Prokofiev: Violin Sonata No. 1 in F minor, Op. 80

Janáček, Smetana, Prokofiev – Josef Špaček’s “Slavonic debut”.

Still only 26, the violinist Josef Špaček has already covered an enormous amount of ground. After completing his studies at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, he attended Itzhak Perlman’s class at the Juilliard School in New York, and he has given solo performances under the baton of outstanding conductors (Bělohlávek, Eschenbach, Honeck, Hrůša).

In 2009 he won the Michael Hill International Violin Competition (New Zealand), in May 2012 he became a laureate of the closely observed Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels and in the same year led the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra as concert master at the chief conductor Jiří Bělohlávek’s inauguration concerts. For his Supraphon debut, Josef Špaček has chosen works by Slavonic composers. The two duets from Smetana’s From My Homeland are considered the counterpart to his cycle My Country, while Janáček’s Sonata, which was introduced to the world by Paul Hindemith as a soloist, is evidently the most frequently performed Czech violin sonata. And when it comes to Prokofiev, the Russian master’s music is a truly heartfelt matter for Špaček (as a soloist, he has executed both of his concertos). The pianist Miroslav Sekera is a wonderful partner to Špaček on the recording, as are the superb and inspiring acoustics of the Dvořák Hall of Prague’s Rudolfinum.

On their fourth Challenge Classics recording, the highly successful Dutch duo of Isabelle van Keulen and Ronald Brautigam perform the complete works for violin and piano by Sergei Prokofiev. The pieces are the Sonata in F minor opus 80, the Sonata in D major opus 94, and the Five Melodies opus 35a.

Prokofiev only produced three works for the combination of violin and piano, two of which are transcriptions by the composer himself. The Second Sonata was originally written for flute and piano while the Five Melodies are song arrangements. The opus numbers and titles of both sonatas are misleading since the D major Sonata opus 94 had its premiere before the opus 80 Sonata in F minor.

Isabelle van Keulen has an established reputation as a violinist and violist of world class stature. She is closely involved in the performance of contemporary music, and works by living composers are part of her repertoire. Though she has performed with many famous orchestras and conductors as a soloist, chamber music is central to her music-making. She is particularly well-known for her formidable duo with pianist Ronald Brautigam and they appear together regularly at the Wigmore Hall in London.

Ronald Brautigam is one of Holland’s leading musicians. Over the last few years he has released several recordings with Isabelle van Keulen on Challenge Classics including CDs featuring Shostakovich’s Violin and Viola Sonatas (CC72071), Violin Sonatas by Richard Strauss, Respighi and Rota (CC72307), and music for violin and piano by Grieg, Elgar, and Sibelius (CC72171).

Janine Jansen has been a top-selling artist since her debut recording in 2004 for Decca sold 300,000 records. A major star in Europe, especially the Netherlands, Jansen has frequently topped the classical charts and featured in the pop charts.

For this release, Jansen is accompanied in the concerto by the London Philharmonic Orchestra under its Russian-born Principal Conductor Vladimir Jurowski. When she played the work with the LPO in London as part of its 2012 “Prokofiev: Man of the People?” festival, The Times hailed her as “a violinist who is right now on matchless form … a player that you follow wherever she leads”

Composed in the mid1930s, on the eve of his return to the USSR, Prokofiev’s much-loved Violin Concerto No.2 boasts the same accessible tunefulness and emotional directness as his enduringly popular ballet Romeo and Juliet, whose love music is ravishingly recalled in the soaring, songlike lyricism of the concerto’s slow central movement. For contrast the concerto is coupled with two chamber works conceived in the same decade: the stark yet expressive Sonata for Two Violins (1932) and the darkly tragic Violin Sonata No.1 (1938–46), which constitutes the composer’s covert memorial to those many friends and colleagues lost during Stalin’s Great Terror and the subsequent World War.

The composer Alfred Schnittke felt at the same time German, Russian and Jewish. He himself saw a connection between his 'poly identity' and the orientation of his works.

His string trio in two movements was created as a commission for the Alban Berg-Society in 1985 for what woulkd have been the 100th birthday and 50th anniversary of Berg's death. It is structurally based on seven thematic components, that range between changing colours and forms. At the same time the moods vary from friendly to gloomy, from sensous to shocking. Next to estactic-sensous broken chords and funeral march-allusions, a slow waltz motif becomes great importance, that can be understood as a homage to Vienna.

Sergei Prokofiev's Violin Sonata No. 1 in F minor, Op 80 is one of the darkest and most brooding of the composer's works. He started notating the initial themes in 1938, but the invasion of the Germans, and the evacuation interrupted his work on the project. Meeting David Oistrakh, the leading violin virtuoso in the USSR, put him back on track. In the autumn of 1946, Oistrakh, to whom the first Sonata is dedicated, and his regular piano accompanist Lew Oborin presented the work, the result of a turbulent 8-year incubation period, under direction of the composer. The 'Five Melodies' Op. 35a were initially vocal pieces, 'songs without words' literally. Prokofiev made use of the opportunity to experiment with the techniques and tonalities of a human voice, which would be treated like an instrument.

On this recording, the French violinist Louise Chisson presents major violin sonatas of the 20th century. Whereas Poulenc’s and Prokofiev’s sonatas date from the Second World War, Leoš Janáček’s sonata was written in 1914, at the beginning of the First World War. The works evince Impressionist elements, stylistic ruptures and a preparation of Modernism. Against the backdrop of the dates of composition of these works, it is surprising that there is also scope for lightness and beauty besides death, gloom and despair. Together with the Georgian pianist Tamara Atschba, Chisson effortless manages to walk a tightrope and convey the most expressive emotions from the darkest years of the past century.

The young violinist Benjamin Beilman was the winner of the First Prize of the 2010 Montreal International Musical Competition. He is rapidly gaining attention for his “impeccable” playing and “eloquence and flair”. MusicalAmerica.com

The present CD pays homage to the Italian great violinist Renato De Barbieri (Genova, 1920 – Trento, 1991), whose artistic life has regrettably been forgotten in these days. The careful digital remastering from the original LPs reveals the wholeness of his talent as virtuoso and performer. His gift is here enjoyable not only for works as Paganini’s Le Streghe and Ravel’s Tzigane but mainly also for twentieth century’s masterpiece Sonata n.1 per violino e pianoforte of Sergey Prokofiev.