quasi una Sonata – Lars-Erik Ter Jung

The modern violin

The music on this album is a highly personal selection by violinist Lars Erik ter Jung. Four different composers – Karol Szymanowski, Krzysztof Penderecki, Ketil Hvoslef and Alfred Schnittke – with different styles and ways of expressing themselves, but with the common feature of writing excellent works for the violin. They do not become completely absorbed in effects of avant-gardism and never allow experimentation to lead them away from what sounds good and from what serves music. At the same, these four works for solo violin and violin/piano are founded on virtuosity.

Karol Szymanowski´s music is distinguished by a new colourist approach to sound, with elements of impressionistic, expressionistic and late romantic music. His work “Myths”, which is performed here, are built on scenes from Greek mythology, and reveal, from a historical viewpoint, a completely new kind of musical fantasy. As a tool for realizing his musical visions, Szymanowski explores the violin´s possibilities, and uses these often masterly techniques, highly perfected, in a new and original way. Krzysztof Penderecki has also benefitted from the Polish violin tradition, and developed his own individual way of writing for the instrument. In “Cadenza” the virtuosity of the violin is subordinated to the overall statement, in a concentrated form. Compared to “Cadenza”, Ketil Hvoslef´s “Violino Solo” is a more rhapsodic work. Nevertheless, the material is highly concentrated. By creating suspense between the different parts of the composition in a masterly fashion Hvoslef gives the work an overall form. Alfred Schnittke is, like Szymanowski, a magician who manage to convert virtuosity to a medium for genuine musical development and experience. His “Quasi una Sonata” is perhaps the most successful piece for violin and piano throughout the entire history of the genre.