Tamsin Waley-Cohen, a violinist of ‘fearless intensity’ (The Guardian), explores post-1944 solo repertoire, pushing the instrument to its limits. Bartok’s Solo Sonata, an ‘Everest’ of the violin repertoire, sits at the heart of this recording which also includes Penderecki’s Cadenza, and miniatures by Carter, Gyorgy Kurtag and George Benjamin.
Waley-Cohen never loses poise – The Strad
Seventy-seven minutes of unaccompanied violin, and strenuous modern repertory at that, may make this disc a daunting prospect, but Waley-Cohen’s devotion to her cause is palpable, and her interpretative flair likewise. This is a sequence bursting with vitality; and the choices, all interesting, compose a little map of modernism – The Sunday Times
It’s brave for a young artist to settle on a seemingly hard-core programme of solo repertoire, but it’s a measure of Waley-Cohen’s commitment and energy (not to mention prodigious technique) that it succeeds utterly – Classical Music Magazine
The programme provides a fascinating survey of solo violin music of the last 25 years and her playing, often forceful and uncompromising…carries real conviction. The more delicate pieces, for instance the lovely Benjamin ‘Lauer Lied’, are just as persuasive – Gramophone
The opening of the Bartok Sonata is powerful and arresting, and there’s passion and musical imagination throughout, the fiendish multiple stops and alternations between bowed and plucked notes assured in tone and precise in intonation – BBC Music Magazine
