[Eugène
Ysaÿe, Six Sonatas for Solo Violin, Op. 27;
Tai Murray, Violin, Harmonia Mundi HMU 907569 (2012) (68:48)]
The
liner notes for Eugène
Ysaÿe, Six Sonatas for Solo Violin, Op. 27 say of Tai Murray:
“She recently made her recital debut at
London's Wigmore Hall as well as appearing at the BBC Proms and with
the Cincinnati and Dallas symphony orchestras, the Shanghai Symphony,
London's BBC Symphony, the BBC Scottish Symphony, the National Youth
Orchestra of Venezuela, and the Danish National Symphony
Orchestra.
“Ms. Murray has performed as a recitalist to
critical acclaim in many major cities including Boston, Chicago, Los
Angeles, New Orleans, Philadelphia and London. A dedicated chamber
musician, she is the newly appointed co-artistic director of chamber
music at the Buck Hill-Skytop Music Festival in northeast
Pennsylvania and she is also a member of the conductor-less East
Coast Chamber Orchestra (ECCO).” “Winner of an Avery Fisher
Career Grant in 2004 and a former BBC New Generation Artist
(2008-2010), Ms. Murray is a native of Chicago. She studied with
Yuval Yaron, Franco Gulli, and Joel Smirnoff, and is a graduate of
both Indiana University and the Juilliard School. She performs on a
Giovanni Tononi instrument, c. 1690.”
AllMusic.com
says of Eugène Ysaÿe's
Six Sonatas for Solo Violin, Op. 27:
“They're
unlike anything else in the virtuoso literature.” Further,
“...they are wildly experimental in terms of technique...”
Gavin
Plumley writes in the Harmonia Mundi liner notes:
“Eugène Ysaÿe
refused to stay still. Born in Liège, he left home to study the
violin with Henryk Wienawski in Brussels before moving on to the
equally esteemed Henry Vieuxtemps in Paris. Flitting between the two
cities before settling briefly in Berlin, Ysaÿe wowed audiences
wherever he went. During these nomadic early years, he was exposed to
some of the most exciting artistic experiments of the time. Europe
was teeming with change and challenge.”
“Many seminal
works of the period were performed by him and dedicated to him,
including Franck's Violin Sonata (1886), Chausson's Concert
(1889-91)
and Poème
(1896),
d'Indy's String Quartet No. 1 (1890), Debussy's String Quartet (1893)
and Lekeu's Violin Sonata (1892). And while composers revered
Ysaÿe's musicality, they were equally astounded by his virtuosity.”
“But
by the time that Ysaÿe composed his six Op. 27 Sonatas for Solo
Violin in 1924, experiment had turned to self-knowing and he had
developed a diverse but rigorous musical language. Furthermore,
Ysaÿe's unparalleled knowledge of the violin opened up the more
inaccessible recesses of technique, style and sound. Since their
publication these sonatas have offered a benchmark to subsequent
generations of violinists.”
Each
of the six Sonatas for Solo Violin is dedicated to a prominent
individual in the world of music. The
first is dedicated to Joseph Szigeti, the Hungarian violinist, and
makes a strikingly vigorous sound for a single violin. The same is
true of Sonata No. 2, dedicated to Jacques Thibaud; Sonata No. 3,
(Georges Enesco), Sonata No. 4 (Fritz Kreisler), Sonata No. 5
(Mathieu Crickboom) and Sonata No. 6 (Manuel Quiroga).
Tai
Murray has chosen very challenging repertoire for her debut recording
on Harmonia Mundi, but she is clearly up to the task. Listeners who
know Eugène Ysaÿe only as one of the greatest violinists of all
time will now be able to appreciate him as a compelling composer as
well, after hearing Tai Murray's performance. When a 29-year-old
violinist successfully begins a solo recording career with a
compelling performance of such difficult repertoire as Ysaÿe's
Sonatas for Solo Violin, one can only imagine what listeners can
anticipate from this performer in the future.
Disclosure:
A review copy of this CD was provided by the record label.
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