Bela Bartók (1881-1945)
Sonata No. 1 for violin and piano Sz. 75 (1921)
Sonata No. 2 for violin and piano Sz. 76 (1922)
Karol Szymanowski (1882-1937)
Mythes Op. 30 (1915)
Frank Peter Zimmermann (violin), Dmytro Choni (piano)
Rec. January and December 2024 at Robert Schumann-Saal, Kunstpalast, Dusseldorf, Germany
BIS SACD BIS2787 [73]
Szymanowski’s Mythes may seem a surprising coupling for Bartók’s two violin sonatas, but actually it is an appropriate one. The violinist Jelly d’Arányi, for whom Bartók wrote his sonatas, had introduced him to Szymanowski’s music, including the Mythes, and their intricate and expressive writing must have been one of the influences on his sonatas. Whereas the Mythes lean towards impressionism with their superfine subtleties of writing, in his sonatas Bartók reworks ideas derived from his studies of folk music mostly in the expressionist manner he had learned from Schoenberg, to whose music he was close during this period.
The first sonata opens with a movement that at first seems entirely rhapsodic but is in fact in sonata form. Here, as throughout both sonatas, the violin leads, though the piano part is is both demanding and rewarding. At no point do the violin and piano share or exchange material. The second movement is more Debussyian and evocative, beginning with a solo line in the violin, with much more elaborate writing in the middle section. The rondo finale is one of those frenetic dances so typical of the composer, taken here at an extraordinarily fast pace and played with dazzling virtuosity.
Before the second sonata we have the Szymanowski Mythes. These are a set of three tone poems. Szymanowski composed them in close collaboration with the violinist Pawel Kochánski, so, although he was himself a pianist, the violin writing is full of advanced violin techniques: double stops, left hand pizzicatos, harmonics and even quarter tones. The piano writing is comparably inventive and imaginative. The first of them, La Fontaine d’Arethuse features a soaring singing line on the violin over a shimmering accompaniment on the piano, writing obviously influenced by Ravel’s Ondine, from Gaspard de la Nuit, but entirely successful in its own terms. Narcisse is less a mood picture and more a narrative, with the violin weaving dance-like figures over a lilting accompaniment in triple time on the piano. The writing becomes increasingly elaborate and builds up to a powerful climax. The third piece, Dryades et Pan, was given a scenario by the composer, featuring a warm summer night, dancing dryads and the appearance of Pan, a further dance before everything quietens down. This is a scherzo, with Pan’s panpipes represented by a violin cadenza in harmonics.
Bartók’s second sonata is in two movement, with the first being really an introduction to the second, along the lines of the lassú and friss of the verbunkos style, which Bartók also used elsewhere, as did Liszt before him. The first movement opens with a theme in the whole-tone scale, which is treated to expressive elaborations and distortions. The second movement begins with the theme stated in pizzicato on the violin, before an increasingly ferocious dance ensures, with occasional moments of repose but with pyrotechnics on the violin before a quiet and evocative ending.
These performances are superb. Frank Peter Zimmermann has already displayed his Bartókian credentials in well-received recordings of the Concertos, Rhapsodies and Solo Sonata. He has also made one of the best recordings of the Szymanowski Concertos. Here he is partnered with Dmytro Choni, a Ukrainian pianist who has become his regular duo partner as well as having a flourishing solo career. They are both absolutely on top of these technically very demanding works, both in the more strenuous passages and in the many others, particularly in the Szymanowski, which demand the utmost refinement of tone. The recording is as good as one would expect from BIS; this is a SACD but I was listening in ordinary two channel stereo. The notes are good. The disc is presented in a cardboard gateleg sleeve, which has a spine detailing the programme.
There are, of course, many other recordings of these works, If you are primarily interested in the Bartók, I am very attached to the recording by Christian Tetzlaff and Leif Ove Andsnes (review review), and there is also a more recent one with James Ehnes and Andrew Armstrong (review). For the Szymanowski, two versions stand out: one by David Oistrakh with Vladimir Yampolski, now most accessible on a compilation disc of classic Szymanowksi recordings (review), and the celebrated one by Kaja Danczowska and Krystian Zimmerman, now on a Presto CD (review). For all Szymanowski’s violin and piano works together there is Alina Ibragimova and Cédric Tiberghien (review). However, even if you own or are attracted by any of these, don’t bypass this new disc: it is really wonderful.
Stephen Barber
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