Duo Gazzana’s Eastern European Album

 Cover of the album being discussed (from its Amazon.com Web page)

The latest ECM New Series album of performances by Duo Gazzana will be released this coming Friday. Most of the music consists of two multi-movement compositions by Sergei Prokofiev: his first sonata for violin and piano (Opus 80 in F minor) and the Opus 35a collection, Five Melodies. Each of these is followed by a more recent work. Arvo Pärt’s “Spiegel im Spiegel” provides the “punctuation mark” for the sonata, and the album concludes with Alfred Schnittke’s “Gratulationsrondo.” Unless I am mistaken, my last encounter with the former took place almost exactly two years ago, at the beginning of April of 2024, when Yo-Yo Ma included “Spiegel im Spiegel” in his recital in Davies Symphony Hall. The Schnittke selection, on the other hand, was probably a “first contact” experience.

Having now had enough opportunities to listen to Duo Gazzana ECM albums, I always tend to be interested in what they will do next. While my enthusiasm Prokofiev is usually muted, I tend to look forward to opportunities to listen to previously unknown music. In this case I was particularly drawn to the rhetorical diversity across the four movements of the Opus 80 sonata. I am hoping that I shall have an opportunity to listen to this music in recital in the not-too-distant future.

Where Schnittke is concerned, I am always looking forward to his tongue-in-cheek rhetoric. The title of his selection suggests music that was composed for the interest of teachers more than students! He wrote this piece in the year after he had composed the tongue-in-cheek Suite in the Old Style. That rhetoric can also be found in “Gratulationsrondo;” but the edges are not quite as sharp! It is a bit long to make for an engaging encore selection, but it definitely has the makings of a definitive punctuation mark.