Isabelle Faust & Ewa Kupiec - Bartók: Sonates Pour Violon (1997)

Since this recording was made in 1997, Isabelle Faust has built a name for herself as one of Europe's prominent violinists. The release shows she was outstanding from the very beginning. Together with pianist Ewa Kupiek, she has recorded the best Bela Bartok 1st violin & piano sonata I know. They try to get inside the notes, and re-create Bartok's living, breathing conception, with musicality and willingness to take risks. Faust and Kupiek create different sounds to conjure a palette of sounds; they play with tempi; they interject dramatic pauses. It's a vivid interpretation, as well as being technically accomplished. Be aware that this piece is for experienced classical fans, as the 1st sonata is probably the single most difficult of Bartok's works to absorb and understand, with three extended, almost atonal movements, characterized by very low levels of repetition. I have other recordings of the work by Isaac Stern/Yefim Bronfman (Stern has intonation issues and hasn't practiced enough, but an interesting interpretation, even so) and Midori/Robert MacDonald (a bland, disappointing take that is not up to their usual standards) and think Faust is the best of them.

Faust pairs the 1st violin sonata with the later solo violin sonata, dating from 1944, when the composer was sick with leukemia and living in Manhattan. The solo sonata is a problematic piece to evaluate. On the one hand, I am very familiar with the conventions of modern music and the tradition of solo violin music tracing back to Bach. In this context, I hear an ambitious solo effort by Bartok, with an interesting and generally successful opening Chaconne and Fugue followed by a dull slow movement and not very taking finale. Switching mental frames, I approach the solo sonata as a listener who doesn't much care about Bartok or Bach or modernism, but just wants to hear attractive or affecting music. In that second frame, the solo sonata fails: it's not pretty, it's overlong, it seems self-absorbed in an uncommunicative way. For me, the piece is almost like one of those doors in Harry Potter that open both ways into the normal world and the world of wizards, like a hinge between aesthetic mindsets. In terms of performance, Faust is terrific. The solo sonata is very difficult, and she meets the challenge with very good intonation and a sense of fluency.

Recorded sound is very good. A generally excellent release, in whatever way I approach the solo sonata. By jt52