Spohr: Violin Duets, Vol. 1

Album review

As one of the greatest violinists of the early 19th century, Louis Spohr was rivaled only by Niccolò Paganini, and his violin concertos and chamber works that feature a prominent violin part were clearly designed for his own talents. Even in such small-scale works as his Three Duets for two violins, Op. 67 (1824), Spohr's love of flashy repartée and elaborate ornamentation show that they were, first and foremost, written for his own abilities. Yet because the two violin parts are fairly evenly matched, alternating the same material and each playing off the other's virtuosity, they require two violinists of equal skill and imagination. For this 2018 Naxos release, the first volume of a series, Jameson Cooper and James Dickenson are evenly matched, and the often difficult interplay between them makes it hard to hear any problems, though much of that is due to Spohr's tendency to write busy parts with few rests. The closing work, Three Duets for two violins, WoO 21 (ca. 1796), is a piece of juvenilia written when Spohr was only 12, so it is easier to find fault with his compositional techniques, though not with the performance. Cooper and Dickenson elevate these slight miniatures to a level of sophistication that disguises their formal weaknesses and emphasizes their clever ideas. Naxos provides close-up recording that captures every detail with clarity and warmth.

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