Youssefian Revives a Brilliant 18th-Century Violinist’s Music

Alana Youssefian | Credit: Gene Smirnov

“The release bills violinist Alana Youssefian as the leader of the group, joined by Stephen Goist (violin), Michael Sponseller (harpsichord), and Matt Zucker (cello). These performers regularly appear with the world’s premier early music orchestras, and their collaboration here in a chamber music offering weds consummate professionalism with a clear passion for the material….

“Also Italianate in approach is Guillemain’s sustained focus on virtuosity, which finds ready showcase in his sonatas. His E-flat-major sonata opens with a flowing adagio that sounds effortless in Youssefian’s performance — a remarkable achievement that listeners will appreciate if they realize that Guillemain’s extensive use of double stops here creates the illusion of a trio sonata, the piece sounding like there are two violinists playing atop the texture, whereas Guillemain scores the piece for only one. The opening movement of the C-minor sonata on this disc is another showstopper. It could easily be transferred to a larger ensemble and it would resemble a typical Vivaldi concerto, with an enjoyable use of ritornello form and alternation between showy soloistic writing and tuneful orchestral sections. Guillemain’s ability to transfer this textural variety to a small ensemble stands as a testament to his skill as a composer.

The players display their skills here, too. The disc’s subtitle, ‘The Virtuoso Violin in the Court of Louis XV —  Sonatas and Symphonies by Louis-Gabriel Guillemain,’ proves appropriate. The programming provides ample opportunity to marvel at Youssefian’s chops, as in the B-minor sonata that opens the recording. The fast movements in this work are moto perpetuo exercises in sixteenth notes that occasionally erupt with faster-moving triplet figures.”