Bartók, Ligeti and Others: Works for Violin & Viola

Unaccompanied solo repertoire is demanding for any player. Beyond sure technique, it requires an ability to hold an audience’s attention for long periods of time. Violist and violinist Nurit Stark triumphantly parades those qualities in her recording of four works by four Hungarian composers with a common interest: connecting the laid-back exuberance of East European folk music with the formalities of West European concert tradition. Best known is the Bartók Sonata for Violin Solo which pays homage to Bach in a formidable fugue—it gets virtuoso treatment here. Alongside the rewarding Sonata for Violin Solo by Bartok’s pupil Sándor Veress and Ligeti’s tonally fluid Sonata for Viola Solo is a 2019 piece by Péter Eötvös that plays teasingly with the tropes of Western classical harmony. All together, they make a clever, thoughtful and incisively delivered programme.