小提琴奏鳴曲與小品集 (絲凱德姊妹)　Violin Sonatas & Pieces (Baiba Skride & Lauma Skride)

On their new CD the Latvian Skride sisters  present yet more composers from their extended Baltic homeland region (allowing that they include Norwegian Edvard Grieg, especially since he composed his Sonata in Copenhagen, then called Christiania). The uniting thread of the works on this CD is "finding one's own sound", something which each of the featured composers first had to find, and an element that the sisters effortlessly achieve as performers. All four composers on this recording share a close link with the violin, and all four had an ambivalent relationship with the German tradition. Grieg emerged as the lodestar above his three younger colleagues with his Sonata No. 2 in G major op. 13 of 1867; all four were friends and the other three dedicated their works to him. Grieg's Sonata introduces folk music influences into the expanded Romantic form in a completely new manner: not just as a quote or "tone", but as an integral compositional element on all levels, from the dramatically erupting, cadenza-like violin solo through to the internal motivic work. Throughout the entire piece, the piano is given what was once known as the "precentor/cantor function".

 

E. Grieg: ViolinSonata No. 2 G major op. 13
C. Nielsen: Sonata No. 2 op. 35 for Violin and Piano
J. Sibelius: Impromptu op. 78 No. 1 – Comodo
J. Sibelius: Romance F major op. 78 No. 2 – Andante
J. Sibelius: Religioso op. 78 No. 3 – Sostenuto assai
J. Sibelius: Rigaudon op. 78 No. 4 – Allegretto
W. Stenhammar: Sonata a minor op. 19 for Violin and Piano