata No 3 entitled ‘Ballade’, with George Enescu as its dedicatee. Cast in a single movement, the Ballade is imbued with a sombre mood which pervades the whole work. One senses Brilinsky’s intense concentration as he savours the highly virtuosic and unashamedly lyrical writing. His intonation is notably impressive, being both accurate and consistent. An additional advantage is Brilinsky’s violin of the Vienna school made by Gabriel Lemböck (1862), which has been handsomely caught by the sound engineers to reveal a captivating tone which is not over-sweet.

For location of this recording, Brilinsky has chosen the St. Jakob Kirche in the Heiligenstadt district of Vienna, whose nave acoustic he considers to be particularly favourable for these solo violin sonatas. The engineering team has achieved first class sound, quite cool with a vivid clarity eminently suited to these works. There is a slight but discernible natural reverberation from the church acoustic that I find rather appealing and which actually serves to enhance the overall effect. In the notes Brilinsky points out that adjacent to the St. Jakob Kirche is the Vintner House where Beethoven lived for a time. Dr. Silvia Kargl’s helpful booklet essay ‘Fragrant, tender, and with sparkling élan’ provides some context to the set of sonatas and also information about the soloist.

The recordings of the complete set I would reach for first are the captivating performances by Frank Peter Zimmermann, recorded 1993/94 at Renswoude, Utrecht on EMI and now reissued on Warner Classics, and Leonidas Kavakos recorded in 1999 at Megaron, Athens on BIS. The discography of the six solo sonatas has now broadened considerably to around sixty recordings. Other impressive recordings include those by Oscar Shumsky (1983) on Nimbus (review), Ruggiero Ricci on Vox-Candide (issued 1974), Gidon Kremer (1976) and Shlomo Mintz (issued 2019), both on Decca. One of the most admired of more recent recordings - and rightly so, for its refined playing and level of intuitive expression - is by Alina Ibragimova from 2014 on Hyperion (review).

Ysaÿe’s set of solo violin sonatas are unquestionably already extremely well served by a number of top-drawer recordings, so initially, I did wonder if we needed yet another, but having now listened at length to Maxim Brilinsky’s exceptional new album, I certainly would not exchange it for any of the many alternative recordings.

Michael Cookson