Pure joy of playing

Gwendolyn Masin begins her CD with a furious start Origin. Manuel de Fallas Danse Espagnole from his opera La Vida Breve the violinist, who teaches in Geneva, plays in an extroverted, lively and extremely musical manner. The piece sounds very direct, supported by a wonderfully natural recording, which the sound engineers in Diósd, Hungary, managed to achieve. Masin has her musical roots in the Middle East. Her mother is Hungarian and her father is of Czech-Dutch descent. In the booklet, Masin describes Origin as a very personal compilation. Works by Béla Bartók or the Hungarian Miklós Lukács, who plays in their ensemble, encircle their musical origins. In addition to de Falla, there are other names that are characterized by special musical styles: Pablo de Sarasate, for example, the Spanish composer and violin virtuoso, Maurice Ravel and Fritz Kreisler.

Each work on the CD demands its own approach. Masin shows particular strengths in her dancing. Her stroke is feathery and light; when necessary in the harsh Bartókian diction, it can also be rousingly brutal with sound elements. The fact that the soloist can unfold so musically is also thanks to the ensemble, which blends in delicately without being too much in the background. This CD is fun at every point. Only some of the ritardandi and accelerandi are debatable. These are dangerously close to the kitsch border, especially in Sarasate's Gypsy ways op. 20, but they are easily excusable. After all, sobriety would be inappropriate in the face of such full-blown joy of playing.

Gwendolyn Masin: Origin. Works by Manuel de Falla, Ernest Bloch, Miklós Lukács, Béla Bartók, Maurice Ravel, Pablo de Sarasate, Fritz Kreisler, Gricoraş Dinicu / Jascha Haifetz. Fountainhead Productions 2016, TZ 1169

Gwendolyn Mason plays Manuel de Falla's "Danses espagnoles" on YouTube