Francisca Skoogh - Violin Sonata - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Jean-Marc Luisada knows the song of Romanticism, the voice of the soul that permeates all of Schubert's output. In the Sonata No.15, the melodies that spring from the pen of a young composer of twenty-two are deceptive. The tranquillity of the pastoral atmosphere is often answered by the harsh suffering of reality. The Sonata No.21 reveals a still more tragic universe, for Schubert could sense that he had very little time left to live. Jean-Marc Luisada paints, with supreme elegance, the portrait of a composer who is at once rebellious and resigned, sometimes voluble, sometimes almost mute, seeking some consolation in the inspiration of his memories and regrets.

In the 1930s, as Gunter Raphael (1903-60) found doors closing in his native Germany - he was half-Jewish - he was accorded a warm reception in Finland, where his music was heard in a series of broadcast concerts. There was a family connection, too Raphael's grandfather had taught Sibelius in Berlin. Raphael acknowledged his welcome by incorporating Finnish material into his music, and his Op. 41 is a monumental organ triptych based on Finnish chorales, with two towering contrapuntal edifices either side of a Baroque suite.

Hill / Lehmann / Melbourne Symphony - Sym 4/6 [COMPACT DISCS] date 07/14/1994