Violin Sonatas & Pieces
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Edvard Grieg, (Karl) Wilhelm (Eugen) Stenhammar, Jean Sibelius, Carl Nielsen
Genre:
Chamber
Label: Orfeo
Magazine Review Date: 10/2016
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 72
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: C913 161A
Tracks:
Composition | Artist Credit |
---|---|
Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 2 |
Edvard Grieg, Composer
Baiba Skride, Violin Edvard Grieg, Composer Lauma Skride, Piano |
(4) Pieces |
Jean Sibelius, Composer
Baiba Skride, Violin Jean Sibelius, Composer Lauma Skride, Piano |
Sonata for Violin and Piano |
(Karl) Wilhelm (Eugen) Stenhammar, Composer
(Karl) Wilhelm (Eugen) Stenhammar, Composer Baiba Skride, Violin Lauma Skride, Piano |
Author: Andrew Mellor
But her Sibelius, on the same record, was something special. She is a player of rare intelligence and individuality, and so is her sister, who opens proceedings with a magical placing of the chords that introduce Grieg’s Second Sonata. Lauma makes this performance, marrying elfin dexterity with fresh air to which her sister responds with delicacy, a fullness of tone even at low volumes and that sense of innocence so central to the piece.
Baiba has never had the fullest lower register but she brings depth and darkness to Sibelius’s seemingly innocent ‘Impromptu’ from the Op 78 set, while in the ‘Romance’ we hear that sweetness and clarity that marks her out. There’s more of it in the first movement of Stenhammar’s only violin sonata: laser-like precision but heartfelt poise right at the top of the register. It’s a pleasant piece but the least distinctive on the disc.
And Nielsen’s Second Sonata? The playing is just as cultivated and beautiful; but, as with the concerto recording, that’s the problem. We should hear the seeds of inter-instrument sabotage being sown right from the violin’s opening reptilian slither. That develops into overt antagonism but rarely do the sisters audibly attempt to trip each other up or overtly flounce off on different paths; so often, their playing is just too refined, whimsical even. It’s the diligent respect of cultural Lutheranism – not any stretch of water – that I feel makes these Latvians play Sibelius and Grieg with such sensitivity but which continues to curtail Baiba’s Nielsen.
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