Rêves
Eugène Ysaÿe (1858-1931)
Philippe Graffin (violin), Marisa Gupta (piano)
Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra/Jean-Jacques Kantorow
rec. 2023, The Friary, Liverpool, UK (concertos); 2023, Grande Salle, Royal Conservatory of Brussels, Belgium (duos)
Avie 2650 [72]

Celebrated French violinist Philippe Graffin has released this new album of Eugène Ysaÿe’s works titled Rêves (Dreams), featuring world premiere recordings of a pair of recently discovered concertante works. There is a link between Graffin and Ysaÿe, as during Graffin’s study in America he was taught by Josef Gingold, a renowned violinist who had been one of Ysaÿe’s students.

The Liège-born virtuoso Eugène Ysaÿe began his solo career as a violinist from around 1885, becoming one of the foremost violin virtuosi, his careers continuing until 1930. In addition to performing, he was also a composer: he wrote several chamber works for violin with other instruments and a number of concertante works featuring the violin. Ysaÿe’s best-known work is the often-recorded set of 6 solo Violin Sonatas, Op 27. The ninetieth anniversary of Ysaÿe’s death in 2021 prompted many releases of his music.

In recent years, various long-lost manuscripts of works by Ysaÿe have been unearthed. Included are two incomplete works for violin and orchestra that musicologists have been able to reconstruct. Reaping the benefit is Philippe Graffin, who has recorded these two reconstructed concertante works, plus three shorter pieces for violin and piano.

In 1893 Ysaÿe began writing a Poème concertant for violin and orchestra for his pupil Irma Sèthe with whom he was having a clandestine affair. Suitably inspired, Ysaÿe wrote in a letter to Sèthe that ‘the Poème is ours’. It was never published, however, and languished forgotten. Xavier Falques painstakingly reconstructed the various manuscripts into a score for violin and piano. Graffin commissioned Mexican composer Erika Vega to orchestrate the score using Ysaÿe’s manuscripts and annotations, ensuring that all notes were Ysaÿe’s own. Graffin refers to the work as Ysaÿe’s ‘forbidden’ and ‘secret’ work and this is its world premiere recording. A highly Romantic concert-piece taking twenty-three minutes, it inhabits a palatably moody sound world. Graffin’s admirable performance conveys a passionate sense of drama together with a deep seriousness; one might easily consider the Poème as Ysaÿe’s love letter in music to Sèthe.

Ysaÿe abandoned a Violin Concerto in E minor dated around 1884-85. The first movement, then a fully orchestrated second movement, were found at different times. Draft sketches of the final movement were unearthed in the form of a violin and piano score that enabled reconstruction, including orchestration by Xavier Falques. Here, Graffin plays the world premiere recording of the E major Violin Concerto. In the opening movement, Graffin recognises the stormy character versus tender writing. Cloaked in mystery, the Andante has a yearning quality and the Finale is nervy and angst ridden, sounding like the precursor to a film score. Not surprisingly, the sound world of Ysaÿe’s two newly completed concertos reminds me of works by his older contemporaries Wieniawski and Vieuxtemps.

Ysaÿe’s 2 Mazurkas de salon, Op 10 are products of a Russian tour circa 1882. These early works for violin and piano are attractive salon pieces and were the first of Ysaÿe’s works to be published. The Rêve d’enfant (A child’s dream) for violin and piano is an agreeable piece written during a tour in 1900. Ysaÿe inscribed a dedication on the score to his young son Antoine, who was ill at the time. Accompanying Graffin in the pair of Mazurkas de salon and Rêve d’enfant is Marisa Gupta, who performs the piano part most effectively.

These Ysaÿe’s works were successfully recorded in 2023; the concertos at The Friary, Liverpool and the duos at the Grande Salle, Royal Conservatory of Brussels. A top-class soloist, Graffin is creating a recorded legacy of Ysaÿe’s work; as with this latest recordings, one senses that he has embarked upon a labour of love. 

Michael Cookson

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Contents:
Poème concertant for violin & orchestra (orch. Erika Vega)
Violin Concerto in E minor (final movement, orch. Xavier Falques)
2 Mazurkas de salon for violin & piano, Op 10:
– No 1, Dans le lointain
– No 2, Mazurka
Rêve d’enfant for violin & piano, Op 14