Meisterwerke

This album presents, side-by-side, old and new master composers, to demonstrate the virtues of both. Tartini was one of the very first of the Italian composers for violin, his most well-known piece being the “Devil’s Trill Sonata.” The glories of Brahms and Mozart need no explanation. In the very modern music there are interesting innovations for the listener to consider. In the Webern, in the first movement you will hear a technique called “collegno,” which means that the wood instead of the hairs of the bow is drawn over the strings of the violin, giving a strange uneven sound, obviously the effect Webern wanted to create. Legend has it that Schonberg wrote this “Phantasie” as a violin solo, adding the piano part after the piece was complete. The intricacy of the piece makes it difficult to believe that the parts could have been composed separately. They fit together so perfectly that they sound as if they were composed as one. Penderecki makes use of other modern innovations. The violinist, for example, is required to use his bow behind the bridge instead of between the bridge and the finger board, which produces very squeaky high tones. In the second movement, the violinist leans into the open grand piano as far as he can and plays into the piano, which causes the corresponding piano strings to sound in sympathetic vibration. The pianist plays no notes, but presses the keys silently and holds down the sustaining pedal, creating a reverberation. In the last movement the pianist plucks previously labeled strings of the piano instead of striking the keys, creating a pizzicato sound.