An interesting case of ‘before and after’, with the early E minor Sonata representing Bartok in ‘czardas’ mode (sample the theme-and-variations second movement) and the late Contrasts echoing the earthy tang of genuine Hungarian folk music. Susanne Stanzeleit brings a wide range of gipsy-style inflexions to the various short pieces – all taken from For Children, Zathureczky’s ten being rather more memorable than Mozi’s nine – and the tipsy Burlesque finds her wisely avoiding a sober straight line. A touch of ruggedness suits the Contrasts, though there the real star of the show is clarinettist Michael Collins. True, Fenyo and Stanzeleit set the scene, but Collins’s witty, lightly inflected solo has all the colour and personality of Chagall at his finest.
The little Andante for violin and piano (it lasts for just 3'18'' in this performance) was written for Adila Aranyi as a ‘thank you’ for a house party, but wasn’t actually premiered until 1955. It’s a pleasant but fairly uncharacteristic piece, whereas the half-hour Sonata of 1903 that precedes it contains many auguries of the mature Bartok (try, by way of an example, the piano writing 9'00'' into the second movement). Strauss is an audible influence (there’s a rather Zarathustrian fugue 5'01'' into the opening Allegro moderato), and so is Wagner: the very opening rises out of post-romantic mists, gently brushed by arpeggiated pizzicatos. This particular performance, a very good one, is based on an updated version of the 1968 Denijs Dille-Andre Gertler Edition (Gertler himself recorded the piece on Supraphon at around the same time, 12/67 – nla) and includes some significant textual alterations. Although not a masterpiece to compare with the two mature violin sonatas, the E minor Sonata is attractive, memorable and well worth bringing into the repertoire.
ASV’s recordings are very nicely balanced and I happily recommend this CD as the final volume of a satisfying series. Gusztav Fenyo, in particular, is a perceptive Bartokian: perhaps ASV might encourage him to make a CD of Bartok’s solo piano music, picking up where Peter Frankl (sadly) left off.'