Search - Busoni, Mordkovitch, Postnikova :: Violin Sonatas 1 & 2

Outstanding modern performances

Joel Lazar | Bethesda MD | 01/01/2000

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Few contemporary violinists have championed the Busoni sonatas or concerto; the historical recordings by Szigeti have not only set the standard but with few exceptions, have kept these works alive for the record collector. Having heard the much-missed Pina Carmirelli perform the Second Sonata at Marlboro in the 1960s, and hearing Sergiu Luca's fine recording I didn't think there would be room for another contemporary version but this CD amply fills that space; while the Second Sonata, with its amazing fusion of Bach and late Beethoven dwarfs the First, it is still good to have the earlier work. Exemplary performances of both, if lacking in the personal identification both Szigeti and Carmirelli brought to this music; proving however that Busoni, often regarded as an also-ran, was in fact a supremely gifted and powerful contemporary of Mahler and Richard Strauss and that his music admits performance by those not in the master's immediate line of descent."