Schumann: Violin Sonata No. 3 in A minor, WoO 27

“he captures ideally the turbulence of the First Sonata, so reminiscent of the sound world of the First Piano Trio, and the irresistable drive of the Second Lebhaft. The balance with the piano of Roland Pontinen seems natural” Gramophone Magazine, May 2012

“one of the most compelling accounts of the Second Sonata that I've ever heard. In lesser hands, this work's outer movements can so easily sound relentless and even monotonous...Here, however, Wallin and Pontinen extract the maximum variety of expression and articulation out of the material, almost as if they are restoring the vibrant colours to an ancient painting.” BBC Music Magazine, June 2012 *****

“Ilya Gringolts's dark, smoky violin tone suits the introspection of the three works perfectly. He and pianist Peter Laul do not attempt to impose themselves on the music...but instead seek out the moments when Schumann's individuality and lyrical invention are most obvious.” The Guardian, 1st July 2010 ***

“Ilya Gringolts and Peter Laul give a poetic, animated performance of the Sonata No 1 in A minor that makes Schumann’s lack of enthusiasm for the piece all the more inexplicable...[they] embrace its strangeness with flair.” Sunday Telegraph, 4th July 2010

“Gringolts and Laul make a strong case for this bittersweet music...they have an intimate rapport and innate feeling for the undemonstrative yet deeply emotional content of this glorious music, providing three of the most live-withable accounts of these masterpieces in recent recording history.” Sunday Times, 4th July 2010 ****

“Gringolts, one of the most inspirational violinists around today, plays with panache and sensitivity, his partnership with pianist Peter Laul reaching heady heights in the slow movement of the second sonata, the most Janus-faced of all.” Financial Times, 10th July 2010 ***

“Gringolts shapes the music admirably well throughout” BBC Music Magazine, September 2010 ****

“Isserlis’s passion for Schumann overcomes the composer’s threadbare cello repertoire with this selection of works. But Abendlied still charms, an octave down, and the Stücke im Volkston is a blast of untranscribed Technicolor, picked out with vigour, charisma and delicacy.” The Times, 28th February 2009 ***

“This music sings and soars, flying to the instrument's highest reaches with dreamy eloquence and a sense of rightness, even though some of the works were intended for other instruments...with pianist Dénes Várjon as equal partner, [Isserlis] plays with fierceness and soul.” The Observer, 21st February 2009

“The really exciting performance here is Steven Isserlis's transcription of Schumann's valedictory Third Sonata: it's as if he's been preparing all his life to launch into its dark storm. This fabulously virtuosic and psychologically complex work forces his musicianship up to a new level. It's full of fiendish passages, lying extremely awkwardly on the instrument, but, even in the Finale, Isserlis masters these explosive flourishes and has the vital impetus to make an eccentric work feel whole.” BBC Music Magazine, April 2009 *****

“Perhaps the most ravishing item on the disc is the poignant Abendlied, arranged by Joachim from its piano duet form but then further borrowed by Isserlis, playing it down an octave. In his hands it's as moving a wordless Lied as anything you could imagine. For all that Isserlis has made many wonderful recordings, not least his seminal Bach Suites, I think this might just be his finest yet, with warmly detailed sound... and a typically acute note from the cellist himself.” Gramophone Magazine, May 2009

“If the Five Pieces in Folk Mode, Op 102, actually written for the cello, stand out from the rest, the whole programme is a delight, as both artists catch the music’s poetic ebb and flow to perfection” Sunday Times, 15th March 2009 ****

“Steven Isserlis has long been a stalwart champion of Schumann, through his advocacy of not only the often-maligned Concerto but also the chamber works. For this disc he has had to beg, borrow and steal but the results absolutely justify the means.
In the wrong hands, a work such as the Fantasiestücke, Op 73 (which Isserlis plays in its earliest incarnation), can sound a touch seasick, with too much swelling through every phrase, and a loss of the overall shape as a result. But how well Isserlis paces everything; some of his tempi are quite spacious but this gives the music a wonderfully considered and luxuriant aspect; the results never ever sound contrived. That's partly to do with Isserlis's sound (extravagantly he uses not one but two Strads on this recording), which has a very focused centre to it, but also his utterly innate relationship with pianist Dénes Várjon.
Perhaps the most ravishing item on the disc is the poignant Abendlied, arranged by Joachim from its piano duet form but then further borrowed by Isserlis, playing it down an octave. In his hands it's as moving a wordless Lied as anything you could imagine.
The substantial work here, though, is the Third Violin Sonata. Two of its movements – the Intermezzo and finale – originated in the multi-composer 'FAE' Sonata written for Joachim (for which Brahms famously wrote the Scherzo). Schumann later added two more movements to form his last large-scale work. It decisively refutes the theory that he had – metaphorically and literally – lost the plot by this stage. While it certainly doesn't conform to standard 19th-century sonata form, in Isserlis's hands it's a work of compelling power, whether in the terrifying scherzo sections of the second movement or the dreamy Intermezzo, a muchneeded point of repose in a work of great tumult.
The disc ends with the Fünf Stücke im Volkston, and finds Schumann in a more folky idiom. Too often these pieces can sound like an awkward amalgam of styles, but Isserlis again is utterly inside them, revealing Schumann's innovation even at this late stage, from the edginess of the first, via the tender, Brahmsian second one to the spirited fifth piece, where Mendelssohn collides with Bartók.
For all that Isserlis has made many wonderful recordings, not least his seminal Bach Suites, this might just be his finest yet, with warmly detailed sound and a typically acute note from the cellist himself.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“For any collector wishing to explore Schumann's music for cello and piano, Isserlis and Varjon are the obvious partnership of choice, and it is hard to imagine such superlative performances being easily matched, even less displaced.” International Record Review, July/August 2011

“…riveting performances from Carolin Widmann and Dénes Várjon. In their skilled hands the nervous pulsating of the First Sonata's opening phrases is resolved in a magical glow of C major… that momentarily resolves the underlying despair of the music which surrounds it. ...in the glorious D minor Second Sonata. Widmann's beguiling subtlety of phrasing, tonal colour and dynamic shading proves a revelation. She lives through each and every note, weaving a spellbinding emotional narrative that captivates throughout. Indisputably, one of the all-time great Schumann recordings.” BBC Music Magazine, February 2009 *****

“Schumann's violin-and-piano sonatas have never become favourite staples of the repertoire.
Full textures, with the violin mainly confined to its middle and lower registers, often continue uninterrupted for many bars, and a somewhat grey, monotonous effect can be compounded by the composer's obsessive repetition of certain rhythms and motifs. But is this a fair description? You wouldn't think so after hearing Carolin Widmann and Dénes Várjon; their imaginative, wide-ranging variations of tone colour unlock the music's romantic, atmospheric potential, and their command of genuine rubato – passionate, unimpeded forward motion followed by lingering backward glances – gives the sonatas an expressive flexibility that's surely authentic.
'With sorrowful expression', writes Schumann at the start of the First Sonata, and the surges of painful emotion in this performance, while sounding quite spontaneous, are rigorously based on the printed expression marks. Similarly, the gripping account of the Second Sonata's slow introduction starts from meticulous observance of Schumann's dynamics, slurs and staccatos, adding to this an entirely convincing rhythmic freedom. The opening page of this sonata's third movement, which creates a remote, almost chilling effect, isn't quite so convincing.
Back in 1952, George Enescu, playing with Celiny Chailley-Richez (Opus Kura), gen- tly arpeggiated his plucked chords and, on taking up the bow, found a beautifully intimate, confiding tone – this mood may well be closer to what Schumann intended. Overall, however, Várjon and Widmann are entirely persuasive.
Whether or not you know the music well, you'll be enthralled and delighted.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“…Carolin Widmann and Dénes Várjon's imaginative wide-ranging variations of tone colour unlock the music's romantic, atmospheric potential, and their command of genuine rubato - passionate, unimpeded forward motion followed by lingering backward glances - gives the sonatas an expressive flexibility that's surely authentic.” Gramophone Magazine, Awards Issue 2008

“These constantly sharp-witted performances with Denes Varjon are now among the best available on disc...Every bar in both of [the first two sonatas] seems freshly moulded in their performances, as if Schumann had rolled back the years to the surging lyricism of two decades before.” The Guardian, 26th September 2008 ****

“All in all, an ideal introduction to the world of late Schumann” BBC Music Magazine ****/*****

“An engaging chamber set - though you might take a break between sonatas.” Gramophone Magazine, April 2008