[quote]Isabelle Faust has brought strong-minded musical determination and steely strength to everything I뭭e heard her play, and Schubert뭩 no exception. It뭩 therefore especially interesting to hear how strongly she can characterize Schubert뭩 supremely awkward works for violin and piano. It뭩 no surprise that the long held note and tremolo with which the Fantasie begins sound foreboding rather than tranquil. Many almost disturbing ideas lurk in the shadows of this work, and Faust and Melnikov explore them with such sensitivity to their Cimmerian grumblings as well as to their piercing sweetness that the return of the opening near the end of the third-movement Andantino brings to their culmination all the foregoing expressive elements that have arisen from the darkest Schubertian regions. And Faust뭩 hard edge enables her to play with the requisite magisterial authority in the finale뭩 climactic passages. In her performance with Melnikov, the work grows to the proportions of the supreme masterpiece it has always been assumed to be. But Faust doesn뭪 approach everything so aggressively: her performance of the Sonata in A Major reveals its silvery lyricism as well as its velvet blackness. Faust뭩 and Melnikov뭩 Scherzo, however, explodes in supernova-like bursts of energy, a celestial furnace rather than a glowing campfire, and burns away all that might suggest mere Gem?lichkeit. The first strokes of the Rondo, however, usher in an even braver new world of expression, highlighted by a violinistic brilliance not often elicited in Schubert뭩 works. The sheer power, urgency, and animal excitement that Faust and Melnikov bring to this work sweep everything before them.
The 1701 Sleeping Beauty Stradivari, loaned to Faust, sounds as strong as she does in these performances; the recorded sound, however wide in its dynamic range, allows the violin to disappear occasionally into the piano뭩 cavernous depths, especially during several of the Fantasie뭩 tumultuous passages. But in evaluating performances of such riveting penetration and authority, the recorded sound must assume a secondary ?or even tertiary ?role. Strongly recommended (and more easily than Pamela and Claude Franck뭩 collaboration on Arte Nova 721280, 28:6 or Renaud Capu?n and J??e Ducros뭩 recent one on Virgin 63303) for unflinching revelations of a Schubert as a bull in the china shop of a genial Viennese soir?.[/quote] -- Robert Maxham
[center][b]FRANZ SCHUBERT (1797-1828)
Works for Violin and Piano[/b]
[b]Fantaisie en Ut majeur / C major / C-dur op. posth,159, D.934[/b]
01. Andante molto [3'18]
02. Allegretto [5'11]
03. Andantino [10'17]
04. Allegro vivace [4'02]
[b]Sonate en La majeur / A major / A-dur op. posth.162, D.574[/b]
05. I. Allegro moderato [8'36]
06. II. Scherzo presto [3'58]
07. III. Andantino [3'46]
08. IV. Allegro vivace [5'05]
[b]Rondo brillant en si mineur / B minor / h-moll op.70, D.895[/b]
09. Andante [2'40]
10. Allegro [10'31]
[color=red][b]Isabelle Faust, violin
Alexander Melnikov, piano[/b][/color]
