This disc continues Thomas Demenga's project of juxtaposing Bach cello suites with contemporary compositions—by Elliott Carter (12/90), Heinz Holliger, and now Sandor Veress, whose music we can hear growing out of, and away from, its neo-classical roots in Bach's polyphony.
Veress (1907–92) was born in Hungary, but spent more than half his life in Switzerland. Celebrated as a teacher, he has been unduly neglected as a composer. The Solo Violin Sonata (1935) may be conservative, but its neo-classicism is strongly felt and freshly imagined: there is nothing desiccated or mechanical here. By comparison, the early stages of the Trio (1954) might suggest a composer who has lost his way as he tries to keep up with shifting twentieth-century fashions. The piece is not a total success—the proportions of the first movement don't quite work—yet it adds up to a persuasive synthesis, a 'post-Bartok' idiom borrowing something from the contemporary series style without abject surrender to fragmented expressionism. In this respect, it is fascinating to compare Veress's works of this period with the early efforts of his pupils Kurtag and Ligeti.
The Solo Cello Sonata (1967) shows that Veress retained and refined his special feeling for a musical line which balances fantasy and logic. The spontaneity of his invention is well conveyed by all three performances, and Demenga offers polished, characterful Bach playing in the First Suite. The sound is forward and clear, the extra resonance evident in the Violin Sonata beefing-up an excellent performance quite unnecessarily.'