Pablo de Sarasate - Music for Violin & Piano Vol. 1 (Tianwa Yang; Markus Hadulla)

Information

Composer: Pablo de Sarasate

1. Danza española No. 2: Habañera, Op. 21, No. 2
2. Danza española No. 5: Playera, Op. 23, No. 1
3. Danza española No. 1: Malagueña, Op. 21, No. 1
4. Caprice Basque, Op. 24
5. Danza española No. 3: Romanza Andaluza, Op. 22, No. 1
6. Danza española No. 4: Jota Navarra, Op. 22, No. 2
7. Serenata Andaluza, Op. 28
8. Jota Aragonesa, Op. 27
9. Balada, Op. 31
10. Danza española No. 6: Zapateado, Op. 23, No. 2
11. Danza española No. 7: Vito, Op. 21, No. 1
12. Danza española No. 8: Habañera, Op. 21, No. 2

Tianwa Yang, violin

Markus Hadulla, piano

Date: 2006

Label: Naxos

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Review

Itzhak Perlman, Aaron Rosand, Alfredo Campoli (or, simply, Campoli), Charles Castleman, Rachel Barton Pine, and Ruggiero Ricci have all issued collections of the music of Pablo Sarasate. None of them sounds much like Sarasate, who recorded some of his repertoire, including the Habanera (op. 21/2), part of the famous Zigeunerweisen, the Caprice basque, the Capriccio jota, Zapateado, and the Tarantella from the Introduction and Tarantelle, in 1903. These artists to a large extent wrapped Sarasate’s silvery brilliance in a dark cloak of Slavic ardor, or, in Campoli’s case, Italian bel canto.

The young Chinese violinist, Tianwa Yang, born, according to the booklet, in 1987, plays Sarasate in a style more in sympathy with the Master’s lightness but aggressively, too, and smolderingly Iberian. All these characteristics can be heard in the third of the Spanish Dances, the Malagueña: thrusting sharp accents, sudden ritardandos, and flashing, buoyant passagework. It’s a different Sarasate than even Heifetz and Milstein presented, brilliant and showy though their Sarasate might have been. Yang has studied with Lin Yaoji at the Central Conservatory of Music, and her approach to this music sounds fresh and revelatory. Sharp edges notwithstanding, Yang’s playing flashes with insights that should catch the attention even of those who feel that Sarasate either has been played out or never actually deserved much attention. Dynamic contrasts abound, as they should.

The piano sounds bright and a bit raw, but Markus Hadulla shares fully in the sense of excitement that Yang creates. The recorded sound—-a close-up portrait of the artist, the 1749 Michel Angelo Bergonzi on which she played in these performances, and her accompanist—adds sizzle to the readings, already stimulating and riveting. The whole is akin to the effect of scraping layers of grime from a painting or of the period-instrument movement’s recreation of Vivaldi: flashing colors and strongly accented rhythms revivfying a repertoire that had perhaps been allowed to molder.

If her playing of the Romanza andaluza, then, doesn’t burn with Heifetz’s or Milstein’s laser-like intensity, it stands almost equal to their performances in its insightftul individuality. Similarly, her virtuosity in the Jota aragonesa sounds very different from, and more nuanced than, Ricci’s white hot rendering. Yang, in short, creates the same degree of sensation that Sarasate’s recordings themselves do, although she reaches slightly different receptors. It’s like a caffeine-laced drink on a gloomy morning. Having coached my son through a recital of these pieces last year, I’ve had the opportunity to think a great deal about them. But I never thought like this; and I wish I had. The highest recommendation, as a recording of special merit, to anyone even remotely connected with the violin and to everyone who isn’t—yet. It’s like first love.

— Robert Maxham

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Pablo de Sarasate (10 March 1844 – 20 September 1908) was a Spanish violin virtuoso and composer whose exceptional technique and pure, sweet tone earned him international acclaim. Beginning violin at five, he debuted publicly at eight and later trained at the Paris Conservatory. From 1859 onward, extensive concert tours established his global reputation. His artistry inspired leading composers such as Saint-Saëns, Bruch, Lalo and Dvořák to write works for him. Sarasate also composed virtuoso pieces for violin, the most celebrated being Zigeunerweisen (1878), a gypsy-style fantasy that remains a staple of the repertoire.

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Tianwa Yang (杨天娲, born 8 April 1987) is a Chinese classical violinist. She studied with Lin Yaoji at the Central Conservatory of Music. Yang debuted in Europe in 2001, performing with the Czech Broadcasting Symphony Orchestra in Prague. Her North American debut was in the 2007-2008 season when she performed at the Virginia Arts Festival with the Virginia Symphony. Yang recorded her first CD in 2000, at the age of 13, with a recording of Paganini's 24 Caprices, on the Hugo Classical label. In 2004, she began recording for Naxos, starting with a series of the complete works of Pablo de Sarasate.

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Markus Hadulla (born 1970 in Cologne) is a German pianist and educator. Trained in Karlsruhe, Paris and Yale, he gained early recognition by winning the pianist prize at the 1994 Hugo Wolf Competition. Hadulla has collaborated with numerous distinguished singers and performed at major venues including Carnegie Hall, the Concertgebouw, Wigmore Hall and the Berlin Philharmonie. He previously taught in Berlin and Karlsruhe and is now Professor of Lied and Vocal Accompaniment at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna. His recordings on major labels have earned several prestigious awards.

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