Bach - Busoni - Beethoven Yuuko Shiokawa & András Schiff

• Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750): Sonata No.3 In E Major, BWV 1016:
• 1 1. Adagio 04:04
• 2 2. Allegro 03:09
• 3 3. Adagio ma non tanto 04:46
• 4 4. Allegro 04:05
• Ferruccio Busoni (1866-1924): Sonata No.2 In E Minor, Op.36a, BV 244:
• 5 1. Langsam 08:31
• 6 2. Presto 03:19
• 7 3. Andante, più tosto grave 02:59
• 8 4. Andante con moto 17:13
• Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827): Sonata No.10 In E Minor, Op.96:
• 9 1. Allegro moderato 11:14
• 10 2. Adagio espressivo 05:55
• 11 3. Scherzo. Allegro – Trio 02:02
• 12 4. Poco Allegretto 08:56
• Total Runtime 01:16:13

Info for Bach - Busoni - Beethoven

Yuuko Shiokawa and András Schiff are heard here in an insightful programme of sonatas for violin and piano which begins with Bach’s Sonata No.3 in E major, ends with Beethoven’s Sonata No.10 in G major, and has at its centre Busoni’s Sonata No. 2 in E minor. As on their earlier and widely-admired recording for ECM (featuring Schubert Fantasies), Shiokawa and Schiff play the music with absolute authority and deep understanding.

Most of Johann Sebastian Bach’s chamber music was written in the period 1717-1723, when he was employed as Kappellmeister at the court of Cöthen. Bach wrote six violin sonatas, with the E major sonata standing apart from its companions, as Misha Donat notes in the CD booklet. “Of the two Adagios, the first, with its elaborate violin cantilena, is like the slow movement of a concerto...In the hauntingly beautiful c-sharp minor second slow movement, the melody is shared equally between the two players, at first alternating and then proceeding in contrapuntal dialogue.” The second allegro, meanwhile, is a “dazzling display piece unfolding in a vertiginous stream of semiquavers.”

No other 20th century composer was as deeply steeped in the music of Bach as Ferruccio Busoni, and his second sonata, composed in 1898 and published in 1901, is indebted to both Bach and Beethoven. Its form makes a number of references to Beethoven’s late sonatas, and the final movement incorporates as its variation theme Bach’s chorale “Wie wohl ist mir”. The success of the work marked a turning point for Busoni, who had hitherto invested most of his energies into his life as performer. “Repeated performances of my violin sonata have greatly encouraged me,” he wrote in 1902. “From next autumn I seriously intend to work just as hard as a composer as I have up to now as a pianist.”

Ludwig van Beethoven’s G-major Sonata, written in 1812 for French violinist Pierre Rode, was the last of his violin sonatas, and perhaps the most beautiful and original of them. Misha Donat; “The sonata begins with one of Beethoven’s most magical inspirations: the quiet sound of a violin trill. The trill, and the theme it engenders, is followed by a series of arching arpeggios whose expansiveness seems to open up infinite vistas.”

Yuuko Shiokawa and András Schiff’s Bach-Busoni-Beethoven programme was recorded in Lugano’s Auditorio Stelio Molo RSI in December 2016.

Yuuko Shiokawa, violin
András Schiff, piano

Yuuko Shiokawa
was born in Tokyo and took up the violin at the age of five. After moving with her family to Peru, she continued her musical studies in Lima with Eugen Cremer, formerly a member of the Berlin Philharmonic. At 15, she came to Germany, where she studied with William Stross and Sándor Végh. Hans Rosbaud, one of her early supporters, introduced her to Rafael Kubelik, who was to become her mentor.

She played her first concert under Kubelik in 1965, subsequently also working with Herbert von Karajan, Herbert Blomsted and other leading conductors. Yuuko Shiokawa has given concerts with many orchestras including the Bavarian Radio Orchestra, the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, the Boston Symphony, the London Symphony, and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, as well as the NHK Symphony Orchestra Tokyo. Her multi- faceted chamber music activities have included solo recitals world-wide, sonata evenings with Bruno Canino and András Schiff and performance cycles of the collected sonatas for violin and piano of W.A. Mozart. Yuuko Shiokawa is also a member of the Cappella Andrea Barca, founded by András Schiff in 1999.

András Schiff
was born in Budapest, Hungary and started piano lessons at the age of five with Elisabeth Vadász. Subsequently he continued his studies at the Franz Liszt Academy with Professor Pál Kadosa, György Kurtág and Ferenc Rados, and later in London with George Malcolm.

Recitals and special cycles, including the major keyboard works of J.S. Bach, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Chopin, Schumann and Bartók form an important part of his activities. Since 2004 he has performed complete cycles of the 32 Beethoven Sonatas worldwide and the cycle in the Tonhalle Zurich was recorded live for ECM New Series. His recordings of works by Schubert, Schumann, Janáček, Beethoven and Bach, have been released to the highest of critical acclaim. In 2016 ECM released Encores after Beethoven: a collection of encores performed after his Beethoven Cycle programs.

András Schiff has worked with most major international orchestras and conductors, but in recent years has performed mainly as a conductor and soloist. His chamber orchestra, the Cappella Andrea Barca, consists of international soloists, chamber musicians and friends. In addition to international tours with this orchestra, he works with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe.

He appears as conductor and soloist with the New York Philharmonic and Chicago Symphony this season, in addition to over a dozen recitals in two North American visits. His other concert performances bring him to Europe, Australia, Japan, China, and South America.

From 1989-1998 András Schiff was Artistic Director of the "Musiktage Mondsee" chamber music festival near Salzburg. In 1995, together with Heinz Holliger, he founded the “Ittinger Pfingstkonzerte” in Koartause Ittingen, Switzerland. In 1998 he started a similar series, entitled "Hommage to Palladio" at the Teatro Olimpico in Vizenza.

András Schiff's book, Musik kommt aus der Stille, essays and conversations with Martin Meyer, was published in March 2017 by Bärenreiter and Henschel.

Booklet for Bach - Busoni - Beethoven