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PACM026:
Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 1 in A, Op. 13 - Fauré
MP3
price
Heifetz
Emanuel Bay (piano) Recorded on 10th February, 1936
Rreleased as HMV 78s, D.B.3176-3178
Matrix
numbers: 2A: 99565-70
Download ID: 181758, 390704
(Duration
21'17")
Play
sample movement:
The chamber
music of Fauré was one of my first musical loves, and remains
a source of great inspiration and pleasure. His first violin sonata, written
in 1875-6 is an early work, but one which displays the full potential
of the composer, both melodically and harmonically, whilst still showing
signs of the Germanic classical tradition in the use of sonata form and
the gradual transformation and development of thematic ideas in the first
movement. The third movement, however, is a masterpiece of French wit
and brilliance, and it is this movement that I've selected for our free
download (below).
Heifetz
was undoubtedly one of the greatest violinists ever. He appeared to have
been born with an almost perfect technical ability, yet as this recording
dislays over and over again he could also play with great feeling and
emotion.
Perhaps
due to his long career, some of Heifetz's earlier recordings from the
78rpm era have suffered a surprising degree of neglect. A major retrospective
of his recordings, issued in the mid-1990's, was strongly criticised for
the lack of attention paid to this earlier material. With this newly remastered
issue of this lovely 1936 recording we hope in a small way to start to
put this right.
From a
technical point of view, restoring this recording left me being pulled
in two directions at once. The piano is somewhat distant and restrained,
whilst the violin is very much to the fore and had a tendency towards
being shrieky. I also wanted to retain the rosin-flying aspect of some
of the violin work, as well as the incredible delicacy heard elsewhere,
without leaving a lot of surface noise and hiss, both of which were as
high as one normally expects from mid-1930's British 78s. I hope I've
succeeded in all of this - but invite you to judge for yourself.
REVIEW
OF Faure:
Violin Sonata #1 in A Major, Op.13
(Jascha Heifetz, Emmanuel Bay) (1936)
This
is Faure's first substantial piece of chamber music and it
is a masterpiece. Heifetz is, of course, dazzling (is he ever
not?) and he negotiates the double-stops early in the first
movement so they sound intensely Schumannesque and not just
hard to play. The Andante is open-hearted and songful; the
scherzo is almost too brilliant. The finale goes by in a glorious
whirl, and suddenly it's over, and I'm left a little hungry.
It's like a meal you've eaten while you watched an exciting
episode on TV. Where did it go? And wasn't Faure supposed
to be a French composer?
I
decided to get a second opinion. I listened to Jacques Thibaud
and Alfred Cortot from 1927. From the opening piano notes,
we are in France, in a summer garden of light and shade. Then
Thibaud comes in with a cramped, narrow tone and perhaps not
always perfectly on pitch after the gleaming perfection of
Jascha. If only Cortot and Heifetz had been paired.
I
decide to try a modern performance and choose Joshua Bell
and Jean-Yves Thibaudet. Beautiful violin and piano sound,
very French atmosphere, but so much meditation, a bit of ponderousness
here and there. This IS Opus 13, not 113.
I
finally give in and go back to the Heifetz/Bay and am swept
away by its brilliance and vigor, even if still pursuing the
ideal Faure, Op. 13.
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