gramophone.co.uk GRAMOPHONE SEPTEMBER 2019 73theseworks.Inthiscase,thankstofour
fullycommittedmusicians–primarilythe
indefatigableNorris–that’spoppycock.
TheJupiter,especially,isrequired
listening.DavidThreasher
Mozart
ViolinSonatas– No21,K304;No23,K306;
No27,K379;No28,K380
Mi-SaYangvnJonasVitaudpf
MirareFMIR420(79’• DDD)
Mi-Sa Yang and
Jonas Vitaud have
hopped over
Mozart’s childhood
piano and violin sonatas and gone straight
for the gold in this four-strong programme:
a pair each from the 1778 (K304 and 306)
and 1781 (K379 and 380) sets, published
respectively in Paris and Vienna just before
and just after his final resignation from
Archbishop Colloredo’s straitjacketing
court life.
The first thing to hit your ears in
the opening K379 is the delectable
combination of timbres from Yang and
Vitaud’s modern instruments. Softly
sparkling,delicatelyjewel-likefromVitaud,
drawing all the plus points and none of the
negatives of employing a modern concert
grand in this repertoire. Then Yang
sounding darkly stringy and lean, vibrato
used sparingly.
Indeed, ‘less is more’ is the order of the
day here. Beautifully so too, although for
some it might be a little too ... little. Take
the variations of K379 where, by and large,
their approach to the repeats is simply to
add ornamentation (and Yang’s ornaments
in the first half of Var 3 are really
delectable). Then compare it to the subtle
colouristic and articulational contrasts of
Petra Müllejans and Kristian Bezuidenhout
(Harmonia Mundi, 6/09), or the even more
pronounced shifts – portamentos even – to
be heard from Itzhak Perlman and Daniel
Barenboim (DG). Likewise compare the
gentle shift of mood in Isabelle Faust and
Alexander Melnikov’s K304 Allegro first-
half repeat (Harmonia Mundi, 11/18)
to the pretty much verbatim one of Yang
and Vitaud.
This particular sonata indeed breathes
into being slightly too serenely for my
ears, in the context of its being written
over the fateful Paris trip that saw the
death of Mozart’s mother. Still, fromVitaud’sbar 69 second-movement
rubatoed upwards climb it does feel as
though we’re in new, deeper emotional
territory, with an extra degree of fragility
and feeling from Yang; and from here the
meticulously thought-through rubatos,
tempo changes and fluctuations in
urgency had me in their thrall. There’s
also no arguing with the slender-toned
lyricism and subtle sense of drama and
fun (deliciously weighted pauses) they
bring to K306’s operatic finale. Other
draws are Yang’s barely-there pianissimos
throughout; the multicoloured
architecture and coy rubato employed
by Vitaud in his K379 Var 5 solo (where
incidentally there is a dynamic shift with
the repeat, Yang bringing the volume of
her already-whispered pizzicato down
even further); and overall the sympathetic
sense of conversation between the two
of them.
Will this become one of my go-to
Mozart sonata recordings? Honestly,
probably not when there’s such stiff
existing competition. However, it’s nicely
done, and certainly worth checking out if
you’re after a non-period-instrument
recording which yet sounds elegantly
on the cusp of it. Charlotte GardnerCHAMBER REVIEWSThe very di erent timbres of the clarinet and marimba complement each other on Richard and Mika Stolzman’s ‘Palimpsest’ – see review on page 75