Caprice – Pure Live IV

On this fourth live CD, Jeroen and Bernd play works by Ravel, Saint Saëns, Ysaÿe and Grieg. Recorded during a concert at the Zeeuwse Concertzaal March 12, 2023 Edvard Grieg: Sonata No.2 in G major, op.13
In this sonata (1867), both outer movements contain
elements of springar. In the first movement, after the
generous exposition, Grieg keeps the development short,
varies the material in the recapitulation, announces the coda
in the grand manner and signs off with a confident flourish.
The second movement is likewise in ABA-form. The E minor
outer sections surrounding the E Major middle panel. The
final is an individual amalgam, once again contrasting the
rhythmic-melodic motivic interrelationships of the melodic
material with more dramatic harmonic shifts.
 Camille Saint-Saëns: Havanaise in E, op.83
Composed in 1887. A dance with a syncopated, binary
rhythm and a strong first beat, freely developed in Rondo
form. A dreamy, lyrical melody on the violin serves as a more
peaceful refrain between highly virtuosic episodes. Camille Saint-Saëns/ Eugène Ysaÿe: Caprice d’après l’étude en forme de Valse
This highly virtuoso showpiece (composed 1901) was an
audience favorite in its days. An example of the flourishing
Franco-Belgian violin technique. It conveys the spirit and style
of the bell-epoque and brings together two leading musical
personalities of the era-the much-venerated composer
Camille Saint-Saëns and his young colleague, violinist,
teacher and composer Eugène Ysaÿe.
 Camille Saint-Saëns: Sonata in D minor, op.75
This sonata (1885) is a broad-conceived work, designed
like Beethoven’s Kreutzer Sonata, to create a brilliant effect
in performing, especially in the final. The dark passionate
opening theme with its syncopations, crossaccents and
constant changes to time-signature has a remarkable
rhythmic freedom. The sensuous Adagio, whose main
theme is beautifully formed as a dialogue between the two
instruments. The delicate minor-key scherzo that follows is,
most unusually, formed almost entirely from five-bar phrases.
The subdued colors of this piece provides a perfect foil to
the bright D major of the final with its dramatic contrasts
and virtuosic panache.
 Maurice Ravel: Tzigane
The Tzigane (1924) is basically a Hungarian Rhapsody in
the Lisztian manner, though spikier in harmony and rhythm.
Shifting speed impetuously and brilliantly colored with
harmonics and plucked passages, it whirls to a perpetualmotion
close.