|
Release Date: 10/31/2006
Run Time: 75:39
As a common form, the suite can be traced back to the Baroque era, when it served as a practical catch-all for short dances and airs. Because many composers of the modern period felt a certain kinship with the Baroque and regarded its methods and practices as ideal for the twentieth century (notably in the Back to Bach movement), the suite or partita became a workable alternative to the Classical sonata and the Romantic tone poem. This 2006 collection by violinist Daniel Rubenstein and pianist Muhiddin Dürrüoglu-Demiriz features five modern works for violin and piano that are clearly indebted to the partita, and one short piece that is a drastic condensation of it. Igor Stravinsky's Suite Italienne (1933), drawn from his 1920 ballet Pulcinella, leads off with buoyant energy and beguiling charm and is followed by Luigi Dallapiccola's delightfully witty take off on themes by Giuseppe Tartini, Tartiniana Seconda (1956). Next is Frederik van Rossum's incisive and brusque Graffiti, Op. 16 (1968), which is epigrammatic in its musical statements; this brief but dense work may be the shortest on the program, but it is difficult to miss in its bluntness. Alfred Schnittke's neo-Classically refined Suite im Alten Style (1972) returns to the amiability of the first two selections, but Witold Lutoslawski's angular and sometimes abrasive Partita (1984) demonstrates that not all modern composers used the suite for pastiche. To close, Rubenstein and Dürrüoglu-Demiriz perform Don Freund's Sonapartita Noch Nach Bach (2001), which brings a spirit of postmodern appropriation to the album in its ruthless recycling of J.S. Bach's Sonata in G minor. The relaxed recital atmosphere of this recording is a plus, and the musicians' interpretations are always appropriate, even though the moods of these pieces are highly varied. The sound of the recording is clean and warm, and the acoustics of the Théatre Saint-Michel, Brussels, are resonant without being a distraction. ~ Blair Sanderson, Rovi
Release Date: 10/31/2006
Run Time: 75:39
|
