[ Onyx / CD ]
Release Date: Friday 26 March 2021
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Multi award-winning violinist James Ehnes recorded this album during lockdown at his home. Recording commenced in the early hours of the morning when all was quiet in the house. The solo violin, recorded in the small hours during these troubled times makes for a powerful and intimate listening experience.
Ysaÿe's six sonatas for solo violin are, together with J.S Bach's Sonatas & Partitas and the most important extended works for the solo violin. Ysaye composed each one of them with a particular violinist in mind, capturing their personality and characteristics of their playing. These sonatas represent the stylistic bridge between the old and the new, between tradition and improvisation, offering a glimpse into a "golden" era of fast evolving traditions of playing, of which Ysaÿe was one of the leading voices.
'Ehnes's 'centrist' approach keeps your attention focused on the music, leaving you to marvel at his technique only after you've stopped listening.' Gramophone Award WINNER 2022 - Instrumental
"Ehnes's breathtaking virtuosity is subsumed entirely into the musicality of these performances, bubbling to the surface only for passages such as the swashbuckling defiance that concludes the Third Sonata…a project that stands as a worthy testament to remarkable times." BBC Music
Sonata No. 1 in G Minor, Op. 27
Sonata No. 2 in A Minor, Op. 27
Sonata No. 3 in D Minor, Op. 27
Sonata No. 4 in E minor, Op. 27
Sonata No. 5 in G Major, Op. 27
Sonata No. 6 in E Major, Op. 27