Rachel Kolly BACH Partitas

 

PARTITAS

 

Rachel Kolly d’Alba / Christian Chamorel LYRICAL JOURNEY

The two musicians have known each other since an early age and ever since have performed together intensely on every continent across the planet. For their second album together, the violinist Rachel Kolly d’Alba and the pianist Christian Chamorel have chosen two of the most demanding sonatas from the post-romantic repertoire. 

Linking the Belgian Guillaume Lekeu and the German Richard Strauss on the same disc is as captivating as the dialogue between their two inspired interpreters. Richard Strauss wrote his Sonata op. 18 in 1886 and Guillaume Lekeu followed him 6 years later. Besides this chronological proximity, the two composers were both 22 when they composed these works: so it’s natural to ask if these sonatas have other points in common.

Rachel Kolly d'Alba FRENCH IMPRESSIONS

Warner Classics' album French Impressions, with Swiss violinist Rachel Kolly d'Alba, is not, as you might initially expect, a survey of French violin works from the so-called Impressionists. Rather, it is an intriguing look at the many different directions French art music was taking in the early part of the 20th century. From the Third Violin Concerto of Saint-Saëns -- a longtime holdout of the Romantic style, although he accepted and encouraged the advancements of his compatriots -- to the exotic, virtuosic, and flashy Tzigane of Ravel, this program has more to offer listeners than just a grouping of Impressionist works. Likewise, d'Alba offers her listeners a breadth of colors and moods that match nicely with the changing characteristics of the scores. The Saint-Saëns concerto is played with invigorating force and drive, yielding a spontaneous, off-the-cuff feeling. Both the Ysaÿe works as well as the Chausson Poème are played with beautifully shaped, long, flowing lines and sensitive, careful application of dynamics. And finally Tzigane, in which d'Alba gets to show off her ample technique, punctuated articulation, and nimble bow arm. D'Alba produces a voluminous sound on her Vuilaume violin, so much so that her sound is almost too big and too present for the somewhat low recorded level of the accompanying orchestra.