Feruccio Busoni (1866-1924)
Violin Sonata No 1 in E minor, Op 29 BV 234 (1890)
Violin Sonata No 2 in E minor, Op 36a BV 244 (1898-1900)
Nicola Bignami (violin), Lucija Majstorovic (piano)
rec. 2022, Residenza Lauro, Bologna
Tactus TC 860203 [62]
Busoni’s two violin sonatas deserve to be better known. The first helped win the Rubinstein prize for the composer in 1890, while he was particularly pleased with the second and called it his ‘real Op 1.’ He did not write much chamber music, so these works are the more significant because of that. Curiously, they are both in E minor.
The first sonata is in three movements and is very much in the spirit of Brahms’s violin sonatas, particularly, the third, in D minor. However, Busoni has three movements, not four, with no equivalent of Brahms’s ghostly scherzo. The movements are respectively fast, slow and fast. In the first movement, after an opening on the low notes of the piano, the violin soars with an extended theme while the piano has an elaborate part underneath. The second movement, marked Molto sostenuto, is a slow movement gracefully written for the violin. The finale is vigorous and dramatic. The themes are perhaps not as memorable as those of Brahms, but the work is nevertheless a good one and one can understand how it won a prize.
The second sonata is based quite closely on a model, Beethoven’s piano sonata in E minor Op 109. Beethoven’s first movement is unusual in beginning at a moderate tempo and then suddenly slowing down, with this alternation of fast and slow continuing throughout the movement. Busoni follows this pattern. Beethoven’s second movement is very fast, and so is Busoni’s, a tarantella whose main theme is a transformation of one from the first movement. The finale, like Beethoven’s, is a theme and variations, closely modelled on Beethoven’s except for the addition of one in the minor, which is more Bachian. There is a powerful fugue and a quiet ending. This is a really fine work and one can understand why the composer was proud of it.
The team here is an international one, with the Italian violinist Nicola Bignami and the Croatian pianist Lucija Majstorovic. They are both well established in their careers; I do not know whether they often play duets together. Here they seem in great sympathy with each other and deliver convincing performances. There are, however, several other recordings which couple the two sonatas as well as some featuring only the second, with works by other composers. I remain very attached to that by Per Onoksson and Kathryn Stott on BIS, which, as well as the two sonatas also has Busoni’s Bagatelles for violin and piano. They find more light and shade, particularly in the second sonata, in which Bugnami is rather too consistently intense for my taste. However, the BIS is nearly thirty years old, so, if you would prefer something more recent, this might well suit you.
Stephen Barber
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