Franco Donatoni Archive

Franco DONATONI: Argot; Pierre BOULEZ: Anthèmes; Witold LUTASLAWSKI: Partita for violin and piano – Véronique Mathieu (vln.) /Jasmin Arakawa (p.) – Navona Records

by Audiophile Audition | Jul 7, 2017 | Classical CD Reviews

“Argot” = Franco DONATONI: Argot; Pierre BOULEZ: Anthèmes; Witold LUTASLAWSKI: Recitativo e Arioso; Subito for violin and piano; Partita for violin and piano – Véronique Mathieu, violin/Jasmin Arakawa, piano – Navona Records NV6105 [Distr. by Naxos] 45:17, (7/14/17) ***: Very impressive somewhat wild ride violin recital. Young Canadian violinist Véronique Mathieu is an appreciable talent, as is her pianist (in the Lutaslawski), Jasmin Arakawa. Artistically and technically this is a very demanding and impressive program of modern violin music. The title work, Argot, by Franco Donatoni, is, interestingly, the most ‘traditional’ sounding work here. Donatoni is not nearly as well known as some of Italy’s other mid-century and post-war experimentalists; such as Luciano Berio, Luigi Nono and the somewhat later Luigi Dallapiccola. Yet, his music is bold and expressive. The two pieces that comprise Argot are partly a technical flourish and partly an almost ethnic sounding expression with bits of gypsy and folk-inspired ornamentation throughout. A lot of Donatoni’s orchestral music is very challenging but well worth exploring, incidentally. Boulez’ Anthèmes has gotten a bit of play and some other recorded performances these past twenty years. Written for Yehudi Menuhin in 1992, Athèmes uses a variety of extended techniques and […]