Dvorak Violin Sonatina

The Shaham siblings play Dvorak's Sonatina, wonderful music with great tones recorded with great clarity! The piano sound is remarkably clear and sharp sounding and no introduction needs to be said about the incredible violin tone displayed here. DG really did an amazing production on this recording. The violin is played with incredible warmth and awesome phrasing, every heartfelt note is carefully shaped by a master craftsman: Gil Shaham shows yet again his ability to speak with every note. The piano is played with a great sense of dynamics and effortless technique while never being obtrusive. Orli shows great maturity in how she handles and shapes the music with her great hands.

On this disc, Christian Poltéra and Kathryn Stott chart the gradual development in Dvořák’s composition for cello. The disc includes chamber works that Dvořák composed originally for cello and piano or arranged for the combination including Polonaise in A major, the Rondo in G minor and Silent Woods which was originally a piano duet.

Dvorák's music for violin and piano comes from many periods in his career. An early Sonata in A minor of 1873 is lost. Of the works which do survive, several, including the Notturno and Four Romantic Pieces, are skilful arrangements of earlier works (the Notturno is a reworking of the central section of the E minor String Quartet, while the Four Pieces were originally written for viola and piano).

Antonin Dvorák's Piano Quartet No. 2 is one of the greatest chamber works of the 19th century (as are many of Dvorák's chamber compositions). Written in 1889 at the request of his publisher Simrock, it is a big, bold work filled with the Czech master's trademark melodic fecundity, harmonic richness, and rhythmic vitality. The first movement is a soaring, outdoor allegro with an assertively optimistic main theme accented by Czech contours and Dvorák's love of mixing major and minor modes. The Lento movement's wistful main theme is played with a perfect mixture of passion and poise by cellist Yo-Yo Ma. The music alternates between passages of drama and delicacy in this, one of Dvorák's finest slow movements in any medium. The Scherzo's stately waltz is contrasted by a lively, up-tempo Czech country dance. The finale is a high-stepping, high-spirited allegro with a strong rhythmic pulse that relaxes for the beautifully lyrical second subject.

The chamber music of Strauss and Dvořák represents for Maisky and his long-time musical partner Pavel Gililov the fruits to years of music-making. Strauss’s Cello Sonata, written by the composer at the tender age of 19, does not have the uniformity or a clear sense of character that Strauss later developed in his Violin Sonata five years later. Notwithstanding, Maisky and Gililov manage to turn the piece positively into a thrilling performance, intelligently interwoven with their commanding dialogues.