The helpful annotations, in English and German, have been written by Egbert Hiller. The violin has been warmly recorded in an acoustic which is favourable to the music’s dense intricacies, allowing clarity and definition.
Once again, Eggebrecht’s technique is admirable, not only in achieving flawless intonation, but delineating the contrapuntal strands of this intensely complex short score. The music is never permitted to sag, with a tight rein maintained as she contours the ebb and flow of its undulating and tortuous narrative.Īlfred Schnittke’s Fugue for solo violin, penned in 1953, offers a pleasing filler.
#SCHNITTKE FUGUE FOR SOLO VIOLIN FULL#
Eggebrecht has the full measure of the thorny narrative, grasping fully its complexities. Weinberg's vision isn’t exactly an easy one, and it all amounts to a fairly unsettling experience. Severe, dissonant and atonal would briefly sum up the sound world. Moments of high drama sit side by side with periods of anguished lyricism. Despite this, many disparate moods are explored, as the listener is taken on an emotionally soul-searching journey. The work is in one extended movement of twenty two minutes. 126 bears the dedication “To the Memory of my father”. The composer waited another ten years, until 1979, before his third foray into the medium. Probing introspection informs ‘Invocation’, with Eggebrecht’s vibrant double stops and high position bowing proving viscerally potent, as do the coruscating salvos of ‘Syncopes’. ‘Replies’ is the most lyrical, interspersed with some squally pizzicatos. ‘Rests’ is unusual, it's stop/start rhythm sounding rather quirky. All the movements are brief, the longest, ‘Invocation’, is of only 3½ minutes duration. An enigmatic work, Weinberg experiments, summoning up a panoply of contrasting moods over a seven-movement span (Monody Rests Intervals Replies Accompaniment Invocation Syncopes). Again it was dedicated to Mikhail Fichtenholz. Composed three years later in 1967, its mood is definitely more upbeat than that of its predecessor. It's striking how daring and highly original the Solo Violin Sonata No. Here the composer seems to vent his anger, with the finale somewhat in the manner of a moto perpetuo. Then comes a Lento, theatrical and declamatory. The third movement is mercurial and flighty, where pizzicatos alternate with lightly bowed figurations. In total contrast the Andante, which follows, is laden with despondency and anguish, with the violin a lonely figure wandering through stark terrain. Its broken chords are vehement and intense and certainly pack a punch. The first movement is frenzied, harsh and spiky. For me, the work has a close affinity with the Bartók Solo Sonata. Renate Eggebrecht steps up to the mark admirably with an authoritative performance of breathtaking impact. Cast in five contrasting movements, its technical demands on the soloist are unforgiving. 1, Op 82, was in 1964, and a year later it was premiered by its dedicatee Mikhail Fichtenholz. Weinberg’s first venture into the genre, with the Solo Violin Sonata No. Although these three solo violin sonatas are a new experience for me, I see that they have been recorded before, all three by Linus Roth on Challenge Classics, or singly on labels such as Toccata and ECM. Sadly it wasn’t witnessed by the composer who, at the time of his death in 1996, was almost completely forgotten. The Weinberg renaissance is going from strength to strength. April 2015, Clara-Wieck-Auditorium, Sandhausen Sonata No.3 for violin solo, Op.126 (1979) Sonata No.2 for violin solo, Op.95 (1967) Sonata No.1 for violin solo, Op.82 (1964) Support us financially by purchasing this from