Béla Bartók - Chamber Works for Violin, Vol. 3 (James Ehnes)

Information

Composer: Béla Bartók

• (01) Contrasts, BB 116
• (04) Violin Sonatina, BB 102a (arr. A. Gertier)
• (07) 44 Duos for 2 Violins, BB 104

James Ehnes, violin

Michael Collins, clarinet

Amy Schwartz Moretti, violin

Andrew Armstrong, piano

Date: 2014

Label: Chandos

https://www.chandos.net/products/catalogue/CHAN%2010820

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Review

Annotator Paul Griffiths imaginatively suggests that rather than calling his ‘clarinet trio’ Contrasts, Bartók might have opted for the more apt ‘Confluences’, a word that more accurately reflects the music’s conversational quality. The point strikes home with particular force in this witty, slimline and, yes, profoundly conversational performance, agility being a constant virtue and with never a hint of one player stealing the limelight from another. The nocturnal shimmering of the middle movement, ‘Relaxation’, is conveyed with cut-glass precision, and the closing moments of the ‘Fast Dance’ last movement are brilliant in the extreme. Rather than aping a rustic village band, Ehnes, Collins and Armstrong opt for a more astringently Stravinskian approach, save for the gentle bossa nova-style central section that sets in around the two minute mark.

André Gertler’s violin arrangement of the folk-infused piano Sonatina is a treated to a performance that is marginally sweeter than Gertler’s own (Supraphon, good though that is); but for a sequence that reflects just how much musical sustenance Bartók absorbed from folk out in the fields, you won’t do better than his 44 Duos for violins of 1931, teaching material that can instruct the listener as much it instructs the players. The range of musics on offer here is very wide: Hungarian, Slovakian, Serbian, Romanian, Transylvanian, Walachian, Ruthenian and Arabic. Bartók’s harmonisations, with their sudden flashes of beauty or meaningful dissonances, help bring out the flavours of each folk style much as a subtle range of spices might enhance the substance of a dish. Try the ‘Walachian Song’ (tr 13), ‘Mosquito Dance’ (tr 28), ‘Sorrow’ (tr 34, especially beautiful), ‘Dance from Máramos’ (tr 38), ‘Prelude and Canon’ (tr 44) or the gutsy ‘Arabian Song’ (tr 49).

The trick in performing all these pieces well is one of balance, making sure that the duetting element is respected down to even the tiniest detail. James Ehnes and Amy Schwartz Moretti are fully the equal of even their most illustrious rivals, their playing varied and characterful enough to make listening to any of the four books of Duos at a single sitting a real pleasure. A lovely programme.

-- Rob Cowan, Gramophone

More reviews:
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2014/Aug14/Bartok_violin_v3_CHAN10820.htm

https://www.classical-music.com/reviews/chamber/bartok-violin-works-vol-3/

https://www.allmusic.com/album/bart%C3%B3k-chamber-works-for-violin-vol-3-mw0002674377

https://limelightmagazine.com.au/reviews/bartok-chamber-music-for-violin-vol-3-ehnes-armstrong/

https://thestrad.com/bartok-chamber-works-for-violin-vol3-contrasts-sonatina-arr-gertler-44-duos/726.article

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Béla Bartók (March 25, 1881 – September 26, 1945) was a Hungarian composer, pianist and an ethnomusicologist. Bartók is considered one of the most important composers of the 20th century; he and Liszt are regarded as Hungary's greatest composers. Through his collection and analytical study of folk music, he was one of the founders of comparative musicology, which later became ethnomusicology. Bartók's music reflects two trends that dramatically changed the sound of music in the 20th century: the breakdown of the diatonic system of harmony, and the revival of nationalism as a source for musical inspiration.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B%C3%A9la_Bart%C3%B3k

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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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