Composer: Ernest Bloch, Gabriel Urbain Fauré, Franz Peter Schubert, Richard Strauss
Performer: Danbi Um, Juho Pohjonen
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Avie
Catalogue: AV2743
Release: 2025
Size: 864 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
Strauss: Violin Sonata in E flat major, Op. 18
01. I. Allegro, ma non troppo
02. II. Improvisation: Andante cantabile
03. III. Finale: Andante – Allegro
Fauré: Trois mélodies, Op. 7
04. No. 1 Après un rêve
Bloch: Violin Sonata No. 2, B. 58 “Poeme Mystique”
05. I. Andante moderato
06. II. Animato
07. III. L’istesso tempo (ma un poco mento lente)
08. IV. Animato
09. Schubert: Ave Maria, D. 839 (Arr. for Violin & Piano by August Wilhelmj)
Themes of art song, poetry and spirituality run throughout Poeme Mystique, the second solo album by Korean-American violinist Danbi Um. Following Danbi’s acclaimed solo debut album Much Ado – a showcase for her virtuosity and gilded tone – Poeme Mystique explores works of lyrical beauty and profound personal expression. Richard Strauss’ Violin Sonata, written in the year he met his future wife, is imbued with romance and intimacy.
Ernest Bloch’s Second Violin Sonata, the title work of the album, is by turns ecstatic, spiritual and fantasy-like. Inspired by a dream, Bloch incorporates a vast range of spirituality, including motifs from his Jewish-themed works, the Gregorian Credo, Mass Kyrie and traditional Amen.
Danbi weaves two shorter works amongst the sonatas. Gabriel Faure’s Apres un reve (“After a dream”), originally a French art song, becomes an exquisite song without words in this transcription for violin.
The album concludes with Franz Schubert’s Ave Maria, likewise originally for voice and piano, presented here in an arrangement by August Wilhelm.
Danbi’s refined collaborator is Finnish pianist Juho Pohjonen. Together they deliver a performance that is at once technically virtuosic and emotionally nuanced.
