Antheil’s Second Sonata for Violin and Piano
Let out your inner rock star
Mark Fewer: A little bit classical, a little bit rock ’n’ roll
Photo by Stephanie MacKinnon/ STEPHinc.com
I originally studied and first performed this work by the American avant-garde composer George Antheil (1900–59) more than ten years ago. Since then, I have recorded it (with pianist John Novacek for Azica Records) and have been performing it recently.
The form of this sonata for violin and piano is extraordinarily “out of the box,” particularly for 1923! Everything—from the wild swings in musical content to ideas that never quite finish themselves to the completely over-the-top cadenza and the quiet tango with the pianist switching to drums at the end—is revolutionary. The best way I have found to describe it is to use the analogy of channel-surfing—it really is like sitting down with a remote control and changing the channel every few seconds.
Further Resources
Composer: George Antheil
Title of Work: Sonata No. 2, 1923
Edition: G. Schirmer, 1923
Considered by: Mark Fewer, jazz and classical violinist, recording artist, soloist, recitalist, and former concertmaster of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra. He is a regular member of the Duke Piano Trio, the Smithsonian Chamber Players, and Canada’s SuperNova String Quartet.
I love the entire set of Antheil’s sonatas and find them sadly underplayed and underexposed. This might change (I hope) as I find there to be more and more daring violin players on the scene these days. Antheil often had a particular violinist in mind when writing for the violin—Olga Rudge, whom he described as “adrenal.” She, along with poet Ezra Pound, who was a fan of Antheil’s, commissioned Sonata No. 2, as well as Sonata No. 1.
I am part of the generation of people that adored Schubert at the same time as Van Halen, so the hidden rock-star side of this particular violinist has a chance to show himself with these works.
One also has to be a bit of a comedian, a pantomime, an actor—all the things musicians are asked to be!
Antheil uses indications in his writing that other composers don’t. In a way, I find the directions he gives to be more akin to a jazz-band director yelling at his saxophone players. “Strutting,” “giggled,” “sadder,” “up to the minute,” and “very lyric—a little off” are indications that sit side by side with such traditional terms as sul ponticello, pizz, arco, and martelé du talon.
As well, some things are actually impossible to play—these include double-stops that require retuning your instrument (which you would have to do and then reset in about 0.007 seconds).
There are no other works for the violin like this, so by contrast these pieces offer performers a chance to stretch their musical (and technical) chops. To use the acting analogy again, it would be like seeing how an opportunity to play Hamlet trickles down to one’s work on a network TV show. The need to be able to switch quickly and dramatically between arco and pizz, the need to jump quickly both high and low on the violin at a moment’s notice, the need to make sounds that would not become fashionable until the late-20th century are all inside this music.
Other than using Antheil’s original handwritten score, I recommend this edition highly. I think Ron Erickson has done a fantastic editing job.
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