Although Bartók's violin sonatas were thornier and less accessible than his very early sonatas for violin and piano, concertos for violin and viola. two rhapsodies for violin. Sonata for unac-companied violin. and string quartets. they were well received by the musical intelligentsia of the early 1920s. Only a composer of genius could sustain such a synthesis of modal foik
Improvisation with rigorous. uncompromising harmonic and formal logic for such extended periods (the first Sonata lasts more than half an hour).

Joseph Szigeti's recording of the second Sonata with Bartök himself at the piano was a touchstone of probing musicianship. to say nothing of authenticity Such decently preserved. celebrated Performances (Szekely's premiere of the second violin concerto should probably be counted as anothen are difficult acts to follow.

The Ensemble Villa Musica. represented by Ida Bieler and Nina Tichman. may not be Hungarian. but they are intense and insighttul Interpreters, igniting passion without warmth and achieving depth without intimacy. They probe beneath the quasi-improvisatory dissonance of these works to reveal an underlying coherence that's obvious only after it has been demonstrated. They communicate Banök"s terrifying message without gratuitous grinding and reflect the ethos it expresses
without indulgent ethnicity Bieler's tone is lean and edgy more fibrous than fatty: as appropriate to Bartök's oeuvre as we came to believe Szigeti's was. Like Ravel's violin Sonata, these works point up the instruments' incompatibility Bieler and Tichman. making no attempt to smooth jagged edges. show that apparent antagomsts can nevenheless cooperate. In the slow movement of the first Sonata and second movement of the second Sonata, in fact. Bartök's voice occasionally disappears. allowing the musical ideas to speak for themselves.

Among recent recordings. Mark Kaplan's of the first violin Sonata (Arabesque Z6649. Fanfare 18:2. pp. 162-63) and. among all recordings. Szigeti's of the second. may still be prime choices (Gyorgy Pauk's idiomatic readings on budget Naxos 8.550749. Fanfare 18:3. pp. 107-08. are also worth exploring). but Ensembie Villa Musica's should appeal to anyone who responds to elevated music-making. And the release will be essential to those with a special interest in twentieth-century
string music or in Banök's seminal works for violin. Highly recommended.


Robert Maxham
Fanfare Sept./Oct. 1996