Mesniankine, Tatiana / Gardiole, Daniel
Sergei Prokofiev, Anthony Girard: D'ombres Et De Lumies
This Da Vinci Classics Album includes two major Sonatas for violin and piano, written in the modern or contemporary period. In dialogue with each other, Sergei Prokofevs Sonata No. 1 op. 80 and Anthony Girards "Behind The Light" Sonata represents the two sides of a coin, with respect to their worldviews. Prokofev sought to express the anguish of war, tyranny, hate, and death, being acutely aware that dark times are constantly on the brink of returning. Girard, instead, was keen to depict the light of hope, which our contemporaries wish to see blazing in their own times. Prokofevs Sonata, expressing the unheard-of feelings provoked by Stalins Great Terror, was conceived as a tribute to the departed, as David Oistrakh poignantly guessed. Its contemplative first movement; its majestic second movement with its heroism and sarcasm; its gentle, calm and expressive third movement; and its spectacular fourth movement, with the concluding scales resembling "the wind passing through a cemetery" are unforgettable. In Girards Sonata, the listener is invited to travel and to embark in a journey leading to light.