Violin Sonatas & Pieces Baiba Skride & Lauma Skride

• Edvard Grieg (1843 - 1907): Violin Sonata No. 2 in G Major, Op. 13:
• 1 I. Lento doloroso - Allegro vivace 09:03
• 2 II. Allegretto tranquillo 06:13
• 3 III. Allegro animato 05:05
• Carl Nielsen (1865 - 1931): Violin Sonata No. 2, Op. 35, FS 64:
• 4 I. Allegro 07:40
• 5 II. Molto adagio 07:18
• 6 III. Allegro piacevole 04:26
• Jean Sibelius (1865 - 1957): 4 Pieces for Violin & Piano, Op. 78:
• 7 No. 1, Impromptu 01:55
• 8 No. 2, Romance 03:05
• 9 No. 3, Religioso 04:21
• 10 No. 4, Rigaudon 02:02
• Wilhelm Stenhammar (1871 - 1927): Violin Sonata in A Minor, Op. 19:
• 11 I. Allegro con anima 06:57
• 12 II. Andantino 06:41
• 13 III. Allegro 06:33
• Total Runtime 01:11:19

Info for Violin Sonatas & Pieces

On their album the Latvian Skride sisters present yet more composers from their extended Baltic homeland region (allowing that they include Norwegian Edvard Grieg, especially since he composed his Sonata in Copenhagen, then called Christiania). The uniting thread of the works on this CD lies in 'finding one's own sound', something which each of the featured composers first had to find, and an element that the sisters effortlessly achieve as performers. All four composers on this recording share a close link with the violin, and all four had an ambivalent relationship with the German tradition. Grieg's Sonata introduces folk music influences into the expanded Romantic form in a completely new manner: not just as a quote or 'tone', but as an integral compositional element on all levels, from the dramatically erupting, cadenza-like violin solo through to the internal motivic work. In addition to the six string quartets that Wilhelm Stenhammar penned, he left this Violin Sonata in A minor Op. 19 of 1899 to posterity. While still paying tribute to the German tradition, the sonata invokes his own mysterious 'semi-frankness' towards the future, which makes considerable demands upon the violin. Jean Sibelius and Carl Nielsen played and composed a great deal of chamber music. While Nielsen's works for solo violin centre on three mature sonatas with piano accompaniment, Sibelius wrote a large number of short pieces for violin and piano, often combined into groups of works, such as the four brought together here as Op. 78. They represent the greatest conceivable contrast to his seven famous, large-scale symphonies. In the smaller scale form, the often erratic symphonist reveals himself as an utterly different, yet no less able composer. In contrast, the Violin Sonata No 2 Op. 35 of 1912 by the Danish individualist Carl Nielsen offers the most 'modern' music. In a manner typical of the composer, Nielsen eschews the foundations of clearly traditional harmony and consciously experiments with shimmering tonality that naturally opens up opportunities for creating his own new tonal landscape. At the same time, the composer proves to be entirely and sensitively in tune with the times with regard to his approach to historical and musical gestures and formal concepts.

„There will be something new and intriguing for most chamber-music fans in this recital by Latvian violinist Baiba Skride and her pianist sister Lauma, which brings together relatively little-known violin pieces by the leading Nordic composers of the early 20th century. The most envelope-pushing work and the one that makes the most of Baiba's characteristic intensity of tone and muscular yet seamless phrasing is the 1912 Sonata No 2 by Nielsen, its first movement a seething, searching bundle of mood-swings, its finale a deceptively relaxed waltz that in one striking passage anticipates the climbdown from one of the climaxes in the Fourth Symphony, begun two years later. The sisters are ideally matched, too, in four miniatures, Op 78, which find Sibelius in effortlessly lyrical mode, plus Grieg s folk-inspired 1867 Sonata No 2 and the long, wistful lines of Stenhammar s Sonata from 1900. Why are these works not played more often?“ (Guardian)

„(Baiba) is a player of rare intelligence and individuality, and so is her sister, who opens proceedings with a magical placing of chords that introduce Grieg's Second Sonata.“ (Gramophone)

„The Skride sisters are a uniquely attuned team throughout this well-recorded and altogether recommendable recital. The Strad, Dec'16 /// Grieg's Second Sonata sounds gorgeously, openly melancholic.“ (BBC Music Magazine)

Baiba Skride, violin
Lauma Skride, piano

Baiba Skride
natural approach to her music-making has endeared her to some of today’s most important conductors and orchestras worldwide. She is consistently invited for her refreshing interpretations, her sensitivity and delight in the music. The list of prestigious orchestras with whom she has worked include the Berlin Philharmonic, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Concertgebouw Orkest. Sinfonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Orchestre de Paris, London Philharmonic, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig and NHK Symphony. Notable conductors she collaborates with include Christoph Eschenbach, Thierry Fischer, Paavo and Neeme Järvi, Andris Nelsons, Santtu Matias Rouvali, Vasily Petrenko, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, John Storgårds and Kazuki Yamada. European highlights for the 2016/17 season include debuts with Philharmonia Orchestra London, Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della Rai and Orquestra Simfònica de Barcelona. She will return to the Vienna Symphony with Gustavo Gimeno, the Stockholm, Bergen and Copenhagen Philharmonic Orchestras, and Royal Liverpool Philharmonic with Vasily Petrenko. She opens the season for Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra with Alain Altinoglu before embarking on a tour to Northern Europe. Further afield, she performs with Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra/Cornelius Meister, Nagoya Philharmonic Orchestra/ Thierry Fischer and returns to the Sydney, Tasmanian, and Western Australian Symphony Orchestras.

In February 2016, Baiba Skride made her debut with the New York Philharmonic with Christoph Eschenbach. The concerts were a huge success with Vivien Schweitzer in the New York Times writing, “Ms. Skride brought a wide tonal palette to her insightful and passionate interpretation, her tone meaty and bold to open, then sweet, gossamer and brash.’’ This season Baiba Skride will appear with Chicago Symphony, Cleveland Symphony, as well as Boston Symphony for the American premiere of Sofia Gubaidulina’s Triple Concerto for violin, cello, and bayan.

Baiba Skride is a sought after chamber musician, regularly performing at festivals and venues, such as Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Wigmore Hall London, Palais des Beaux Arts Brussels, Bad Kissingen and Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommen. In the 2016/17 season she appears in a new piano quartet with Lauma Skride, Harriet Krijgh and Lise Berthaud performing at the Schubertiade Schwarzenberg, Malmö Chamber Festival and BASF Ludwigshafen. Other artists she collaborates with include Bertrand Chamayou, Brett Dean, Sol Gabetta, Alban Gerhardt, Xavier de Maistre and Daniel Mueller-Schott.

Skride was born into a musical Latvian family in Riga where she began her studies, transferring in 1995 to the Conservatory of Music and Theatre in Rostock. In 2001 she won the 1st prize of the Queen Elisabeth Competition. Baiba Skride plays the Yfrah Neaman Stradivarius kindly loaned to her by the Neaman family through the Beares International Violin Society.

This album contains no booklet.