COMPOSERS: Ysaye
LABELS: Carlton Turnabout
WORKS: Six Sonatas for Solo Violin, Op. 27
PERFORMER: Ruggiero Ricci (violin)
CATALOGUE NO: 30371 00242 ADD
With each work bearing a dedication to a famous virtuoso of the early 20th century (Kreisler, Enescoand Szigeti amongst others), it is hardly surprising that Ysaÿe’s sonatas stretch violin technique to its very limit. Yet such a seasoned performer as Ricci makes light work of the considerable technical difficulties, and notwithstanding the odd lapse of intonation and a somewhat boomy acoustic, delivers much of the brilliant passagework with great aplomb.
The music itself ranges over a wide spectrum of styles, though Bach’s influence is never far away, especially in the Second Sonata, which ingeniously combines quotations from the great composer’s E major partita with snatches of the ‘Dies irae’. Erik Levi
