Complete Works For Violin & Piano features Meri Khojayan and Robert Poortinga. The violin sonatas of Sergei Prokofiev were written during the tumultuous years of 1938-1946. Prokofiev’s musical language in both sonatas was already fully developed. He went back to a certain melodic simplicity which is often linked with the poetic language of Anna Akhmatova. Prokofiev himself said during this period: “I want nothing better, more flexible or more complete than the sonata form, which contains everything necessary for my structural purposes.”

This album is available today in Stereo and 5.1 Channel Surround Sound DSD exclusively at NativeDSD. Plus Auro3D 5.1.4 Channel Immersive Surround Sound 96k FLAC. It is not available on SACD.

Each of the four movements are a reflection of the impressions of the tumultuous Stalinist regime and war years which show many contrasting characters. Prokofiev said: “This music should sound so that people jump in their place and ask, ‘Are you out of your mind?’”. Of parts of the first sonata he said: “it should sound like the wind on a grave”. Prokofiev had a tendency to shock with his music, especially when it came to first performances. Such a shock is hard to create now because audiences are familiar with his sound-idiom and know what to expect. Nevertheless, the power of the music is deep rooted and overwhelming and is present also in serene moments, of which Prokofiev was an absolute master.

For Meri Khojayan and Robert Poortinga ‘A deep lasting impression from a performance’ is their ultimate aim for their audience. Their idea of forming a duo that focusses solely on the performance of violin-piano repertoire came about at the beginning of 2015. Since then, they have dedicated their lives to a repertoire with incredible potential.

Meri Khojayan, Violin
Robert Poortinga, Piano