Karol Szymanowski (1882-1937)
K. Szymanowski is considered one the most prominent Polish composers after Chopin, whose influence Szymanowski himself always emphasized. A multitalented personality, he was a pianist, poet and writer. He was also a renowned teacher, director and reformer of the Warsaw Conservatory of Music. He toured Vienna, Germany, Italy, North Africa, France and the USA, travels which influenced his compositions. He died of tuberculosis at the age of 55 in Lausanne, where a bronze bust of the great man has recently been inaugurated. The Sonata for Violin and Piano op. 9 was composed in 1905 and first performed in 1909 by friends of the composer, Pawel Kochanski and Arthur Rubinstein. Written in Szymanowski's « first period », it is lyrical and romantic in its first two movements, energetic and impetuous in the third. It allows musicians to express a whole range of emotions as well as technical ability.
Fritz Kreisler (1870-1962)
Virtuoso violinist and talented composer Fritz Kreisler enjoyed trying out different styles : he often performed « previously unknown » pieces from great composers which he pretended to have unearthed and arranged, but which he had in fact ... composed ! This is the case of the Sicilienne et Rigaudon, supposedly written by 18th-century French composer François Francoeur. This charming piece begins with a sweet and melancholy melody followed by a light and virtuosic movement.
Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953)
Sergei Prokofiev is considered an independant composer, of no particular school. Born in Sontsovka, he entered the St Petersburg Conservatory at the age of 13 and studied orchestration with Rimsky-Korsakov, piano, composing and directing. He relished the process of inventing and the feeling of satisfaction deriving from hard work. He abhorred imitations and always wrote original themes even if his music was greatly inspired by Russian folk songs. In 1918, fleeing the Revolution, he tried to settle in the USA then in Paris, finally returning home to Russia in 1932. In 1938, Eisenstein, who asked him to write the music to some of his films (Alexandre Nevsky, Ivan the Terrible), described him thus :
"... a deeply Russian composer, with roots going back to primitive scythes and 18th-century stonemasons. His music reflects ancient times beautifully without sounding archaic or imitative but extremely modern, abrupt and daring."
The F minor Sonata, op. 80, was composed between 1938 and 1946 and dedicated to Prokofiev's friend David Oistrakh, who performed it first on 23rd October 1946. This powerful work evokes the rigours of Russian steppes but also the suffering and violent throes of the country in the Communist period. "Nothing that has been written for the violin in the past decades, anywhere in the world, can surpass the beauty and depth of this piece", said Oistrakh. The great violinist played excerpts from the Sonata at Prokofiev's funeral. Prokofiev died on 5th March 1953, just hours before Stalin.
Nicolò Paganini (1782-1840)
Born in Genoa in 1782, Paganini revealed himself an exceptional violinist from a very early age. Throughout his life he performed in concerts, first in Italy then abroad. La Campanella is in fact the 3rd movement of Paganini's 2nd Violin Concerto in B minor, op. 7, composed in 1826. The violin and piano version performed here was conceived by Fritz Kreisler, who made structural changes to the movement but did not alter the original melody. The piece, with its dazzling brilliance, humour and charm, requires extreme precision and explores the full extent of the instrument's possibility.
Claire - Anne Wyler Lazarevitch
Valérie Khatchatourian, translation
