Italian violinist and pianist Cristina Ciura and Carmine Chiarelli give interpretations of Bartók’s Violin Sonatas that emphasise the visceral, ritual, hypnotic qualities of these works, resulting in mesmerising performances full of energy and spirit. As the artists say in their Artist Statement in the album booklet: ‘What captivated us was finding a part of ourselves in the pages of these pieces: our wild side, the most instinctive part of our soul that allows us to connect with our origins. The pages of these works are dense with notes, iridescent colours, sounds that transport us to a transcendental, psychedelic dimension, made up of strong hues and intangible sounds; rough, wild sounds, melodies with an ancestral flavour; moments of intense unease alternating with moments of stasis in which time seems to stand still. This alternation of tension and release creates a sort of sound ritual, in which the listener is drawn into a state of hypnosis.’

The First Sonata features dazzling shifts in tempo, the first movement exhibiting a rhapsodic discourse typical of avant-garde music, while in the third and last movement those elements of Hungarian folk music that Bartók knew how to integrate into his music like no other explode with dizzying force. The Second Sonata consists of two linked movements, the first almost acting like an introduction to the substantial second movement.