Sinding - violin music

Cantus doloris, Op. 78 [9:42]
Elegy in B flat major, Op. 106, No. 1 [2:54]
Romance in D major, Op. 79 No. 2 [6:01]
Albumblatt, Op. 81, No. 2 [3:16]
Alte Weise, Op. 89, No. 2 [3:14]
Ständchen, Op. 89 No. 1 [2:25]
Suite im Alten Stil, Op. 10 [13:06]: I. Presto [2:01] II. Adagio [5:58] III. Tempo giusto [5:07]
Andante religioso, Op. 106 No. 3 [4:23]
Waltz in G major, Op. 59 No. 3 (arr. W. Burmester, ed. Kraggerud and Hadland, 1st Version) [1:44]
Waltz in E minor, Op. 59 No. 4 (arr. for solo piano, E. Alnaes) [2:04]
Waltz in G major, Op. 59 No. 3 (arr. W. Burmester, ed. Kraggerud and Hadland, 2nd Version) [1:45]
Air, Op. 81 No. 1 [4:05]
Berceuse, Op. 106 No. 2 [2:40]
rec. Old Fredrikstad Church, Fredrikstad, Norway, 20-25 November 2006

Henning Kraggerud (violin); Christian Ihle Hadland (piano)

NAXOS 8.572254 [57:18]

This 2-disc release has been split (for UK) and the first disc has been sent for review separately; good to have discovered that Vol 2 had already been recorded !

Henning Kraggerud is one of the very finest violininsts now before the public and he is worthily partnered here by Christian Ihle Hadland, who collaborated in the research for this production and provides the notes.

Kraggerund (most recently heard at Wigmore Hall earlier this month*) appears regularly in London and has long been a favourite of ours, so one was minded to explore again Sinding, whose Rustle of Spring I used to enjoy playing fifty and more years ago, but had lost sight of since then...

This music, some of it slight, is played with such conviction that doubts soon disappear. And yes, the slow movement of Sinding's Suite im Alten Stil is indeed "subtle & unutterably beautiful". This wholly enjoyable disc has prompted me to hear Kraggerud play Sinding's violin concerto (Naxos 8.557266) and I recommend this disc of 'light music" unreservedly.

Peter Grahame Woolf

* Szymanowski's Myths was played with consummate artistry by Henning Kraggerud, as transcendental here as he was violent and dramatic in the Janáček Sonata.

"White Nights" - Russian Violin Music

STRAVINSKY: Danse Russe (from Petrushka), Berceuse (from The Firebird); TCHAIKOVSKY: Humoresque (from Two Pieces for Piano, Op. 10); MUSSORGSKY: Gopak (from Sorochinsky Fair); JUON: White Night Op. 49a (from Violin Concerto No.2 in A, Op. 49); GLAZOUNOV: Méditation in D, Op. 32; RACHMANINOFF: Romance No. 1 in D Minor (from Deux Morceaux de Salon Op. 6), Romance in A Minor (1880); PROKOFIEV: Violin Sonata No.1 in F Minor, Op. 80 –

Deborah Marchetti (Violin); Vovka Ashkenazy (Piano)
Sony Music SACD 88697 53081 2

Praised elsewhere, it was salutary to try to listen to this disc after Kraggerud's.

It begins with what might have been a nice selection of encores - but these dutiful, dull accounts make you wonder why they had been transcribed for vln & piano. Our fears were realised in a dour take on Prokofiev's sonata which I couldn't get through...

A disc made because every young musician needs one; OK for selling at gigs, not recommendable to our critical readers.

But there are other, more generous reactions to Ms Marchetti, "known for her multifaceted musical personality and magnetism on stage".

Peter Grahame Woolf