Achron J. Selected Pieces for violin and piano

The masterpieces entering this collection belong to the brilliant violinist and composer Iosof Achron (1886–1943). Being the student of Leopold Auer at the Petersburg Conservatoire Achron continued the Russian violin trend of the 20th century. 

Joseph Achron originated from the Polish city Lodz, where he was born on May 1 (13), 1886. Being a child he learnt to play violin at J. Lotto in Warsaw. Since 1899 Achron went on his education but already at the Petersburg Conservatoire. Famous professor Leopold Auer became the youth's master, while the distinguished composer A. K. Lyadov taught him to create pieces. The 1904 was the first year of Achron's tours over Russia and Germany. The accompanist was his younger brother Isidor Achron (1892–1948) pupil of A. N. Yesipova, wonderful pianist, friend and future concert-master of the violinist Jascha Heifetz already in America.

During the period of 1913–1916 Josif Achron conducted classes at the Kharkov Music College, where his pupil was Isaak Dunayevsky. Since 1922 Achron resided in Berlin, since 1925 - in the USA. He died in Hollywood (California) on April 29, 1943.

Joseph Achron's creation embraces diverse pieces for violin; so as vocal music. Among his compositions there are the suite “Golem” for chamber orchestra, three concertos for violin and symphony orchestra, two sonatas for violin and piano, four instrumental suites, many violin miniatures. It was already in 1922, when the renown and mostly authoritive musicologist and criticist V. Karatygin expressed his attitude to Achron the following way: “The rare phenomenon came into being in Petrograd. There lives the remarkable violinist, able to invent the true chamber music. Achron has spiritual predecessors, the kind of astral bodies acting as pilots navigating the vessel of the violinist-composer along the world ocean expanses. These predecessors are the German classics and romanticists headed by Mozart, Schumann and Brahms. Besides, there are nameless far ancestors, whose recalls are embodied as the Jewish ditties and measures. The oriental elements are elaborated exquisitely and eloquently. The German spiritual influences are not just mechanically imitated, they are transformed, being interspersed into the whole facture. As a result there appears the music, striking by its novelty and fascination, that is so much appreciated in the violin stock.

This very edition embraces versatile hues of Achron's artistic palette, so as his methodical treatise “About Chromatic Scale Performing on Violin” from the book Violin Technique Basis”.

Contents:

GIFT TO MOZART. Minuet. Op. 22, No 2 (Music text example)
GIFT TO SCHUMANN. Mill. Op. 22, No 3
FUGHETTA. Op. 21, No 4
GIGUE. Op. 21, No 5
PUPPETS. Op. 22, No 5
COQUETRY. Op. 15 (Music text example)
HEBREW MELODY. Op. 33. Edited by J. Heifetz. The original version of the melody as recorded by the author
SHEARS. Wedding Dance. Op. 42. Original variant of melody
JEWISH LULLABY. Op. 35, No 2. Edited by L. Auer
LULLABY. Op. 1
THE SECOND LULLABY. Op. 20