George Bacewicz: Violin Sonatas Nos. 1 and 3 / Enescu, G.: Violin Sonata No. 2 Lydia Mordkovitch

• 1I. Assez mouvemente09:02
• 2II. Tranquillement07:56
• 3III. Vif08:06
• 4I. Largo03:16
• 5II. Allegro02:03
• 6III. Tempo di minuetto03:08
• 7IV. Andante sostenuto03:17
• 8V. Gigue: Molto allegro01:46
• 9I. Allegro moderato04:44
• 10II. Adagio04:25
• 11III. Scherzo: Vivo03:40
• 12IV. Finale: Andante05:32
• 13I. Preludium: Grave06:25
• 14II. Toccata: Vivace03:35
• 15III. Intermezzo: Andantino melancolio03:16
• 16IV. Rondo: Presto03:31
• Total Runtime01:13:42

Info for George Bacewicz: Violin Sonatas Nos. 1 and 3 / Enescu, G.: Violin Sonata No. 2

Bacewicz was the most prominent Polish female composer of the twentieth century and a renowned violinist who, by contemporary accounts, was surpassed only by Ginette Neveu and David Oistrakh. She left a legacy of over 200 compositions, many of which have never been heard in the West. The Partita was written after a long hospitalisation – the result of a serious automobile accident. Although Bacewicz’s body was immobilised, her musical mind must have been very active. She provided two versions of the work, one for orchestra and the second for violin and piano which we hear on this recording. Bacewicz’s Third Violin Sonata is one of her lesser-known pieces. Bacewicz is frequently labelled a neoclassicist, but she is much more robust and muscular in her approach than many of her contemporaries.

George Enescu was a prodigy as both performer and composer and was not yet eighteen when he completed the Second Violin Sonata. His world here is not Romanian, but rather influenced by Brahms, Franck and Fauré; however, the work still exudes a healthy respect for the tradition which he inherited.

Both Bacewicz and Enescu studied in Paris, and were professional violinists and pianists who imbued their music with a profound knowledge of their instruments, clearly demonstrated in this new recording.

“Herself a successful violinist, Bacewicz's violin works are idiomatic and stunningly effective. Lydia Mordkovitch produces ringingly authoritative interpretations: the music favours her rich, dark timbres and her capacity. The underrated Second Sonata of Enescu makes a perfectly-judged complement. Splendid performances of splendid music that deserves to be better.” (BBC Music Magazine)

Lydia Mordkovitch,Violin
Ian Fountain, Piano

Lydia Mordkovitch

Lydia Mordkovitch was born in Russia and studied at the Odessa Conservatory, then at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow where she was master pupil and assistant to David Oistrakh. She emigrated to Israel in 1974 and since 1980 has lived in Britain, appearing regularly with the London Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, The Hallé Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic and English Chamber Orchestra. She has worked with such distinguished conductors as Sir Georg Solti, Riccardo Muti, Vassily Sinaisky, Neeme Järvi, Richard Hickox, Hugo Wolff, Ian Leighton-Konig, Vernon Handley, Gennady Rozhdestvensky and Stanislav Skrowaczewski. An impressive discography of well over fifty recordings reflects her very wide repertoire, and encompasses music from the complete works for solo violin by Bach to the concertos of Shostakovich, her recording of which for Chandos won a Gramophone Award and a Diapason d’Or. Her work has twice been nominated for a Gramophone Award and has received seven Critics’ Choices; recent recordings have won major nominations or prizes across Europe. Lydia Mordkovitch has several times been named ‘Woman of the Year’ by the American Biographical Institute, and also ‘Outstanding Woman of the Twentieth and Twenty-first Centuries’. She is a professor and Honorary Member of the Royal Academy of Music in London.

The Royal Scottish National Orchestra

The Royal Scottish National Orchestra is one of Europe’s leading symphony orchestras. Formed in 1891 as the Scottish Orchestra, the company became the Scottish National Orchestra in 1950, and was awarded Royal Patronage in 1991. The orchestra performs a busy schedule of concerts across Scotland, tours internationally to Europe’s greatest concert halls and makes frequent appearances at the BBC Proms and the Edinburgh International Festival.

Neeme Järvi

Neeme Järvi is Chief Conductor of the Residentie Orkest (The Hague), Conductor Laureate and Artistic Advisor of the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, Music Director Emeritus of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Principal Conductor Emeritus of the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, First Principal Guest Conductor of the Japan Philharmonic Orchestra and Conductor Laureate of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. Since September 2010, Neeme Järvi will be the Music Director of Estonian National Symphony Orchestra (ERSO).

Maestro Järvi has amassed a distinguished recording repertoire that includes more than 400 discs on the Deutsche Grammophon, Chandos, BIS, Orfeo, EMI and BMG labels, as well as on the Detroit Symphony Orchestra’s independent label. In addition to a number of operas, he has recorded complete symphony cycles of Wilhelm Stenhammar and Hugo Alfvén; Niels Gade and Carl Nielsen, Sibelius, Brahms and Franz Schmidt, Martinù and Dvoøák, Estonian composers Arvo Pärt and Eduard Tubin; Glazunov, Prokofiev and Shostakovich and many others. Neeme Järvi and Göteborg Symfoniker (GSO) were awarded a Swedish Grammy for their recording of Aurora, Music from the Far North, and this reflects the high standard to which the orchestra were raised under his direction.

Booklet for George Bacewicz: Violin Sonatas Nos. 1 and 3 / Enescu, G.: Violin Sonata No. 2