Claude Debussy; Edward Elgar; Ottorino Respighi - Violin Sonatas (James Ehnes)

Information

Composer: Claude Debussy; Edward Elgar; Ottorino Respighi

• (01-03) Debussy - Violin Sonata in G minor, L. 140
• (04-06) Elgar - Violin Sonata in E minor, Op. 82
• (07-09) Respighi - Violin Sonata in B minor, P. 110
• (10) Sibelius - Berceuse, Op. 79 No. 6

James Ehnes, violin
Andrew Armstrong, piano

Date: 2016
Label: Onyx
http://www.onyxclassics.com/cddetail.php?CatalogueNumber=ONYX4159

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Review

Is James Ehnes capable of making a sound that isn’t beautiful? If you’ve been following his career you’ll already have your own answer to that. If you haven’t, try from about 5'25" into tr 9: a passage of repose in Respighi’s mountainous passacaglia, played by Ehnes with such liquid sweetness and unforced expression that you might find yourself listening to it over and over again. Or take the beginning of the finale of Elgar’s Violin Sonata to hear how subtly Ehnes shades and shapes a line – and how pianist Andrew Armstrong makes it glow.

Those are merely examples: this programme of First World War-era violin sonatas is about much more than just ravishing sounds. Ehnes and Armstrong are intensely communicative duo partners and both can draw on a limitless palette of colours. They’ve chosen to bring out the darker facets of these three troubled works, charging the Debussy with a nervous energy that doesn’t prevent either player from responding to its Harlequin-like mood-shifts.

Their Elgar breaks open the romantic surface; and finds an unexpected kinship with Debussy in the interrupted serenade of the Romance – the interplay between the two players here is fantastical and profoundly tender. But they can shape long paragraphs too: listen to how the first movement of the Respighi ebbs to a close (from about 7'00" onwards). The Sibelius encore is both exquisite and perfectly appropriate.

If I’ve any reservation at all about this disc, it’s that these two superb artists feel at all times in complete control of the music: you occasionally miss the sense of abandon that you get from Kyung Wha Chung (or, in the Elgar, Lydia Mordkovitch). But you never doubt that everything that Ehnes and Armstrong have to say – and they ask more questions than they answer – comes from deep within the music. These are performances to return to.

-- Richard Bratby, Gramophone

More reviews:
BBC Music Magazine  PERFORMANCE: ***** / RECORDING: *****
MusicWeb International  RECORDING OF THE MONTH
https://www.thestrad.com/debussy-violin-sonata-elgar-violin-sonata-in-e-minor-op82-respighi-violin-sonata-in-b-minor-sibelius-berceuse-op79-no6/1802.article
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/mar/17/james-ehnes-debussy-elgar-and-respighi-sonatas-cd-review
https://www.limelightmagazine.com.au/reviews/debussy-elgar-respighi-sibelius-violin-sonatas/
http://stringsmagazine.com/review-james-ehnes-violin-sonatas-elgardebussyrespighi/
https://www.allmusic.com/album/violin-sonatas-elgar-debussy-respighi-mw0002918815

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Claude Debussy (22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. Along with Maurice Ravel, he was one of the most prominent figures associated with Impressionist music, though he disliked the term when applied to his compositions. Debussy is widely regarded as one of the most influential composers of the 20th century. His innovative harmonies and his use of non-traditional scales were influential to almost every major composer of the 20th century and also some modern music groups. Debussy's music is noted for its sensory content and frequent usage of nontraditional tonalities.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claude_Debussy

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Edward Elgar (2 June 1857 – 23 February 1934) was an English composer, whose many works have entered international classical concert repertoire. Among his best-known compositions are orchestral works including the Enigma Variations, the Pomp and Circumstance Marches, concertos for violin and cello, and two symphonies. He also composed choral works, including The Dream of Gerontius, chamber music and songs. Elgar has been described as the first composer to take the gramophone seriously. Between 1914 and 1925, he conducted a series of acoustic recordings of his works.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Elgar

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Ottorino Respighi (9 July 1879 – 18 April 1936) was an Italian composer and musicologist. He is best known for his orchestral music, particularly the three Roman tone poems: Fountains of Rome (Fontane di Roma), Pines of Rome (I pini di Roma), and Roman Festivals (Feste romane). His musicological interest in 16th-, 17th- and 18th-century music led him to compose pieces based on the music of these periods. Although Respighi was known primarily as composers of instrumental and orchestral music, he also wrote a number of operas, the most famous of which is La fiamma.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ottorino_Respighi

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James Ehnes (born January 27, 1976 in Brandon, Manitoba, Canada) is a Canadian concert violinist. Ehnes began his violin studies at the age of four and at age nine became a protégé of the noted Canadian violinist Francis Chaplin. He studied with Sally Thomas at the Meadowmount School of Music and from 1993 to 1997 at The Juilliard School. Ehnes is Artistic Director of the Seattle Chamber Music Society and founder of the Ehnes Quartet. His recordings have won numerous awards and prizes, including 9 Junos, a Grammy, and a Gramophone Award. Ehnes performs on the 1715 "Marsick" Stradivarius.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Ehnes

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