Ferdinand Ries: Violin Sonatas – Ariadne Daskalakis (violin) & Wolfgang Brunner (fortepiano)

Beethoven’s pupil and private secretary Ferdinand Ries gained esteem and wealth in England not only with his extremely popular symphonic music but also with his masterful chamber music. Ries composed a total of eighteen sonatas for violin and piano, most of them dating from his early wanderings prior to 1813. Beethoven’s strong influence on the young composer is also felt in these sonatas. Apart from his creative dialogue with his gigantic model, we cannot fail to be amazed again and again when we see how Ries goes on to develop his own personal manner of expression. As a result, the sonatas, though seemingly conventional on the outside, hold in store surprising developments and compositional nuances: for instance, in the first movement of the second sonata the transition bursts into the repetition of the completely regular primary theme when the last audible bar of the theme is suddenly repeated an octave lower and in minor in the middle of a four-measure period. The charm of Ries’s compositions arises from his delight in experimentation and the originality going along with it. Vibrant works in enthralling interpretations by the violinist Ariadne Daskalakis and Wolfgang Brunner (the founder and director of the Salzburger Hofmusik) on the fortepiano!