The second in the group of Solo Sonatas (6) by Belgian violin virtuoso Eugène Ysaÿe is among the most frequently performed works in the unaccompanied violin's repertory, after the sonatas and partitas of J.S. Bach and the Caprices (24) by Paganini. In fact, these pieces were among the primary influences upon the composer when he wrote his Sonatas (6), each of which was dedicated to a fellow violin virtuoso. In the case of Sonata No. 2, the recipient was French violinist Jacques Thibaud (1880-1953). The work has four movements, each with Mephistophelean or supernatural connotations. In the first ("Obsession"), for example, it is a contest between two themes, the Dies Irae of the Mass, and the Preludio from Bach's Partita in E major, with which Thibaud always began his daily practice routine. The Dies Irae plainchant, which recurs as a motto figure throughout the sonata, actually shares the same opening notes as Bach's Preludio. The second movement, a ghostly and intense section entitled "Malincolia," is hushed and expectant in mood, with dark figurations and curious muted effects, reminiscent of Ysaÿe's remark that the work was set in a consciously postmodern idiom and still sounds well ahead of its times. There follows a Sarabande ("Danse des ombres"), with a central section in popular Musette style, and the sonata concludes with a devilish, whirling tour de force, "Les Furies," in which the bowing technique known as Sul Ponticello is used to startling and sinister effect.

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Despite the fact that Ysaÿe had no formal training as a composer, his works are not only masterfully crafted, demonstrating various dimensions of violinistic expressiveness and sonority, but also provide the listener with a remarkable aesthetic experience. As a peerless virtuoso, Ysaÿe writes with a profound understanding of the violin's soul; as a performer deeply immersed in the music of his time, he evinces a familiarity with many styles; yet Ysaÿe's music, despite many recognizable echoes of other composers, clearly exhibits an unmistakable artistic individuality.

Inspired by a Bach recital by Joseph Szigeti, Ysaÿe's outlined these six sonatas in a day. The six works are dedicated to, respectively, Szigeti, Jacques Thibaud, George Enescu, Fritz Kreisler, Mathieu Crickboom (a member of the Ysaÿe Quartet), and Manuel Quiroga. Because each sonata is dedicated to a violinist, or, in some cases, a violinist-composer, every work has a distinct individuality. For example, Sonata No. 6 has a subtle, but unmistakable, Iberian flavor. Predictably, the sonata dedicated to George Enescu conjures up a truly Central European atmosphere. Like Fritz Kreisler, Ysaÿe in Sonata No. 4 re-creates the Baroque style with remarkable charm; this is a Baroque, or quasi-Baroque, sound which seduces the listener by its unpretentious spontaneity and freshness. Significantly, while exploring a variety of musical styles, Ysaÿe never lapses into sterile eclecticism; after all, these works are marked by his powerful individuality. Underlying his tasteful stylistic explorations is Ysaÿe's boundless interest in, and fascination by, his instrument. Containing an array of extreme, even breathtaking, technical challenges, these sonatas also explore the rich sonorities of the violin, with particular emphasis on original, and perhaps surprising, harmonic effects.

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A native of the Belgian city of Liège (birthplace of more great violinists than almost any other European city outside Russia: in his personal reminiscences, Carl Flesch went so far as to call the place "the violin incubator of Europe") the violinist, composer, and conductor Eugène Ysaÿe was undoubtedly among the most eminent practitioners of his instrument throughout the last four decades of the nineteenth and first two of the twentieth centuries. He is still rated one of the greatest exemplars of the Franco-Belgian violin school, and his enduring influence is reflected by the fact that his Sonatas (6) for solo violin continue to be regarded as some of the most influential works of their genre ever devised, standing alongside the solo violin works of Bach and Paganini in musical stature and technical difficulty. The solo sonatas were all written in 1924. Each work in the series was dedicated to a fellow virtuoso, all of whom were close personal friends of the composer. The last of the Sonatas (6), however, in E major and whilst being almost the shortest in overall duration (around eight minutes), is also the least Baroque in terms of its musical derivation and influences. Perhaps it could hardly have been otherwise, since the piece was written for Spanish violinist Manuel Quiroga. As Horst Scholz has written, "Obviously with its decidedly Iberian coloring and free, rhapsodic form, it is more distant from Bach than any of the others." Indeed, the musical effects employed here seem more suggestive of Ravel, Granados, or de Falla. Another distinctive feature of this piece is that, unlike its five siblings, the Solo Sonata in E major is set as a single, through-composed movement in simple ABA format. The opening section (Allegro giusto non troppo vivo) leads to a central scherzo-like section, before a return of earlier material. Throughout, the musical idioms are unmistakably Spanish and, in particular, the characteristic habanera rhythms are used to intoxicating and often brilliant effect.

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A native of the Belgian city of Liège (the birthplace of more great violinists than almost any other European city outside Russia; in his personal reminiscences, Carl Flesch went so far as to call the place "The violin incubator of Europe") violinist, composer, and conductor Eugène Ysaÿe was undoubtedly among the most eminent practitioners of his instrument throughout the last four decades of the nineteenth and first two of the twentieth centuries. He is still rated one of the greatest exemplars of the Franco-Belgian violin school, and his enduring influence is reflected by the fact that his Sonatas (6) for Solo Violin continue to be regarded as some of the most influential works of their genre ever devised, standing alongside the solo violin works of Bach and Paganini in musical stature and technical difficulty. The solo sonatas were all written in 1924. Each work in the series was dedicated to a fellow virtuoso, all of whom were close personal friends of the composer. That the set is made up of six works in all is also undeniably significant. Outwardly, this fact reflects Ysaÿe's lifelong veneration of Bach's Sonatas and Partitas (6), (BWV 1001-06), whose stern counterpoint and rhetoric is a constant feature of Ysaÿe's idiom. Yet in fact, despite these external similarities, the composer's preoccupation with the number six is deeply concealed within the very fabric of the music. Some of the chords that are used are made up of six-note blocks—astounding when considering the violin has just four strings! Perhaps it is the Sonata No. 4 in E minor, dedicated to Fritz Kreisler (1875-1962), that most immediately suggests Bach's influence. This is even evident in the titles of its three movements, the first two being taken from the traditional nomenclature of a Baroque suite. An opening Allemande, marked Lento maestoso, contains noble, austere themes deployed against a backdrop of rich, multiple-stopped chording. So advanced is the polyphony that the music often conveys to the listener the illusion of full harmonization. Then follows a slow Sarabande tinged with an almost Viennese nostalgia (another apt tribute to Kreisler's Austrian heritage) and a bravura finale (Presto ma non troppo), in which the violinist plays rapid, unrelenting figurations of enormous technical difficulty, again in a style instantly suggestive of Bach.

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This installment in Eugène Ysaÿe's cycle of Solo Sonatas (6) for violin was conceived with the playing style of its dedicatee, Romanian violinist, teacher, and composer George Enescu (1881-1955), in mind. Unlike a number of its siblings, this Sonata in D minor (the shortest of the group) is cast in single-movement form and takes as its structural models the Ballades for piano by Chopin, with their characteristic narrative feel and freely evolving idiom. It has been suggested, but never conclusively proved, that in this sonata, Ysaÿe was recalling the times he has appeared with his friend Enescu, whose flamboyant playing style is echoed by the gypsy-like traits that abound in the sonata. However, it opens with a sombre, dark-hued, slowly unfolding recitative that provides a thematic backdrop for a succession of complex and often unexpectedly polyphonic explorations and digressions, all of which link back to this opening idea. That the recitative motif forms what Horst Scholz has described as "A grand melodic arch" also testifies to the profound regard both violinists had for the music of J.S. Bach and specifically in this case, the labyrinthine Chaconne from the Partita for solo violin in D minor.

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The second in the group of Solo Sonatas (6) by Belgian violin virtuoso Eugène Ysaÿe is among the most frequently performed works in the unaccompanied violin's repertory, after the sonatas and partitas of J.S. Bach and the Caprices (24) by Paganini. In fact, these pieces were among the primary influences upon the composer when he wrote his Sonatas (6), each of which was dedicated to a fellow violin virtuoso. In the case of Sonata No. 2, the recipient was French violinist Jacques Thibaud (1880-1953). The work has four movements, each with Mephistophelean or supernatural connotations. In the first ("Obsession"), for example, it is a contest between two themes, the Dies Irae of the Mass, and the Preludio from Bach's Partita in E major, with which Thibaud always began his daily practice routine. The Dies Irae plainchant, which recurs as a motto figure throughout the sonata, actually shares the same opening notes as Bach's Preludio. The second movement, a ghostly and intense section entitled "Malincolia," is hushed and expectant in mood, with dark figurations and curious muted effects, reminiscent of Ysaÿe's remark that the work was set in a consciously postmodern idiom and still sounds well ahead of its times. There follows a Sarabande ("Danse des ombres"), with a central section in popular Musette style, and the sonata concludes with a devilish, whirling tour de force, "Les Furies," in which the bowing technique known as Sul Ponticello is used to startling and sinister effect.

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