Szigeti plays Bach, Brahms & Vaughan Williams Joseph Szigeti

• Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 - 1750): Partita No.3 in E for unaccompanied violin, BWV 1006:
• 1Bach: Partita No.3 in E for unaccompanied violin, BWV 1006: I. Preludio03:51
• 2Bach: Partita No.3 in E for unaccompanied violin, BWV 1006: II. Loure03:05
• 3Bach: Partita No.3 in E for unaccompanied violin, BWV 1006: III. Gavotte en rondeaux03:17
• 4Bach: Partita No.3 in E for unaccompanied violin, BWV 1006: IV. Minuet I01:28
• 5Bach: Partita No.3 in E for unaccompanied violin, BWV 1006,:V. Minuet II02:59
• 6Bach: Partita No.3 in E for unaccompanied violin, BWV 1006: VI. Bourée01:10
• 7Bach: Partita No.3 in E for unaccompanied violin, BWV 1006: VII. Gigue02:00
• Eric Wen: Violin Sonata No.3 in D minor, Op.108:
• 8Wen: Violin Sonata No.3 in D minor, Op.108: I. Allegro08:00
• 9Wen: Violin Sonata No.3 in D minor, Op.108: II. Adagio05:22
• 10Wen: Violin Sonata No.3 in D minor, Op.108: III. Un poco presto e con sentimento03:04
• 11Wen: Violin Sonata No.3 in D minor, Op.108: IV. Presto agitato05:54
• Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872 - 1958): Violin Sonata in A minor, I. Fantasia:
• 12Williams: Violin Sonata in A minor, I. Fantasia: Allegro giusto07:47
• Eric Wen: Violin Sonata in A minor, II. Scherzo:
• 13Wen: Violin Sonata in A minor, II. Scherzo: Allegro furioso ma non troppo06:06
• Violin Sonata in A minor, III. Tema con Variazioni:
• 14Wen: Violin Sonata in A minor, III. Tema con Variazioni: Andante10:05
• Total Runtime01:04:08

Info for Szigeti plays Bach, Brahms & Vaughan Williams

Joseph Szigeti is acknowledged as one of the most eloquent and thought-provoking violinists of the 20th century.

This album offers live performances by the violinist, accompanied by Carlo Bussotti, from a recital given in Seattle, Washington, in 1955. It includes Bach’s Violin Partita No.3 in E, Brahms’s Violin Sonata No.3 in D minor and Vaughan-Williams’s Violin Sonata in A minor.

Szigeti’s performances of the classical masterworks was unparalleled. His Bach interpretations were so renowned that Eugène Ysaÿe dedicated his first unaccompanied sonata to his younger colleague in acknowledgement of his affinity with the Leipzig master. And Szigeti had a direct connection to Brahms through his teacher Jenö Hubay, who gave the premiere of the Brahms Sonata (with the composer at the piano) that Szigeti plays on this album.

An ardent champion of 20th-century works, Szigeti promoted works by his contemporaries. In fact, he created a three-concert recital series entitled ‘Eleven Masterpieces of the Twentieth Century’ that he performed throughout the late 1950s. Although Szigeti made commercial recordings of ten of the eleven works in this series, he never recorded the Vaughan-Williams Sonata in A minor. This album offers not only the premiere of Szigeti’s performance of the Vaughan-Williams Sonata, but also the first release of his live 1955 renditions of the Bach E-major Partita and Brahms D-minor Sonata.

Joseph Szigeti, violin
Carlo Bussotti, piano

Joseph Szigeti
was a Hungarian virtuoso violinist.

Born into a musical family, he spent his early childhood in a small town in Transylvania. He quickly proved himself to be a child prodigy on the violin, and moved to Budapest with his father to study with renowned pedagogue Jen? Hubay. After completing his studies with Hubay in his early teens, Szigeti began his international concert career. His concertizing at that time was primarily limited to salon-style recitals and the more overtly virtuosic repertoire; however, after making the acquaintance of pianist Ferruccio Busoni, he began to develop a much more thoughtful and intellectual approach to music that eventually earned him the nickname "The Scholarly Virtuoso".

Following a bout of tuberculosis which necessitated a stay in a sanatorium in Switzerland, Szigeti settled in Geneva where he became Professor of Violin at the local conservatory in 1917. It was in Geneva that he met his wife, Wanda Ostrowska, and at roughly the same time he became friends with the great composer Béla Bartók. Both relationships were to be lifelong.

From the 1920s until 1960, Szigeti performed regularly around the world and recorded extensively. He also distinguished himself as a strong advocate of new music, and was the dedicatee of many new works by contemporary composers. Among the more notable pieces written for him are Ernest Bloch's Violin Concerto, Bartók's Rhapsody No. 1, and Eugène Ysaÿe's Solo Sonata No. 1. He retired from the concert stage in 1960 and occupied himself with teaching and writing until his death in 1973, at the age of 80.

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