Better than the First

 

I liked the first volume in the Naxos Sarasate Concertante series, but took some issue.

Whatever I heard there, it was fixed for this second entry, and Tianwa Yang's instrument sounds much more engaged with the composer's music.

I attribute this mainly to balances between the violin and the orchestra, but perhaps I just need to go back to that first one and crank it up some more.

While the two Fantasy's are the violin showpieces on this recording, it is the smaller works which appeal to me more strongly. The distant hunting horns in La Chasse give a fresh morning's feel to the hunt and I rather enjoy the endless violin tweetings from the nightingale in the El Canto. The other two are dance settings, one Russian and the other Spanish in flavor that offer some exotic flavor.

One odd choice is the separated tracks in the Carmen Fantasy, where the rest of Sarasate's Fantasy settings in all of the other volumes are one long track. Just an observation.

As with the previous volume, Tianwa Yang's technique is assured, and you really are able to see what she can do in the two Fantasy's based on Gounod and Bizet's operas. Let's hope for more of this!

A review in 2024

Violinist Tianwa Yang returns for a second volume of Pablo de Sarasate’s Concertante Works, with the famous Carmen Fantasy among five others, including another Fantasy on Gounod’s Romeo and Juliet.

 

I like the balances better on this recording, much more than the first volume on Naxos, where I thought Yang sounded too silvery and light despite excellent technique. Here, she is more to the fore in balance to the Navarra SO, and I think it represents her sound a little better.

 

The music is also more varied - the folksy Russian Songs, the twitterings of the Nightingale Song, the forested musings in The Hunt, and a final autobiographical dance. While there are plenty of exoticisms in this program, nothing seems too overbearing, and the focus is firmly on the violin soloist.

 

Yang revels in the technical feats. Her double (or more) stops are taken in time and her harmonics are solid at all times. The orchestra provide little more than support, but they do well in that position. Plus, this music is all so rarely heard with an orchestra as opposed to the more commonly partnered piano.

Listen on YouTube

Works
Carmen Fantasy (13.46)
Fantasy on Gounod's R&J (12.00)
Russian Songs (8.41)
Song of the Nightingale (8.37)
The Hunt (8.50)
Jota for Pablo (6.00)

Performers
Tianwa Yang, violin
Navarra Symphony Orchestra
Ernest Martínez Izquierdo , conductor

Label: Naxos
Year: 2010
Total Timing: 58.22

A much better entry into Sarasate's concertante works, and a better sound from Tianwa Wang in Naxos' sonics.

A nice variety of violin fireworks too!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Find more Sarasate recordings HERE!