You Are Alone

"Sei Solo" – written in Bach's own hand on the frontispiece of the six sonatas for solo violin. Properly, it should be Sei Soli because the words Bach used also mean "you are alone". Whether this was intentional is immaterial, the motto suits the music. Alone in the world, alone on the stage.

- Do you need special preparation for such a weighty task?

- No. Wherever I perform and in whatever combination, I prepare as if success is in my own hands. I regard a solo recital as an opportunity, an opportunity to perform the musical material with the greatest clarity I can imagine. Also, it is an opportunity for dialogue. On these occasions a much stronger bond can be formed with the audience, and this is strengthened by the aura of the Liszt Academy and its acoustics. I think I have sufficient basis for comparison to state that, for solo and chamber performances, there is no auditorium in the world with better acoustics. Being alone on the stage is naturally also a challenge. There is not even ten seconds of rest, an ensemble cannot inspire me, nor a conductor. The source of the experience is just the composition and my playing.

- Bach plays a major role in your concert today.

- In a way, that is self-explanatory because Bach's solo sonatas are a point of reference for the whole violin literature. These works can be regarded as the starting point for the structures and allusions of the other works in the programme by Ysaÿe and Bartók. The Chaconne in D minor is unique both in the sonata cycle and in Bach's oeuvre. It employs a universal language that transcends the possibilities of the instruments and the characteristics of the dance movements, suggesting a very strong inspiration. But the whole cycle is mysterious; we do not know why, with the exception of the last partita, the movements are all given Italian names. Perhaps the composer intended them for an exceptionally talented Italian violinist. Compared to the standards of the time, it is not obvious how their technical challenges could have been overcome.

- Ysaÿe's works are not exactly famous for being easy either, not to mention the Bartók sonata.

- Ysaÿe was himself a world famous violinist. His works are idiomatic; they demand much from the performer, but they are also rewarding. In terms of mood and their harmonic world, they are perhaps lighter than the works of Bach and Bartók, but in no way should they be underestimated. In my opinion, Bartók's solo sonata is the zenith of the violin repertoire, possibly of the entire string repertoire. It is stunning proof of the intellectual greatness of its composer. It can never be played too much. The fugue movement is the hardest work in the violin repertoire, harder than any Paganini piece. The slow movement explores depths which are unusually despairing and dark even in Bartók's work, and during the quarter tone explorations of the closing presto, it feels like we have been liberated from the fog when hope suddenly sparkles with the arrival of a folk motif.