Word: sonata
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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During the first work on the disc, Sonata concertata, we see a dilaogue that develop between violin and guitar, and while not terribly profound, it is still rather charming...
Shaham and Sollscher next chose to record three of a cycle of six "sonatas" (perhaps more accurately termed sonatinas), and these are clearly for the purpose of highlighting the violin. The extended left hand pizzicato passage near the end of the first sonata is mind-boggling, and Shaham handles the famous passage of thirds found in the latter part of the sixth sonata with uncommon finesse...
Throughout the disc, only in the Romance of the Grand sonata does Sollscher ever take the spotlight. Shaham makes for a very responsive accompanist, and even in a very delicate environment, Sollscher manages to avoid sounding tentative or hesitant. It is a pity that Sollscher was not featured more prominently, but the disc first and foremost a showcase for Gil Shaham...
That performance was part of a veritable Schnittke festival in the U.S. in recent weeks. Among the highlights: the American premiere of the composer's second piano sonata by pianist Boris Berman, the American debut of his Symphony No. 6 in Washington under Rostropovich's baton, and conductor Leon Botstein's North American premiere with the American Symphony Orchestra of Schnittke's Faust Cantata, an oratorio version of an opera in progress. Against all odds, Schnittke is among the most commissioned of living composers...
...eruption into revelry cited in the title. Amid reasons for sorrow, the Mundy women held onto joy. The three couples in Tennessee who come to the same lonely rural spot for a birthday outing seem defeated by ordinary travails. The one vital outburst, a passage from Beethoven's "Moonlight" Sonata played on the accordion, expresses rage as much as rapture and comes from a man who knows he is dying...