Pablo de Sarasate - Music for Violin & Orchestra Vol. 4 (Tianwa Yang; Ernest Martínez Izquierdo)

Information

Composer: Pablo de Sarasate

1. Introduction and Tarantella, Op. 43
2. Jota de San Fermín, Op. 36
3. Fantaisie sur le 'Don Juan' de Mozart, Op. 51
4. Fantaisie sur 'Der Freischütz' de Weber, Op. 14
5. Jota de Pamplona, Op. 50
6. Airs écossais, Op. 34
7. Le Rêve, Op. 53
8. L'Esprit follet, Op. 48

Tianwa Yang, violin

Orquesta Sinfónica de Navarra

Ernest Martínez Izquierdo, conductor

Date: 2013

Label: Naxos

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Review

Violinist Tianwa Yang is here to take us on another first-class ride down the Sarasate Express.

 

This is the last orchestral instalment of the series; the rest of the complete violin music will have Yang accompanied by piano. The playing is here as perfectly matched to the composer as it was in the previous volumes: big, warm, romantic tone, luxurious treatment for all the melodies, and a virtuosity so easy that the word “easy” somehow seems insufficient.

 

Every time I review a Yang album I try again to describe what makes her playing so bewitching. Maybe it’s that, hearing her play, the music-making sounds as easy as picking up a violin and a bow and magically producing golden sounds. Maybe it’s how generous she is, sharing a romantic spirit with violinists who recorded albums in the 1930s. Maybe it’s the warmth and “width” of the sound she produces.

 

At any rate, Naxos’s choice of pairing her with Sarasate was always inspired. Here she gets some lesser fare and makes it all sound lovely, from the Don Giovanni fantasy - none of the darker motifs are present, nor “La ci darem” - to the rather more interesting fantasy on Weber. There’s a multi-ethnic theme: Introduction and Tarantella, a Spanish jota, even some Scottish airs. Although I don’t think there are any hidden masterworks here, there are certainly pleasures. Best of these is Le Rêve, a surprising tone poem which takes the listener to places Sarasate hardly ever goes.

 

The Navarra Symphony continues to be an adequate backing band, and the sound quality is as good as ever. Collectors of this series should rejoice, although most of the best music was in the earlier volumes.

 

— Brian Reinhart

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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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