A landmark survey of violin treasures
Carolin Widmann dazzles in her first solo outing for ECM, says Ingrid Pearson
L’Aurore
JS Bach: Solo Violin Partita No. 2 in D minor, BWV 1004; G Benjamin: Three Miniatures; Enescu: Fantaisie concertante; Hildegard: Antiphons; Ysaÿe: Solo Sonata in G, Op. 27/5 Carolin Widmann (violin)
ECM 485 6803 67:18 mins
An ECM artist since 2008, Carolin Widmann at last makes a solo disc for the label. L’Aurore is far greater than the sum of its parts. In her selfproclaimed ‘little encyclopaedia’ Widmann pays tribute to the violin, traversing 12th- and 21st-century repertoire. The album takes its name from the first movement of Ysaÿe’s fifth solo sonata, a work dedicated to his friend and former pupil Mathieu Crickboom. Widmann’s recording of this work is a timbral revelation. Dawn unfolds in the opening movement through delicately spaced gestures, serving to articulate the overall structure, and the ‘Rustic Dance’ is simply dazzling.
Of the three miniatures by George Benjamin, the deft handling of texture in the ‘Lied’ is both magical and magisterial. Detailed textural nuances also characterise Widmann’s interpretation of the second of JS Bach’s solo partitas. She evokes those attributes of D minor heralded by Bach’s contemporary, Johann Mattheson; grandeur in the Allemanda and Ciaccona, devout calm in the Corrente and Sarabanda, and a genuine grace in the Giga. Widmann’s polyphonic sensitivity shines in Enescu’s Fantaisie concertante. Originally a showpiece for violin and orchestra, this solo version was compiled by violinist Sherban Lupu from Enescu’s incomplete October 1932 manuscript. Widmann uses the generous resonance of Lugano’s Stelio Molo Auditorium, in a captivating account of Enescu’s highly idiosyncratic work as well as in her two presentations of Hildegard von Bingen’s psalm antiphon Spiritus sanctus vivificans vita.
PERFORMANCE ★★★★★
RECORDING ★★★★★
The recording of Ysaÿe’s fifth solo sonata is a revelation