by Mike Telin
“I’ve always been fascinated with works that are on the fringe of the repertoire,” violinist Andrew Sords said by telephone. The problem with learning and ultimately performing works that are off the beaten track is that even with published works, the editions are often riddled with mistakes, if not illegible. “I’m a little OCD when it comes to the score that’s in front of me. I want it to be legible, correct, and have it provide some historical context.”
Following years of frustration, Sords has taken matters into his own hands. Joining forces with music engraver Daniel Singer, the violinist’s new venture, Green Point Editions, sheds light on musical gems that are often neglected on concert stages. Currently available are works by Franz Joseph Haydn, Jenö Hubay, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Jean Sibelius, Claudio Brindis de Salas, and Eugène Ysaÿe/Frederic Chopin.
Misprints in published editions have existed for centuries. Sords noted that Dvořák’s Violin Concerto has a famously wrong note in the final arpeggio. “You can’t blame the performer simply because they are playing from prints that their teachers said had the correct notes. But have some curiosity. Look at the Urtext, or prints from the 19th century that might be a little more accurate.”
Finding an accurate edition becomes even more difficult when it’s a piece of music that few if any performers are familiar with — even when it comes to works by Mozart. As a youngster, Sords’ neighbor was a violinist. When he passed away, his grandson asked if Sords would like to have a look through his scores. “I wanted everything, and his generous grandson said I could have it all.”
Years later while looking for some interesting, unknown works to add to his recital programs, Sords revisited those boxes, one of which contained a piano edition of the young Mozart’s six “Hauge” Sonatas for Keyboard and Violin, K. 26-31. Sords said that when he was reading through the pieces with Elizabeth DeMio, the pianist turned to him saying, “Andrew, this is gold.” These sonatas became the first of the Green Point Editions.
“Not many of my colleagues know these early works. That’s not due to any fault of their own, it’s just that they are not played. And unlike his later works, there are no definitive editions of music that he wrote while he was still in his early teens.”
Many concertgoers may be familiar with the Carmen Fantasies by Pablo Sarasate and Franz Waxman, but what about the one by Hungarian violinist and composer Jenö Hubay? “He wrote his Carmen Fantasie Brillante at the age of 19,” Sords noted. “He dedicated it to Belgian violinist and composer Henri Vieuxtemps, who at the time was the most famous violin soloist after Paganini.” In fact, Hubay’s was the first to be written and is the only one to include the Toreador and Escamillo themes. “You can find handwritten parts, but barely a readable piano part.”
In addition to the Hubay, Green Point Editions also includes Sibelius’ “Nocturne” from Belshazzar’s Feast. “Sibelius wrote his Violin Concerto and the Third Symphony during the same period he wrote the incidental music for Belshazzar’s Feast,” Sords said. “Growing up I had a cassette of Arthur Grumiaux playing the ‘Nocturne’ — I was infatuated.”
Inspired by Rachel Barton Pine’s recording, Violin Concertos by Black Composers, Sords has created his own edition of Claudio Brïndis de Salas’ Consolation in c minor for Violin and Piano. “The Afro-Cuban violinist and composer was known as The Black Paganini. He’s from the same time period as Chausson and Ysaÿe, but while they were looking ahead to the impressionist period, de Salas was looking back.” While in California, Sords came across a “very sloppy” 1860s print of the piece, which he said sounds like a Liszt Consolation paired with a wandering Chopin piano part.
Green Point is also responsible for the world premiere edition of Eugène Ysaÿe’s arrangement of Frederic Chopin’s Ballade in g. “Nothing in the violin repertoire was difficult enough for Ysaÿe, so he went to the works of Chopin. And after Ysaÿe wrote the arrangement, he played it in recital with his friend Camille Saint-Saëns. There is only a handwritten version that exists, so creating the premiere edition is exciting.”
Rounding out the first publications are Haydn’s Duo in D Major for Violin and Cello — which Sords said is the “Classical-era answer to the Kodály and Ravel duos” — and Evan Fein’s Untranslatable (Violin Sonata No. 1). “I befriended Evan eons ago when we were at the Cleveland Institute of Music,” Sords said. “In 2017, I asked him to write a piece that I could fit on any program that captured elements of my personality. He did and people always tell me how much they like it.”
Adding icing to the cake, beginning in the Summer, Eble Music — now Groth Music in Bloomington, Minnesota — will begin carrying Green Point Editions. “I’m very happy,” Sords said. “This has been a labor of love long before I knew what Coronavirus was.”
Published on ClevelandClassical.com April 27, 2020.
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