Pablo de Sarasate - Music for Violin & Piano Vol. 3 (Tianwa Yang; Markus Hadulla)

Information

Composer: Pablo de Sarasate

1. Bolero, Op. 30
2. Zortzico de Iparaguirre, Op. 39
3. Serenata Andaluza, Op. 28
4. Adiós montañas mías, Op. 37
5. Le Sommeil, Op. 11
6. Réverie, Op. 4
7. Introduction et Fandango, Op. 40
8. Fantaisie Caprice
9. Prière et Berceuse, Op. 17
10. Confidences, Op. 7
11. Caprice sur "Mireille" de Charles Gounod, Op. 6
12. Airs écossais, Op. 34
13. Los pájaros de Chile
14. Les Adieux, Op. 9

Tianwa Yang, violin
Markus Hadulla, piano

Date: 2012
Label: Naxos
http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.570893

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Review

The young Chinese violinist Tianwa Yang has made a speciality of playing and recording the spectacular violin works of the legendary virtuoso Pablo de Sarasate. This is the third of her discs for Naxos covering the violin-and-piano pieces, most of them short, and she has also recorded for Naxos two discs of Sarasate’s rather longer pieces for violin and orchestra, most of them potpourris.

Her gifts are ideally suited to such a task with her flawless intonation, not least in the many passages involving high harmonics in the most extreme register. She is also brilliant in giving the many Spanish dance rhythms a winning lilt, so that this essentially trivial music is presented full of charm. One simply marvels and enjoys.

She begins with a delicious Boléro, with the main tune typically given a reprise on high harmonics. The Sérénade andalouse brings plentiful double-stopping and a waltz-like middle section, while Le sommeil (‘Sleep’) starts wth a hushed piano solo before the violin’s gentle melody begins. Rêverie is aria-like in construction with a waltz as the final section, while the Introduction and Fandango, in its sequence of contrasted sections, is longer than most items.

The Fantaisie-Caprice is just a sequence of effects, while the Airs écossais remind one of Bruch’s similar use of Scottish folksong (including one very similar) in his Scottish Fantasy. Yang has even managed to find a piece only recently published, Los pájaros de Chile (‘The Birds of Chile’), with the violin imitating birdsong. Such a disc can easily be dismissed but, as played by Yang, with well-sprung accompaniment from Markus Hadulla and clear, well-focused recording, it would be churlish to dismiss the delights of the disc.

-- Edward Greenfield, 

More reviews:

ClassicsToday  ARTISTIC QUALITY: 9 / SOUND QUALITY: 9
MusicWeb International  RECORDING OF THE MONTH

http://www.gramophone.co.uk/review/sarasate-music-for-violin-and-piano

http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2012/July12/Sarasate_vol3_8570893.htm

http://www.naxos.com/reviews/reviewslist.asp?catalogueid=8.570893&languageid=EN

http://www.amazon.com/Music-Violin-Piano-P-Sarasate/dp/B004UJE30K

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Pablo de Sarasate (10 March 1844 – 20 September 1908) was a Spanish violinist and composer of the Romantic period. Sarasate, who had been publicly performing since childhood, made his Paris debut as a concert violinist in 1860, and played in London the following year. Over the course of his career, he toured many parts of the world, performing in Europe, North America, and South America. Sarasate's own compositions are mainly show-pieces designed to demonstrate his exemplary technique. Perhaps the best known of his works is Zigeunerweisen (1878). A number of works for violin were also dedicated to Sarasate.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pablo_de_Sarasate

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Tianwa Yang (born 8 April, 1987) is a Chinese classical violinist. Yang began learning to play the violin at age four and at ten, began studying with Professor Lin Yaoji at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing. She debuted in Europe in 2001 and her North American debut was in the 2007-2008 season. Yang recorded her first CD in 2000, at the age of 13, with a recording of Paganini's 24 caprices, on the Hugo Classical label. In 2004, she began recording for Naxos, beginning a series of the complete works of Pablo de Sarasate, which will eventually cover 8 CDs. Yang performs on a Guarneri del Gesu (1730).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tianwa_Yang
http://www.tianwayang.com/en/

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