Violin Sonatas: Franck • Debussy • Ravel

Shlomo Mintz & Yefim Bronfman

1986: Polydor/Deutsche Grammophon 415 683-2


    Cesar Franck (1822–1890)


    Sonata for Piano and Violin in A major

  1. Allegretto moderato
  2. Allegro
  3. Recitativo-Fantasia
    Moderato—Molto lento
  4. Allegretto poco mosso


    Claude Debussy (1862–1918)


    Sonata for Violin and Piano in G minor

  5. Allegro vivo—Appassionato
  6. Intermède. Fantasque et léger
  7. Finale. Très animé


    Maurice Ravel (1875–1937)


    Sonata for Violin and Piano in G major

  8. Allegretto
  9. Blues. Moderato
  10. Perpetuum mobile. Allegro

I heard this recording of Ravel’s sonata in a dance concert by the choreographer Long Nguyen in the late 1980s, and I was mesmerized by both the music and Nguyen’s danced story and characterizations, even though I was watching it from the wings (I was working the curtain and doing other prop-related stuff). Several months later as I was in Paris for the first time, I quite unexpectedly found a copy of this LP at a record shop at St Germain des Prés (now long gone); I have treasured it ever since. And when I was at a low ebb, back in Paris in 1998, to my complete astonishment I found a copy of this CD at la FNAC (the one at place des Ternes), even though the CD had been out of print for countless years; this is that copy, and when a track skipped momentarily the other day I panicked…time to scour the Web for a backup copy!


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