French & Belgian Violin Sonatas
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Composer: Gabriel FauréComposer: César Franck
Composer: Guillaume Lekeu
Composer: Eugène Ysaÿe
Composer: Henri Vieuxtemps
Composer: Claude Debussy
Composer: Maurice Ravel
Performer: Paul Crossley
Performer: György Sebok
Performer: Arthur Grumiaux
Edition: Music CD
Audio: English (Unknown)
Format: Import
CD Release Date: 2007-08-01
Music Label: Eloquence Australia
Soundtracks:
- Violin Sonata No.1 In A Major, Op.13
- Violin Sonata No.2 In E Minor, Op.108
- Violin Sonata In A Major
- Violin Sonata In G Major
- Reve D'enfant, Op.14
- Ballade Et Polonaise, Op.38
- Violin Sonata In G Minor
- Violin Sonata In G Major
Music reviews of French & Belgian Violin Sonatas
Music Review: One for your music library
Rating: 5 Stars
The budget priced Eloquence series has been putting out some really great re-releases, the sequence of disks featuring the great Belgian violinist Arthur Grumiaux not the least among them.
On this two disk release we get wonderful performances by Grumiaux of (as the title says!) French and Belgian violin sonatas. Specifically, the works on this release are:
-- Debussy's violin sonata in G minor, with Istvan Hajdu on piano.
-- the 2 violin sonatas of Faure, with Paul Crossley accompanying.
-- the violin sonata in A by Franck, Gyorgy Sebok on piano.
-- Lekeu's violin sonata in G, with Dinorah Varsi on piano.
-- Ravel's piano sonata in G, again with Istvan Hajdu.
-- the violin and piano version of Vieuxtemps' Ballade et polonaise, Op.38, with Dinorah Varsi on piano.
-- Ysaye's Reve d'enfant (Op.14), again with Dinorah Varsi.
Since their first release in the late 70s, the Faure recordings with Crossley have been rated as near definitive, as has the Ravel; both the Faure sonatas are truly great works, I admit I am less convinced of the stature of Ravel's sonata. Speaking of great works, the massive sonata of Franck is utterly gorgeous and given a wonderful performance here (I have not heard the Perlman/Argerich performance of this work, which is often given rave reviews, as is a recording by Chung and Lupu). Grumiaux is meant to have done an equally excellent recording of the Debussy with Castagnone, but you will not be disappointed with this version. That leaves me the three lesser known works on this disk, those by Lekeu, Vieuxtemps and Ysaye. The violin sonata by Lekeu is probably the most popular piece he wrote (he died of typhoid when 24), and it is easy to understand why; it contains some beautiful, sweeping passages and Grumiaux gives us a great performance of it. Vieuxtemps wrote two versions of his Ballade et polonaise, one for violin and orchestra, the other for violin and piano. It has not been recorded often, in either format. Grumiaux's performance convinces me, at least, that the work deserves better -- look, in particular, for a fun, rollicking theme, introduced towards the middle of this short work which might sound familiar. Finally, I admit I had not previously heard the work by Ysaye; it is a slow, almost longing piece of not quite 4 minutes duration.
The sound is perfectly fine; if anything, the Debussy maybe portrays its age a little, sounding a tad thin in comparison to the rest of the recordings. The violin is perhaps a little closer miked in one or two pieces, but it is not overly dominant.
So there you have it. Anyone without first rate performances of these works, the Faure and Franck works in particular, should not hesitate. Even at mid or full price, I'd recommend putting this in your music library; at budget price, well, all I can say is don't be a silly Billy and buy this release! And finally, for those looking for something a little off the beaten track in this type of repertoire and from roughly the same period, may I suggest the truly superb Ten Sonatilles and Six Morceaux for violin and piano by Joachim Raff.
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