Eugene Ysaye (1858–1931) trained as a violinist under such masters as Wieniawski and Vieux-temps, and yet his compositional style is very much of the twentieth century. Published in 1924 each of the six sonatas is dedicated to a fiddler of the day: the first four to Szigeti, Thibaud, Enesco and Kreisler respectively, and the last two to Ysaye pupils Crickboom and Quiroga. There is double-stopping virtually everywhere, so as to add harmony, and every type of device is used for variety's sake. And yet these are strong compositions.
Lydia Mordkovitch's familiarity with the different sonatas is not entirely equal, and to a certain extent this is reflected in the confidence of her playing. The works are too often dispatched with esoteric detachment, but she manages to make them personal statements. At times one could wish for a larger style, but then the outgoing and forceful finale of the First Sonata and the masterful way that she handles the accumulated sonorities of ''L'Aurore'' from the Fifth compensate for any overall shortcomings.
In the Second Sonata, in which the Dies irae theme is never far away, the familiar quotations from Bach and from the plainsong melody are not treated as being clever abstractions, but they retain a peculiarly surreal role in the context of the composition. The Third Sonata, this time in one movement (as is the Sixth), is sub-titled Ballade and it severely tests the intonation of the player. Mordkovitch copes marvellously, seldom sounding under strain. The Fourth, dedicated to Kreisler is predictably the most classical in content and the most conventionally approachable. The finale pays tribute to Kreisler's own style of baroque pastiche and here it is elegant melody that wins the day.
Despite finding the Sixth Sonata a bit tortuous, this is a release that demonstrates Mordkovitch to be one of the most musical and mature players of our day. Although she may lack the stature of an Oscar Shumsky (who recorded these works for Nimbus (2137, 8/83—nla), she fully explores the subtle style of the music and always is able to say something of her own about it. The channelling of the solo instrument has been well done and the sound has just the right amount of resonance. It avoids that harshness that so often spoils solo violin discs.
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