Ysaye Poeme

Three virtuoso works for violin and piano, two by the Belgian composer Eugene Ysaye: Poème Elégiaque op. 12 and Extase op. 21, and a piece written as a wedding present for Ysaye by his friend Cesar Franck, the Sonata in A major are performed by the highly talented Dutch violinist Lisa Jacobs with pianist Gunar Letzbor. The title of Ysaye’s Poème Elégiaque op. 12 is derived from the middle section of the piece, which depicts a passing funeral procession accompanied by tolling bells. It was played at Ysaye’s own funeral. Cesar Franck’s Sonata in A Major was written in 1886 and is one of the composer’s most celebrated works.

Ysaÿe’s works for violin and orchestra are far less frequently encountered than his solo sonatas. There was always something of a vogue in Russia for some of the bigger works. Oistrakh was a proponent of the Poème élégiaque, recording it. More recently Raskin has committed a couple to disc. But in the main these are under-recorded works of lush, Chausson-esque evocation.

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.

Eugène Ysaÿe, a violin virtuoso admired by all his contemporaries, was an inheritor of what has justly been considered as the Belgian school of violin, whose ascendancy can be traced back to the beginning of the 19th century. His work as a composer, however, is much less well known today and it is this facet of his extraordinarily active life that we will explore here. He composed many different types of works; here we present his works for solo violin and orchestra, including two movements of violin concertos which are now available on record for the first time, and his chamber music.

Hyperion’s blossoming Romantic Cello Concerto series welcomes back German virtuoso Alban Gerhardt for this sixth volume. Henry Vieuxtemps and Eugène Ysaÿe are of course best known for their blistering pyrotechnics on the violin, but each of this eminent teacher-and-pupil pairing also wrote two works—little known today, alas—for cello and orchestra, and what a revelation they are. The two Vieuxtemps Concertos contain all the elements familiar from their famous violin counterparts—long-arched melodies alongside moments of outrageous virtuoso demands. The Ysaÿe works are shorter and make ideal companions.