Sarasate, P :: Zigeunerweisen [Gypsy Airs] op. 2, No. 1

Zigeunerweisen [Gypsy Airs] op. 2, No. 1

Sarasate, P

International Music Company presents Sarasate's Zigeunerweisen [Gypsy Airs] op. 20, No. 1 for flute and piano transcribed and edited by Robert Stallman.

'Sarasate had already established his reputation in France, Spain, England and North and South America as one of his era's greatest performers before he made his debut in the German-speaking lands with a concert in Vienna in 1876. His success in northern Europe for the next three decades nearly rivaled that of Joseph Joachim, Germany's acknowledged master of the violin. To appeal to the predilection for a certain Eastern exoticism in the German and Austrian musical appetites of the day, Sarasate devised a concert work for violin and piano in 1878 based on melodies of Hungarian extraction that he titled Zigeunerweisen - Gypsy Airs. Zigeunerweisen is disposed in two large paragraphs of contrasting nature. A bold orchestral summons based on a grave theme introduces the soloist, who continues the opening mood with an accompanied cadenza and a sad lament utilizing a gapped-scale melody of considerable pathos. Though the musical substance of this first section is simple and direct, the soloist embroiders it with a rich overlay of trills, grace notes, harmonics, glissandi, pizzicati and spiccati. After a grand pause, the tempo quickens and the mood brightens for the closing section, a blazing dance in the most brilliant Gypsy manner energized by an entire fusillade of violin pyrotechnics.'

- Dr. Richard E. Rodda