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Reviewer:
Caroline Gill
The overt
references to the Bach unaccompanied works for violin in Eugčne Ysa˙e’s Solo
Sonatas mean that the pairing of the two is neither a new idea nor difficult to
find. But a disc that is unsullied by third parties and leaves Bach and Ysa˙e
alone to thrash out their ideas is rarer, and enticing. Further, the combination
on this first volume of the two by the German violinist Antje Weithaas is a good
one: she has bookended the first two Ysa˙e sonatas – those most blatantly
influenced by Bach – with the First Sonata and the Second Partita, the most
important examples of each type from the unaccompanied violin works. It also
means the disc opens with the Adagio of the G minor Sonata and ends with the
Chaconne of the D minor Partita – two of the most affecting movements in the
solo violin repertoire. Weithaas expresses that the Ysa˙e sonatas are in part
performed here in order to give them some status, other than that of showpiece,
which they don’t currently enjoy. The considerable number of mainstream
recordings made of the complete set over the past five years suggests that her
perception is slightly behind the times. Nevertheless, it is particularly
exciting and refreshing to hear Weithaas in true isolation with her beautiful
and varied tone (on her modern Greiner violin, which she plays with
extraordinary skill of compensation, especially when maintaining the heavy poise
of the Chaconne) and absolutely meticulous technique. Most of all, you can hear
her complex thinking clearly evidenced in the light but ever-present dance lilt
in all Bach’s movements, despite their musical and intellectual gravitas. The
subtlety with which she brings out the many layers of dialogue in the Bach and
the noticeable contrast in the Ysa˙e, where she skilfully references the former
composer’s works but at the same time addresses the latter’s as compositions
with many points to make, is striking and moving: points that are not simply
about virtuosity either but, for instance, the challenge of continuity of
thought in the face of intense distraction, as in ‘Les Furies’ at the close of
the Second Sonata.
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