Sonatas & Myths
Elizabeth Chang, Steven Beck
(bridgerecords.com/products/9590)
Listen
Szymanowski: Mythes: Trois Poèmes,, Op. 30 - I. La Fontaine d'Arethuse
Dohnányi: Violin Sonata in C# Minor, Op. 21 - I. Allegro appassionato
Bartók: Sonata No. 1 for Violin and Piano - I. Allegro appassionato
Read the Review
Violinist Elizabeth Chang describes the early 20th-century works on the new Bridge CD Sonatas & Myths as being by composers at the end of the Romantic period attempting to integrate their Germanic-based schooling with the emergence of new influences and styles. Steven Beck is the excellent accompanist (bridgerecords.com/products/9590).
Karol Szymanowski’s French-influenced Mythes: Trois Poèmes, Op.30 from 1915 opens the disc, with Chang’s bright, clear tone soaring through the mostly very high register writing. Ernst von Dohnányi, on the other hand, for the most part remained in the Romantic style of Brahms and Richard Strauss, his impressive Violin Sonata in C-sharp Minor, Op.21 from 1912 mostly looking backwards rather than forwards, although clearly showing the influence of Hungarian folk music in the second movement.
That folk music influence was even greater for Béla Bartók, who collected and studied Eastern-European folk music while also being influenced by contemporary composers like Schoenberg and Stravinsky. His Violin Sonata No.1 from 1921, though, is a complex work with less folk influence than you might expect.
Chang and Beck are in great form throughout an impressive recital.
