Eugène Ysaÿe (1858-1931)

Six sonates pour violon seul, op. 27

Julia Fischer, violon

Next to the 24 Caprices by Niccolò Paganini and the six Sonatas and Partitas by Johann Sebastian Bach, the Six Sonatas by Eugène Ysaÿe rank among the three large-scale cycles for violin solo. ?? always find cycles very exciting, as they reveal more to me about a composer than a single work ever could do. This is especially evident in Ysaÿe’s Sonatas, as every sonata is based on a story or a friendship. He dedicated each single sonata to a fellow violinist or student, processing joint experiences. Julia Fischer has for twenty years counted as one of the world’s leading violinists. She is also known for her artistic versatility as pianist, as chamber musician and as violin teacher. Born in Munich to German-Slovakian parents she began to study the violin aged three and shortly afterwards her mother Viera Fischer started to give her piano lessons. Recent highlights include concerts with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, the Vienna Philharmonic and many more. Julia Fischer regularly directs the Academy of St Martin in the Fields with which she has a long standing musical relationship. Julia Fischer plays on a 1742 Giovanni Battista Guadagnini violin and on a new violin built by Philipp Augustin in 2018.