Obsession - Eugène Ysaye (Live Music in Nature, Violeta Vicci solo violin)

Live Performance in a secret location in Sussex, taken from album Mirror Images (Aldilà Records/Naxos) Stream or Buy Mirror Images worldwide: http://hyperurl.co/mirrorimages/

Performer: Violeta Vicci
Composer: J.S Bach
Cinematography: Ben K Adams
Producers: Violeta Vicci and Dan Donegan
Recorded, mixed and mastered by Jon Alexander
Special Thanks to Simone Toffanin

Eugène Ysaÿe, virtuoso violinist and composer, sketched all six Sonatas for Solo Violin in the summer of 1923, after he had attended a concert by Joseph Szigeti performing Bach’s solo violin Sonata in G Minor. His more than successful attempt to write for the violin is a way of showcasing all the contemporary techniques possible on the instrument (very specifically highlighted by him in the score, to ensure the performer follows his instructions to the letter). In writing a series of sonatas partly mirroring those of Bach’s, Ysaÿe’s work can be said to constitute a precursor of ‘sampling’ - the electronic technique of including sections of someone else’s music in one’s own. The first movement in particular, ‘Obsession’, leaves no doubt about Ysaÿe’s intention to honour his predecessor, quoting literally from the ‘Prelude’ in Bach’s E Major Partita. The other quotation in this particular Sonata is the ‘Dies Irae’ - the Latin sequence signifying the ‘Day of Wrath’, the last judgment before God, alongside a melody which originated as a Gregorian plainchant at the end of the 15th century. It is used in all movements at different times, giving the whole Sonata a very ominous feel.