Richard Strauss’ early Op. 18 Violin Sonata may be a little long-winded for what it has to express, yet it’s easy to see why virtuoso violinists are attracted to its soaring melodies and energetic assurance. The piano part offers no small challenge, and you need tons of technique, color, and stamina to do justice to its orchestral contours. Violinist Levon Ambartsumian and pianist Anatoly Sheludyakov fare best in the central Improvisation, where their eloquent, long-lined phrasing justifies a basic tempo that’s slightly brighter than the Andante cantabile Strauss indicates. The outer movements may seem less overtly dramatic and incisive to listeners who first heard this work with Heifetz or Kyung Wha Chung, both of whom maintain stronger tonal control in the finale’s taxing climaxes.
Less formidable competition greets Bartók’s rarely heard 1903 three-movement sonata. Although some of the work’s quieter moments already contain seeds of the mature composer’s eerie textures, the second movement’s flashier variations reflect the young Bartók’s high regard for Liszt’s much-maligned Hungarian Rhapsodies, while the prolix opening movement shows that Bartók absorbed Strauss like a sponge. Here Ambartsumian proves more technically and stylistically commanding and tonally resourceful than Reine-Brigitte Sulem on Centaur. My main quibble concerns the recorded balance, where the closely-miked violin appears to inhabit an acoustic altogether different from the relatively backward, dynamically constricted piano.
