Violin Conversations Works by Blackford, H Blake, M Butler, Hiscocks, Horovitz, Knehans, Malone, Musgrave, Rawsthorne and Wallen Madeleine Mitchell (violin), Andrew Ball, Howard Blake, Martin Butler, Nigel Clayton, Wendy Hiscocks, Ian Pace, Errollyn Wallen (piano) Naxos 8.574560 79:45 mins
British violinist Madeleine Mitchell has form when it comes to championing new music, and many of the pieces she plays here were written for her as gifts, she tells us in her booklet note – so it’s a case of ‘thank you for the music’. Her programme casts the net beyond the 21st century, drawing in Alan Rawsthorne’s Violin Sonata (1958) and Thea Musgrave’s Colloquy (1960), and a wide array of styles. Musgrave explores serialism in a tough, terse piece, while Rawsthorne offers angular gestures and whispers of waltzes. While most of the performances were recorded in 2022, in various UK venues, Rawsthorne’s Sonata was captured in Cardiff in 1996, in concert with pianist Andrew Ball. He died last year; this is Mitchell’s tribute to her long-time musical collaborator.
Martin Butler’s Barcarolles – a fantasy exploring the lilting, Venetian barcarolle – at 13 minutes, is the third substantial work, alongside Rawsthorne and Musgrave. Elsewhere, we have a selection of shorter pieces, each with a story to tell, some for solo violin, others for violin and piano. Horovitz gave Mitchell his haunting Dybbuk Melody as an encore for her debut recital, while Richard Blackford’s Worlds Apart evokes the isolation caused by the recent pandemic. If the album as a whole has a rather piecemeal feel, that’s no reflection on the committed, sensitive playing from Mitchell and her pianists.
Rebecca Franks
