LDV77

DAVID GRIMAL 23 The Fifth Sonata, dedicated to Mathieu Crickboom, his favourite Belgian student, evokes Symbolism and Impressionism. The first movement, L’Aurore (Dawn), is one of the finest pieces in the cycle. Finally, the Sixth Sonata, dedicated to the Spaniard Manuel Quiroga and based on Iberian rhythms, is the most virtuosic of all. It is a real firework display, showing off all the pirouettes that can be performed on a violin. Here’s an anecdote: I happened to play it one evening as an encore without knowing that I was at that very moment in the town in Galicia where Quiroga was born. Over and above the portrait gallery element, you can also sense the cohesion of the cycle when you play it in concert. In my view, it could be divided into two large sonatas within the six: 1, 2, 3 and then 4, 5, 6. Sonata no.1, as I have already said, evokes Bach’s First Sonata, and no.4 recalls the First Partita. Sonatas nos.2 and 5 can be seen as middle movements in which Ysaÿe escapes from Bach’s shadow. Nos.3 and 6, each in a single movement, would then form the brilliant finales to these two large-scale structures. In each of these two sonatas, Ysaÿe emancipates himself from historical reverence and spreads his own wings.