Ysaÿe Six Sonatas For Solo Violin Hillary Hahn

David Grimal’s first recording for La Dolce Volta contains the Six Sonatas for unaccompanied violin by Eugène Ysaÿe, an extraordinary violinist who played in his era a role compa- rable to that of Niccolò Paganini. They constitute peaks of virtuosity that few violinists can even contemplate tackling.

Following his acclaimed release of the Brahms and Schoenberg Violin Concertos, Jack Liebeck returns to Orchid Classics with Ysaÿe’s Six Sonatas for Solo Violin, as well as the lyrical Poème élégiaque for violin and piano, for which Liebeck is joined by Daniel Grimwood. Ysaÿe was hailed as the greatest violinist of his day until illness cut short his career as a soloist, prompting him to channel his energies into writing these sonatas dedicated to six of his most outstanding contemporaries, including George Enescu and Fritz Kreisler. Ysaÿe’s Six Sonatas were inspired by hearing Joseph Szigeti play J.S. Bach’s Sonata for solo violin in G minor, BWV 1001, and Bach’s influence is palpable throughout, alongside folk idioms that reflect the nationality of each dedicatee, and more characteristic 20th-century elements such as dissonance and quarter tones. This mixture is bound together by the dazzling virtuosity one would expect from a master of the instrument. Liebeck navigates these nuances with the combination of delicacy and bravura demanded by these stunning pieces.

The six Sonatas for solo violin of Eugène Ysaÿe are essential works in his catalog, inspired by the sonatas and partitas of J.S. Bach, and composed as a tribute to the violinists Joseph Szigeti, Jacques Thibaud, George Enescu, Fritz Kreisler, Mathieu Crickboom, and Manuel Quiroga. These pieces suggest a Janus-like combination of retrospection and the avant-garde, hearkening to the past through allusive figurations and direct quotations (e.g., references in the Sonata No. 2 to Bach's Partita No. 3 and the Dies Irae), but looking to the future in the use of extended violin techniques and novel sonorities. Alina Ibragimova's 2015 release on Hyperion is an absorbing performance, concentrated in tone and accomplished in technique, yet wonderfully ambiguous in expression, in keeping with Ysaÿe's quirky mix of playfulness and high-minded seriousness. Recorded in the concert hall of Wyastone Estate, Monmouth, in May 2014, Ibragimova has great clarity and presence, and the acoustics provide enough resonance to soften the violin's sometimes overly rosinous sound.