Catalogue # CHAN10705

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This is the second volume in a series devoted to the works for\nstrings by Béla Bartók, with James Ehnes the featured soloist.\nEarlier this year, Ehnes recorded the Violin and Viola Concertos\n(CHAN10690), which was made Disc of the Month in Gramophone\nmagazine. On this new recording, he turns to the Violin Sonatas and\nRhapsodies, complemented by the earliest surviving work by Bartók\nfor violin and piano, an Andante. He is accompanied by the pianist\nAndrew Armstrong.

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Dedicated to the Hungarian violinist Adila d’Arányi, the sonatas\nfor violin and piano were composed in 1921 – 22, around the same\ntime as the highly successful ballet score The Miraculous Mandarin.\nOf the two works, the Sonata in C sharp minor is the more\ntraditional in terms of its structure, and characterised by a mood\nthat is sometimes exhilarated, sometimes turbulent – but always\nvirtuosic. The finale builds from a series of increasingly wild\ndances, folk-like in style but entirely expressionistic.

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In the Sonata in C major, Bartók removes himself from classical\nform and traditional tonal practice, calling on the violinist to\ndistance himself from the romantic manner of playing. At several\npoints, for example, the violin is played without vibrato,\nproducing an ethereally cool and distant sound. The improvisatory\ncharacter is strong throughout, as the work repeatedly alternates\nbetween the quiet and thoughtful, and the stormy and strident. The\nending, in contrast to the earlier sonata, is understated,\nemotional, and expressive.

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Bartók’s two rhapsodies for piano and violin, dedicated\nrespectively to Joseph Szigeti and Zoltán Székely, are steeped in\nthe tradition of Hungarian folk music. Exuberant and infectious,\nthe works are heavily inspired by the csárdás, the national dance\nof Hungary, and display the traditional pairing of lassú (slow) and\nfriss (lively) movements.

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Bartók:
\nViolin Sonata No. 1, BB 84, Sz. 75
\nViolin Sonata No. 2, BB 85, Sz. 76
\nRhapsody for Violin & Piano No. 1, BB 94a, Sz. 86
\nRhapsody for Violin & Piano No. 2, BB 96a, Sz. 89
\nAndante in A major, DD 70, BB 26

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James Ehnes (violin) & Andrew Armstrong (piano)

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