STANFORD Complete works for Violin and Piano
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Charles Villiers Stanford
Genre:
Chamber
Magazine Review Date: 04/2014
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 220
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: SH100
Tracks:
Composition | Artist Credit |
---|---|
Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 1 |
Charles Villiers Stanford, Composer
Alberto Bologni, Violin Charles Villiers Stanford, Composer Christopher Howell, Piano |
(3) Intermezzos |
Charles Villiers Stanford, Composer
Alberto Bologni, Violin Charles Villiers Stanford, Composer Christopher Howell, Piano |
Legend |
Charles Villiers Stanford, Composer
Alberto Bologni, Violin Charles Villiers Stanford, Composer Christopher Howell, Piano |
Album-leaf |
Charles Villiers Stanford, Composer
Alberto Bologni, Violin Charles Villiers Stanford, Composer Christopher Howell, Piano |
6 Irish Dances |
Charles Villiers Stanford, Composer
Alberto Bologni, Violin Charles Villiers Stanford, Composer Christopher Howell, Piano |
5 Bagatelles in Valse-Form |
Charles Villiers Stanford, Composer
Alberto Bologni, Violin Charles Villiers Stanford, Composer Christopher Howell, Piano |
(6) Irish Fantasies |
Charles Villiers Stanford, Composer
Alberto Bologni, Violin Charles Villiers Stanford, Composer Christopher Howell, Piano |
(5) Characteristic Pieces |
Charles Villiers Stanford, Composer
Alberto Bologni, Violin Charles Villiers Stanford, Composer Christopher Howell, Piano |
3 Irish Airs |
Charles Villiers Stanford, Composer
Alberto Bologni, Violin Charles Villiers Stanford, Composer Christopher Howell, Piano |
(4) Irish Dances |
Charles Villiers Stanford, Composer
Alberto Bologni, Violin Charles Villiers Stanford, Composer Christopher Howell, Piano |
6 Irish Sketches |
Charles Villiers Stanford, Composer
Alberto Bologni, Violin Charles Villiers Stanford, Composer Christopher Howell, Piano |
6 Irish Marches |
Charles Villiers Stanford, Composer
Alberto Bologni, Violin Charles Villiers Stanford, Composer Christopher Howell, Piano |
An Ancient Melody |
Charles Villiers Stanford, Composer
Alberto Bologni, Violin Charles Villiers Stanford, Composer Christopher Howell, Piano |
Planxty Sudley |
Charles Villiers Stanford, Composer
Alberto Bologni, Violin Charles Villiers Stanford, Composer Christopher Howell, Piano |
6 Sketches |
Charles Villiers Stanford, Composer
Alberto Bologni, Violin Charles Villiers Stanford, Composer Christopher Howell, Piano |
Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 2 |
Charles Villiers Stanford, Composer
Alberto Bologni, Violin Charles Villiers Stanford, Composer Christopher Howell, Piano |
Author: Jeremy Dibble
Alberto Bologni and Christopher Howell give spirited readings of the two solo sonatas, which are strategically placed on the first and third CDs respectively. The first movement of the Op 11 First Sonata in D has an infectious momentum and, in the imaginative variation structure of the second movement, a pleasing character and sense of contrast. In the longer Op 70 Second Sonata in A, both performers respond to the richer and more lyrical demands of the score, Bologni with a fuller, passionate tone, Howells in the more opulent piano part.
Though the two sonatas are strong works, I am nevertheless especially drawn in this recording to the wealth of miniatures, many of them recorded here for the first time. It is particularly nice, for example, to hear the familiar Intermezzos, Op 13, so beloved of clarinettists, in the violin adaptation which the composer sanctioned, and well it sounds. The rather Celtic Legend has much fine music, as does the euphonious and somewhat melancholy Album-leaf. The Six Irish Fantasies, Op 54, here complete for the first time, reveal much fertile invention in an Irish idiom, not least the quirky ‘Boat Song’, the ‘Jig’ as a miniature variation form and the sonorous lullaby of the ‘Hush Song’ (a real gem for muted violin), though Gould’s interpretation has, marginally, a greater sense of yearning. The Op 89 arrangements of three of the imaginative Irish Dances are great fun (not least Bologni’s gossamer artificial harmonics in the ‘Leprechaun’s Dance’) and take on a new character from their original piano version. It is also surely time that the Five Characteristic Pieces, Op 94, such beautifully crafted and by no means insubstantial movements, were better known.
All the smaller violin works written between 1918 and 1923, which tell a story of Stanford’s need to earn money through the amateur market (he was hard up both during and after the war), are first recordings. Many of them are highly attractive, as are the unpublished Ancient Melody and Planxty Sudley. In toto, therefore, these three CDs provide a more than satisfying summation of Stanford’s creative output for an idiom in which he excelled. Highly recommended.
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