Which one is the rich one and which one comes from common means?
This reminds me of a movie, The Parent Trap (1961), where Haley Mills stars as the main character AND her twin sister. If you are of a more recent vintage, this was remade with Lindsay Lohan. 😑
Musically, perhaps it is most apt to compare this to Karen Carpenter (or Richard 😑) singing with herself in harmony, using the magic of recording technology.
On a Classical Music note, this is akin to how I don't know how to I feel about an organ being recorded separately
from an orchestra for a recording, sometimes thousands of miles away and many years later. Or perhaps a sampled pipe organ as opposed to the real thing. Thus, I am not sure how I feel about Tianwa
Yang performing a two-violin work with... herself.
Was there no one else to perform with Tianwa Yang... does she not have any fellow violin colleagues or pals to play with... or is no one good enough to perform with her? Was the Pamplona airport shut down that week? Is there a budget on ellipses...? The situation seem so manufactured in my mind's eye, even if, as a listener, I cannot really detect a difference.
I cannot fault the playing of Tianwa Yang, however. She has a strong musical voice from the violin, her harmonics are some of the finest I have ever heard, and I like how she plays multiple stops without dwelling unnecessarily. Plus, I love the exotic music, especially the Muiñeiras chanter mimicry.
Either way, this Sarasate series keeps improving upon itself, even though this program is filled with relative rarities, and especially considering the presence of an orchestra over a piano accompaniment.
A review from 2024
Well, if I enjoyed Volume 2 of the Naxos Sarasate Concertante Works series, Volume 3 is, if possible, even better. At this point, it is probably best to just get the whole set gathered together on Naxos.
I think the variety of this program is what most endears me to this music. While the Zauberflöte Fantasy is light and frothy, the Faust Fantasy contrasts nicely with some Romantic Era moodiness. Both ably showcase the sheer virtuosity of Tianwa Yang as a tour-de-force on the violin and her willingness to dig into Sarasate’s music.
The shorter works are equally enjoyable. Muiñeiras, with its North Britannia drones, is probably my favorite, although the songlike Venetian Gondolier and the Spanish dancing of the Caprice-Jota contrast nicely. I am uncertain regarding the two-violin Navarra, recorded with Yang on both parts, but the music is effectively exotic.
With only one more volume to go in this Pablo de Sarasate series, what more could one hope for? It is bound to be excellent.
Listen on YouTube
Works
Fantasy on Mozart's Die Zauberflote (13.02)
Fantasy on Gounod's Romeo and Juliet (12.00)
Navarra (6.26)
Muiñeiras (9.54)
Gondoliera Veneziana (9.51)
Caprice-Jota (7.15)
Performers
Tianwa Yang, violin
Navarra Symphony Orchestra
Ernest MartÃnez Izquierdo , conductor
Label: Naxos
Year: 2011
Total Timing: 58.50
Where each volume in this series has improved upon the earlier, this one is the first I have wholly enjoyed.
I really need to go back and listen to that first one to see if I was just in a grouchy mood that day.
After all, my mother-in-law came to visit... 😑
Find more Sarasate recordings HERE!
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