Composer: Ernö Dohnányi, Leoš Janáček
Performer: Hagai Shaham, Arnon Erez
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Hyperion
Catalogue: CDA67699
Release: 2010
Size: 293 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
Dohnányi: Violin Sonata in C sharp minor, Op. 21
01. I. Allegro appassionato
02. II. Allegro ma con tenerezza
03. III. Vivace assai
Dohnányi: Ruralia Hungarica for Violin and Piano, Op. 32c
04. I. Presto
05. II. Andante rubato alla Zingaresca
06. III. Molto vivace
Dohnányi: Suite for Orchestra Op. 19 (1908-09)
07. III. Romanza: Andante poco moto
Janáček: Violin Sonata
08. I. Con moto
09. II. Ballada: Con moto
10. III. Allegretto
11. IV. Adagio
12. Janáček: Dumka for violin and piano
13. Janáček: Romance, JW VII / 3
Janáček: Violin Sonata
14. Discarded movement. Allegro
Janáček: On An Overgrown Path
15. Book 1 No 02 A blown-away leaf. Lístek odvanutý
Hagai Shaham and Arnon Erez have been enthusiastically acclaimed for their dazzling duo performances: their infectiously relaxed bravado and continual flexibility belying their impeccable ensemble. For their latest disc they turn to two composers who are seminal figures in the development of Eastern European music during the early twentieth century.
Dohnányi was one of the pivotal figures in Hungary’s musical life. He composed a number of significant pieces for the violin, including two violin concertos; his most important chamber work for violin and piano is the Violin Sonata in C sharp minor Op 21, composed in 1912. Dohnányi was by then thirty-five years of age, and the Sonata is a fully mature work showing his individual development of stylistic traits of Brahms and Liszt combined with a structural economy which reflects the close study of Brahms’s sonatas. Also recorded here is Dohnányi’s most overtly folk-influenced work, Ruralia hungarica, and a movement from his First Orchestral Suite, in F sharp minor Op 19, Romanza, arranged as a thoroughly idiomatic piece for violin and piano by Jascha Heifetz.
In the first days of World War I Dohnányi’s native Hungary was invaded by the Russian army, which seemed for a time to herald the end of Austrian dominance in the region. This portentous event provided the creative spark for Leoš Janácek’s Violin Sonata (his only surviving violin sonata; two very early ones he composed in Dresden and Vienna in 1880 are lost), at least according to Janácek himself. Other works by Janácek heard in this recital include early pieces from his student years, and an arrangement of the delicate mood study ‘A blown-away Leaf’ from the celebrated piano work On the Overgrown Path.