Beethoven, Complete Sonatas for Violin and Piano

Isabelle Faust and Alexander Melnikov - Beethoven: Complete Sonatas for piano and Violin. Photo / Supplied

*****


Beethoven, Complete Sonatas for Violin and Piano (Harmonia Mundi, through Ode Records)

Verdict: An inspired partnership proves there is more to Beethoven's Violin Sonatas than the Spring and the Kreutzer.

When I last spoke to Alexander Melnikov, the Russian pianist described Isabelle Faust as his "favourite violinist", the reason being she was "more of a musician than any other violinist".

Their latest project, the complete Beethoven Violin and Piano Sonatas, is an extraordinary achievement.

An accompanying DVD gives significant clues as to why it is so special. Faust tells us that these sonatas are "a long story that will never end". Melnikov stresses that they are "not about beautiful melodies but motivic relationships".

Yet, balancing all this artistic intensity (the two studied original manuscripts and Melnikov admits to crying when he looked over Beethoven's original workings) we also see the very human side of the musicians.

At one point, Faust cuts a rehearsal because she's hungry; later, the usually melancholy Melnikov plays with his radio-controlled toy helicopter in the studio like a big kid.

The earliest works on the discs, the Opus 12 Sonatas of 1798, have a freshness which sparks off the gripping dialogues of the E flat Allegro con spirito. Also memorable are Faust's hushed, velvety chords in its Adagio or the final romp of a Rondo.

Move to the monumental Kreutzer Sonata and Faust's double-stopped sweetness is the perfect calm before the storm-tossed fury of the Presto. The telling hesitations of the Andante look forward to Schumann; the closing Presto is a vertiginous whirl.

Faust and Melnikov discover new sounds for Beethoven's final Sonata, Opus 96. Feathery violin and chiming piano in the Allegro moderato create an almost impressionist sheen while the countrified swing of the Scherzo might even have had Beethoven tapping his foot.

The voluptuous opening lines of the Spring Sonata reveal Faust and Melnikov at their most seductive. The lightness of Faust's bowing arm in the Adagio molto espressivo almost beggars belief and beware of flying sforzandi in the sliver of a Scherzo.

These are searching, definitive performances, recorded with the utmost intimacy. What a pity that the silly packaging, with the booklet glued in the centre of four unfolding CDs, limits it to table-top reading. William Dart