Ysaye [CD]

In this album, Sergey Khachatryan presents the first recording of Ysaye's 6 Solo Sonatas Op.27 on the composer's Guarneri del Gesù violin - a magnificent, hypnotic instrument! Ysaye's Op. 27 is not new to Sergey Khachatryan, who has been giving the cycle in concert for a long time. Today aged thirty- eight, and the precocious First Prize Winner of the International Sibelius Competition in 2000 and the Queen Elisabeth Competition in 2005, the Armenian violinist here once more demonstrates his radiant maturity, along the same lines as he did in his sumptuous recording, so personal, of Bach's Sonatas and Partitas (naive, 2008-2009, V 5181). Here Sergey Khachatryan delivers an interpretation of heightened feelings, where what might otherwise come across as impish is deliberately turned into something fierce (the Prelude of Sonata No. 2, which uses the opening motif of Bach's Partita No. 3), or that which is merely imitative becomes wild and relentless (the Finale of Sonata No. 4). He wilfully emphasises the popular inspiration underlying the complete collection, here replete with shadings and a sumptuousness previously unheard.