Sarah Nemtanu, Déborah Nemtanu - Bartók: 44 Duos (2016) Hi-Res

Béla Bartók composed his 44 Duos for two violins primarily as a pedagogical series for young students, but the collection has become increasingly popular with accomplished violinists for recordings and as recital fare, and it is usually played in its entirety, due to the brevity of the individual pieces. Sarah and Deborah Nemtanu present the 44 Duos on their debut album for Decca, and their eloquent and highly expressive playing proves that the work is as musically satisfying as the artistry they bring to it, and as listenable as Bartók's Mikrokosmos for piano, another work for students written in the same period. On the surface, these pieces may seem simplistic and almost naïve in their melodic contours and harmonies, though Bartók based them on folk songs and dances that he had collected, and the sisters take the Magyar and other ethnic flavors into account. All the same, their interpretation overall is lyrical, thoughtful, and abstract, and its smooth continuity and the studio acoustics prevent the start-stop feeling one finds in other less-polished performances.