Various Composers - Violin Virtuoso [Wei/ Nicholson] I like these encore collections, lots of small pieces of music, nothing lasting any more than five minutes, by over a dozen different Composers, a nice varied selection, though in this case Xue-Wei misses out on some possible gems [Paganini's Cantabile for example], and instead gives us some more run of the mill pieces [the Gershwin / Prokofiev / Rachmaninov items for instance], most of these pieces i've heard of, but there's two or three that are new that were good to acquaint myself with today.
Xue-Wei is Chinese, born in 1963, he emigrated to England in 1985, he quickly rose to stardom early in his career, winning a number of competitions, but has now dropped off the map, i never hear about him anymore, i like the layout of the booklet front cover, a picture of Xue-Wei deep in concentration playing [photo by Tim Jenkins], the very large name in orange at the top, the dark green and orange actually go well together, it's the different styles of lettering that actually do work together, this recital was recorded in 1990 i think.
The 3 pieces i liked the most were 2, 11 & 13, however i must admit that the recording isn't really top notch, it's reverberant, and fairly bassy, the piano sounds deep in the rolling bass, there's no plink of the sharp treble, the violin is better recorded, but it's still too much of a close recording, there's no lovely left and right distance, but the music is still great, here's a short synopsis of the 3 works that i thought were the best,
2 Sarasate - Playera, a fairly dark and solemn piece, it has a flamenco style in the piano, reminds me of the piano music of Albeniz, the melody in the violin can reach some wonderful sonorities [2:13-2:25 & 2:44-2:57], a sad lament in a way.
11 Gluck - Melody, another tune of sadness and regret, the violin is given a tremendous lyricalness, while the piano is reduced to mere accompaniment to fill in the gaps, there's cries of anguish in the violin when it reaches its zenith.
13 Tchaikovsky - Melody, a happier tune, and yet even here there's a sense of longing and nostalgia, the violin climaxes with some nice trills halfway through [1:25-1:38].
2 Sarasate - Playera, a fairly dark and solemn piece, it has a flamenco style in the piano, reminds me of the piano music of Albeniz, the melody in the violin can reach some wonderful sonorities [2:13-2:25 & 2:44-2:57], a sad lament in a way.
11 Gluck - Melody, another tune of sadness and regret, the violin is given a tremendous lyricalness, while the piano is reduced to mere accompaniment to fill in the gaps, there's cries of anguish in the violin when it reaches its zenith.
13 Tchaikovsky - Melody, a happier tune, and yet even here there's a sense of longing and nostalgia, the violin climaxes with some nice trills halfway through [1:25-1:38].
