Mark Fewer
violin
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Review - Antheil Violin Sonatas - Buffalo
April 7, 2011, 12:00 am
Plus premiere performance of the 1927 Sonata for violin solo performed by violinist Mark Fewer and pianist John Novacek
[Azica]
4 stars
Bravo isn't enough. Try a good lusty Bravissimo for this disc, one of the most welcome classical discs of the year. That's because the violin/piano sonatas of George Antheil are some of the most riotous -- and perennially exhilarating -- masterworks of the American avant-garde of the '20s and beyond. American music has few more interesting composers than Antheil, a revolutionary futurist of the '20s who wound up composing film music and co-inventing (with actress Hedy Lamarr!) a frequency-hopping method of communication that was the forerunner of today's Wi-Fi communication and cell phone. Wait until you hear the Allegro from his second sonata for violin and piano dedicated to Ezra Pound, with its pianist banging away and making little side jokes about Debussy. Or the Sonata No. 1 dedicated to Pound's lady, violinist Olga Rudge, whose singularly affecting low notes and "Irish adrenal personality" Antheil so admired. He relished being called the "bad boy of American music," but what's self-evident about this music now is that it's still got a spirit guaranteed to shock the bourgeoisie -- or at least that part of it that can still be found in concert halls. At the same time, its impudence remains a galvanizing and timelessly exciting force even now. (Jeff Simon)
Review - Antheil Violin Sonatas - Buffalo
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