On March 26th I recorded Ysaÿe's Sonata opus 27, no. 5 at Dreamflower Acoustic in Bronxville, NY with recording engineer, Jeremy Tressler and I’m so happy to release it today on all streaming services, Bandcamp, and Youtube.
Belgian violinist Eugène Ysaÿe wrote his set of 6 solo sonatas 100 years ago, but these pieces still feel fresh and full of surprises. I’ve played sonatas 3, 4 and 6 and last year I finally started listening to 5, realizing I had never heard it before. I became fascinated by the strangeness of the first movement and the exuberance of the second.
The first movement, L’Aurore (The Dawn), evolves (as all sunrises do!) from darkness and mystery to glorious, overflowing light. While this basic storyline may seem obvious and inevitable, I’m guessing you’ve never heard a sunrise quite like this one!
The second movement, Danse Rustique, is anything but your typical country dance. Humans naturally march and waltz, but this dance has 5 beats per measure (most of the time… even the irregularity is irregular!) The result of this is a dance that keeps you constantly excited to find out what will come next! After some nostalgic echoes of the first movement, it winds up into a wild, rollicking ending.
I hope you enjoy! I would love to hear what kinds of imagery or emotions it brings up for you!
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