Various Composers - Catalan Violin Works (Janna Gandelman; Laia Martín)

Information

1. Enrique Granados - 12 Danzas españolas, Op. 37, H. 142: No. 6, Rondalla aragonesa - Jota
2. Enrique Granados - Romanza in E-Flat Major, H. 115
3. Federico Mompou - Elegía (after Mompou's Combat del somni)
4. Gaspar Cassadó - Violin Sonata in D Minor: I. Fantaisie
5. Gaspar Cassadó - Violin Sonata in D Minor: II. Pastorale
6. Gaspar Cassadó - Violin Sonata in D Minor: III. Finale
7. Federico Mompou - Altitud
8. Enrique Granados - 12 Danzas españolas, Op. 37, H. 142: No. 5, Andaluza (arr. Fritz Kreisler)
9. Enrique Granados - 12 Danzas españolas, Op. 37, H. 142: No. 2, Oriental
10. Enrique Granados - 3 Preludios, H. 135: No. 1, La góndola
11. Enrique Granados - 3 Preludios, H. 135: No. 2, El toque de guerra
12. Enrique Granados - 3 Preludios, H. 135: No. 3, Elevación
13. Federico Mompou - Scènes d'enfants: No. 5, Jeunes filles au jardin (arr. Joseph Szigeti)
14. Enrique Granados - 12 Danzas españolas, Op. 37, H. 142: No. 10, Danza triste - Melancólica
15. Xavier Montsalvatge - 5 Canciones negras: No. 4, Canción de cuna para dormir a un negrito
16. Jordi Cervelló - Prova di violino: I. Introduzione
17. Jordi Cervelló - Prova di violino: II. Burlesca
18. Jordi Cervelló - Prova di violino: III. Ricordando
19. Jordi Cervelló - Prova di violino: IV. Finale

Janna Gandelman, violin

Laia Martín, piano

Date: 2024

Label: Naxos

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Description

In the first half of the 20th century, Catalan instrumental music was dominated by the piano and the cello. For the former instrument, pianist-composers Enrique Granados and Isaac Albéniz contributed a great deal of original music, combining a knowledge of Spanish and Catalan heritage with original material in works such as Granados’s Goyescas and Albéniz’s Iberia. For the cello, Pablo Casals, who had rediscovered the Bach cello suites in the 1890s, wrote and commissioned a good deal of original music expressing the pride he felt in his home region.

As a result of this relative dominance, the importance of the violin in Catalan music is often overlooked. The first- time listener to this collection will recognise a number of popular tunes and their versatility in arrangements for violin and piano, while noting the ability and willingness of Catalan composers to embrace the violin in original works. The piano music of Enrique Granados is laden with suitable melodies for transcription, in particular the 12 Danzas españolas, published in 1890. In this unidentified arrangement the Rondalla aragonesa begins with the pizzicato violin seemingly imitating a guitar, before switching to rustic double stopping over the piano’s drone accompaniment. Andaluza has proved one of the most popular of the Danzas españolas, existing in many arrangements. One of the best known is from Fritz Kreisler, published in 1915. The melody is an easy fit for the violin, while the piano playfully probes with ornamented accompaniment. The unknown arrangement of Oriental, the second dance in Granados’s set, occupies a high register to deliver the plangent melody, doubled by the piano in octaves and thirds. Melancolica, the tenth dance, has proved extremely popular with guitarists but in this unknown arrangement the melody is shared between the violin and the right hand of the piano.

Granados wrote a number of original pieces for violin and piano, unknown in date and published after the composer’s death. These include a one-movement sonata for Jacques Thibaud and the Romanza in E flat major. A fulsome piece, the Romance was dedicated to Lauro Clariana, professor of mathematics at the University of Barcelona and a fine violinist. Granados writes an appealing legato line for the main theme, and in the central section gives the option for the ‘G’ string to be lowered by a semitone, heightening the contrast with the serene outer sections.

Although predominantly a composer for the piano, Federico Mompou wrote a number of fine songs. Damunt de tu només les flors, the first of three settings of Josep Janés collectively entitled Combat del Somni, was published in 1948. It was subsequently picked up by fellow Catalan Xavier Turull, a fine violinist who studied with Casals and premiered Roberto Gerhard’s Violin Concerto in 1964. His arrangement brands the song as an ‘Elegía’, assigning the tender melody to the violin before adding expression with a passionate double-stopped tune.

Gaspar Cassadó was a great Catalan cellist, spotted by Pablo Casals at the age of nine. Joining his new mentor in Paris, he studied composition with Ravel and Falla. Though his compositions understandably favour the cello, Cassadó learned a great deal about the violin in chamber music performances with Yehudi Menuhin and Joseph Szigeti, among others. Cassadó’s chamber music output includes a piano trio, three string quartets and this violin sonata of 1926, written in memory of his brother Agustin.

The sonata begins with a fiery fantasy, checked by an Allegro calmo section, where the piano’s limpid backdrop supports a sweeping violin melody. The second movement, a Pastorale, explores calmer waters, with a light-hearted second theme offering the violin greater freedom before the mood calms once more. The Finale, subtitled ‘dans le style populaire’, begins with a peal of bells from the piano before the violin strides confidently to the front with a popular melody from the well-known Catalan song Els tres tambors. A furtive second melody finds the instruments in close dialogue, but the brightly voiced music, a little reminiscent of Ravel, wins through. Cassadó’s brief implication that the work will end quietly is swept away by a quickfire coda.

Altitud, Mompou’s only published work for violin and piano, began as a series of sketches for an uncompleted string quartet. Written in Paris for the violinist Francesc Costa, it is a rhapsodic composition that nonetheless makes a strong impact. The broad melody at the start progresses to upper register musings in keeping with its subject matter, though a central section of greater density is more earthbound.

The Tres preludios for violin and piano are more original works, again undated, from Granados’ output. They are short and colourful enough to resemble musical postcards. La góndola features a bright melody and rocking accompaniment, then El toque de guerra pits the violin and piano squarely against each other before unity is achieved on the intimate Elevación.

Following Kreisler’s lead, a number of violin virtuosos looked to Catalan piano music for inspiration. Hungarian virtuoso Joseph Szigeti arranged Scènes d’enfants, the final movement of Mompou’s Jeunes filles au Jardin, in 1937. The violin begins with atmospheric harmonics before a playful discourse unfolds.

Born in Girona, Xavier Montsalvatge was a prolific song writer, his output headed by the Cinco canciones negras of 1946, which contain his most popular song, Canción de cuna para dormir a un negrito. Recognising its suitability for the violin, Montsalvatge renamed it Lullaby, its soulful melodic line becoming the ideal foil for a swaying habanera in the bass line.

The violin’s importance to Catalan musical expression has continued well into the 21st century. Jordi Cervelló’s Prova di violino, completed in 2012, is dedicated to the luthier David Bagué. Cervelló tried out a newly completed instrument in his workshop and, fascinated by the craftsmanship, recreated personal memories of Italian luthiers 70 years previously. Using ‘all the principal techniques and expressive devices of the instrument’, Cervelló completed a ‘test piece’ with similar outlines to a sonata. Each movement is longer than its predecessor with elaboration on dynamics, colour and expression. A mysterious Introduzione suggests an impressionistic picture of the dusty workshop, before the Burlesca trades bustling motifs between the instruments. The slow Ricordando contains rich double stopping, which becomes progressively more discordant. The Finale balances assertive violin statements with equally forceful ripostes from the piano before its central section takes on a nocturnal air. The sparkling coda ends on a high.

— Ben Hogwood

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Janna Gandelman (born 1967 in Chișinău, Moldova) is an acclaimed violinist who won numerous competitions in the former Soviet Union. After immigrating to Israel in 1979, she has served as concertmaster of major ensembles, including the Israel Camerata, Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra and Flemish Chamber Orchestra. As a soloist and chamber musician, she has collaborated with leading conductors and artists such as Gary Bertini, Gidon Kremer and Isaac Stern. Gandelman teaches widely, including at the Hassadna Jerusalem Music Conservatory and Tel Aviv University, and performs on a G.B. Guadagnini.

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Laia Martín is a Spanish pianist with extensive academic training, including a PhD in Music Performance from the University of Aveiro and advanced degrees from conservatories in Barcelona, Rovigo and Valencia. She debuted with Jeunesses Musicales Spain and has since performed widely across Europe and in Israel. Martín teaches piano at the Issi Fabra School of Music and the Pirineus Music Conservatory, and music history at the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya. She is also co-director of the Puigcerdà Music Festival, and director the Conference on Artistic Research in Music of the Pyrenees.

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