Notes and Editorial Reviews
The young American violinist Leila Josefowicz plays with thrilling verve and intensity. Her programme interestingly contrasts ‘serious’ virtuoso pieces, such as the Bartok and sonatas Ysaye sonatas, with technical tours de force (Paganini and Ernst). The recording is quite closely balanced, enhancing the directness of the performances. In the Bartok, Josefowicz stays within a few seconds of the composer’s meticulous timings, and one can feel the rightness of this in the stately rhythm of the Tempo di ciaccona, the fierce drive of the Fuga, and the scintillating final Presto. The main blemish is Josefowicz’s frequent unwillingness to play really quietly. The passage around 2'15'' in the Melodia is closer to forte than piano. This is the more
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disappointing since she produces some really beautiful pianissimos in Ysaye’s Fourth Sonata. Both Ysaye sonatas are indeed particularly fine, with a splendidly passionate account of No. 3 and brilliant bowing variations in the finale of No. 4. Her combination of technical certainty with intense emotional involvement carries her in splendid style through the Paganini, Ernst and the attractive Kreisler rarity.
-- Duncan Druce, Gramophone [2/1997]
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Works on This Recording
1.
Sonata for Violin solo, Sz 117 by Béla Bartók
Performer:
Leila Josefowicz (Violin)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1944; USA
Date of Recording: 06/1995
Length: 24 Minutes 12 Secs.
2.
Recitativo and Scherzo-Caprice for Violin solo, Op. 6 by Fritz Kreisler
Performer:
Leila Josefowicz (Violin)
Period: Romantic
Written: 1911; Austria
Date of Recording: 09/1995
Length: 4 Minutes 28 Secs.
3.
Sonatas (6) for Violin solo, Op. 27: no 3 in D minor "Ballade" by Eugčne Ysa˙e
Performer:
Leila Josefowicz (Violin)
Period: Romantic
Written: by 1924; Belgium
Date of Recording: 09/1995
Length: 7 Minutes 4 Secs.
4.
Sonatas (6) for Violin solo, Op. 27: no 4 in E minor by Eugčne Ysa˙e
Performer:
Leila Josefowicz (Violin)
Period: Romantic
Written: by 1924; Belgium
Date of Recording: 09/1995
Length: 10 Minutes 30 Secs.
5.
Introduction and Variations on Paisiello's "Nel cor piů non mi sento", Op. 38 by Niccolň Paganini
Performer:
Leila Josefowicz (Violin)
Period: Romantic
Written: ?1820
Date of Recording: 06/1995
Length: 10 Minutes 52 Secs.
6.
Le roi des aulnes, Op. 26 "Der Erlkönig" by Heinrich Wilhelm Ernst
Performer:
Leila Josefowicz (Violin)
Period: Romantic
Written: by 1854; Moravia, Czech Repub
Date of Recording: 09/1995
Length: 3 Minutes 57 Secs.
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