VIEUXTEMPS: Fantasia appassionata, Op. 35; Ballade et Polonaise, Op. 38; Fantasie Caprice, Op. 11; Greeting to America, Op. 56 – Misha Keylin, violin/Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra/Andrew Mogrelia – Naxos 8.570974, 62:56 ****:
Virtuoso Misha Keylin (b. 1970) has made the music of Henri Vieuxtemps his special project, and these performances of works for violin and orchestra, recorded 2002 and 2008, signify the breadth of his commitment. Of particular note has to be Keylin’s spirited rendition of the Ballade et Polonaise from April 2002, in which he performs upon a 1715 “Baron Knoop” Stradivarius of elegant tone and lustrous resonance. Otherwise, Keylin’s personal instrument is the 1831 Gagliano that he plies with equally fervent bravura.
A spectacular violin virtuoso in his own right, Henri Vieuxtemps (1820-1881) brought the violin repertory up to a standard that Chopin had established for the keyboard. The sheer range of techniques proves a formidable arsenal, including double and triple stopping, off-string bowing, harmonics, and fast passages that refuse to relinquish the demand for an expressive singing line. The 1860 Ballade et Polonaise provides a perfect example of Vieuxtemps’ alternately noble and showy virtuosity, the semplice opening sad and wistful, then the stentorian transition to a dignified, high-minded polonaise whose tender moments maintain a sweep and throbbing pulse of a vast national reserve. The ambitious Fantasie appassionato in G Minor (c. 1850) came as a result of an extended Russian tour, and it exploits chromatic devices in runs and double-stops, a cadenza, and several contrasting sections, dolcissimo andante, moderato (and variations), largo and a wild Allegro vivace Saltarella that closes the piece in frenetic motley.
The 1840 expansive Fantasie-Caprice sounds at first like a folk impression in 6/8 by Bruch, but the succeeding Allegretto possesses a mischievous flavor in small steps and a dolce melodic foil. It could be an interpolation for a ballet sequence. The larger Andante utilizes two lengthy variations. Rocking themes over tremolos seem Vieuxtemps’ calling card, but even if we dismiss his constancy as “formula,” one cannot deny his innate capacity for melodic flair. The Andante has Keylin lisping sweet sentiments in double-stops. The effect reminds one of barber-shop quartet sentimental harmony. The mood shifts once more to a flighty to a perky aria with pizzicato accompaniment, the singing line well obligated to Paganini, then onward to a polonaise of spellbindingly wicked fioritura.
Vieuxtemps composed a series of “homages” to the United States as part of his three tours, his most famous the Op. 17 “Souvenir d’Amerique.” The thirteen-minute Greeting to America (c. 1855) opens martially, the solo entering with a noble pledge that will quite literally break out–via trumpet fanfare and modal chords from the solo–into a kaleidoscopic “The Star-Spangled Banner,” cross-fertilized by “Yankee Doodle” – the same motif and musical ploys that command Op. 17. A bold and beguiling “jingoistic” composition, worthy of note by Charles Ives! The entire album proves a delightful odyssey of large works by a master of the idiom for violin and orchestra.
–Gary Lemco
