Lost American Violin Sonatas Volume One
Rossetter Gleason Cole (1866-1952)
Violin Sonata in D major, Op.8 (pub.1917)
Henry Holden Huss (1862-1953)
Violin Sonata, Op.19 (c.1894)
Henry Schoenefeld (1857-1936)
Violin Sonata in G minor, quasi Fantasia, Op.53 (pub. 1903)
Solomia Soroka (violin)
Arthur Greene (piano: Cole)
Philip Silver (piano: Huss, Schoenefeld)
rec. 2019/23, McIntosh Theatre, University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre and Dance, Ann Arbor, USA
Toccata Next TOCN0046 [77]
This is the start of yet another intriguing series from Toccata. It’s the inaugural volume of a ‘Lost American Violin Sonatas’ marque and focuses on three German-trained Americans born between 1857 and 1866. Rossetter Gleason Cole studied in Berlin under Max Bruch, Henry Holden Huss in Munich as a pupil of Josef Rheinberger and Henry Schoenefeld in Leipzig. All three returned to America around the turn of the new century to forge careers across the country – Cole first in Iowa, Huss in New York and Schoenefeld primarily in Los Angeles.
Cole’s Sonata, dedicated to Bruch and composed c.1917, is written in four solid, traditional movements and lasts half an hour. Its principal virtue is one of songfulness but there is a lot of passagework for the violinist to negotiate in the opening Allegro. A fast-paced Scherzo complete with a song-without-words B section follows, then a rather pensive Adagio, distinctly Germanic in sound. The playful, vigorous finale is topped by a brief reminiscence of the slow movement, like the Dvořák Cello Concerto, just before the coda.
Huss’ Sonata dates from around 1894. It’s a work of fluid lyricism that can generate a rather remorseless turbulence. Though it’s clearly predicated on Brahms’ influence, I found the contrasts too abrupt, and the demands for changes of tone colour from the violinist excessive. Even in the central slow movement the very fast Trio destabilises the sensitive lied that Huss initially establishes. The finale begins promisingly with gaunt, stalking piano figures and there’s confident sweep to the writing, but the overall effect of the sonata is unyielding and, to be frank, rather exhausting. The fault is Huss’, I imagine, and not that of the performers.
Huss is the only composer of the three whose music I knew before listening to this disc so my disappointment with his sonata was fortunately dissipated by Schoenefeld’s example, which was published in 1903. He exemplifies the Arthur Farwell tradition of Americana in his use of folk and other melodies and – praise be – unlike Huss, he allows room to breathe in this 25-minute example. The Sonata is subtitled quasi Fantasia and exudes a rich flexibility derived from a compound of the dual influences of Brahms and Dvořák, especially the latter. His contrastive passages are prepared with care and executed with discernment and themes are attractive. The finale has a particularly striking folkloric theme in the slow introduction, followed by a fiery Rondo full of wittier slower sections. Schoenefeld’s sonata is the only one of the three to display any real elements of American music and to do so fluidly and attractively.
These are all first recordings. Solomia Soroka is the adept violinist and she has co-written the booklet notes with her husband, Arthur Greene, pianist for the Cole Sonata. Philip Silver, is pianist on the Huss and Schoenefeld.
Jonathan Woolf
Buying this recording via the link below generates revenue for MWI, which helps the site remain free
