Customer Reviews

Nikolai Roslavets: Violin Sonatas; Three Dances

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Nikolai Roslavets (1881-1944) belongs to a group of Soviet composers active in the 1920s and 1930s that were victims of Stalinist cultural repression. In the first two decades of the 20th-century, Roslavets was considered one of the most promising modern Soviet composers. He was praised by Stravinsky and Myaskovsky for his sturdy and original compositional voice. But after his death, Roslavets was erased from the history books and public knowledge. Recent scholarship has shown that he was the first Russian composer to write an atonal work (featured on this recording) and that he conceived a system of tone organization in 1915 long before Schoenberg introduced serialism, hence Roslavets' "Russian Schoenberg" appellation today. It is poignant that Roslavets was once esteemed with as much fervor as Shostakovich, that he was heralded as a successor to Scriabin, and yet it wasn't until the 1970's that a resurgence of interest in his music occurred.

Four of Roslavets's violin sonatas have been recorded before on the Olympia label, but the volume is currently out-of-print. This Naxos release is therefore the only readily available recording in the US and boasts superb performances by Arthur Greene (piano) and Solomia Soroka (violin). The Sixth Violin Sonata, which appears first on this disc, was composed in 1940 but remained unpublished until 1996. It is not representative of Roslavets's idiom and shows a relaxed harmonic language (identifiable C minor tonality) in the manner of late Romanticism and early Scriabin. Nevertheless, the sonata contains music of ravishing pathos and haunting beauty. The first movement is predominated by nostalgia and passionate lyricism and demonstrates a strong equilibrium between both the violin and piano parts. The second movement is deeply meditative in the manner of Franck and the last movement seems like a synthesis of the previous movements, oozing with soaring violin material and stormy climaxes.

The Fourth Violin Sonata dates from 1920 and is perhaps the finest work on this disc. The influence of late Scriabin is apparent especially in the harmony, but Roslavets's emotional atmosphere is far more tortured and dramatic. Equal importance is given to the piano and violin parts, but Roslavets's violin writing is particularly virtuosic and distinctive. Some of the expressive rhetoric is unnerving, like the eerie double-stopped wails that foreshadow Schnittke. This is not happy music; gloom, weariness, and rage are the emotional facets of this 15-minute work.

Roslavets's First Violin Sonata was composed in 1913 and is claimed to be the first atonal work by a Russian composer. It's tempting to say Roslavets departs from late Scriabin, but there are few passages that actually scream Scriabin. Roslavets employs his own compositional voice with dense overly chromatic material, angular and aimless melodies, and brief lyrical Romantic gestures. I would argue, however, that this sonata is the most inaccessible of all the music on this disc. Although many relistenings have allowed the sonata to grow on me, it is labyrinthine and not an immediately likeable work.

The Three Dances of 1923 are arresting miniatures and a fine supplement to the three violin sonatas. The first is a brooding and slow "Waltz" with little to suggest stylized dance music; a sound-world not far from Scriabin and Szymanowski permeates. In the second "Nocturne" piece, Roslavets is appropriately bleak, with a few piano figurations comparable to Messiaen. Real rhythmic excitement and tension is generated in the third "Mazurka" with a frenetic violin part punctuated aggressively by the piano.

Bottom line: Roslavets is at his best in the chamber genre. Listeners with a strong constitution for dreary and neurotic music should have no problem savoring the 1st and 4th violin sonatas, and the 6th will attract many with its late Romantic sound. For those interested in exploring Roslavets's music, I must mention that his complete piano music has been recorded by the indefatigable Marc-Andre Hamelin (Roslavets Piano Music) and the Chandos label has recorded Roslavets's monumental cello sonatas (Roslavets: Complete music for cello & piano).