César Franck; Claude Debussy; Maurice Ravel - Violin Sonatas (Augustin Dumay; Maria João Pires)

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Composer: César Franck; Claude Debussy; Maurice Ravel

• (01) Franck - Violin Sonata in A major
• (05) Debussy - Violin Sonata in G minor, L. 140
• (08) Ravel - Berceuse sur le nom de Gabriel Fauré
• (09) Ravel - Vocalise-Étude en forme de Habanera
• (10) Ravel - Tzigane

Augustin Dumay, violin
Maria João Pires, piano

Date: 1995
Label: Deutsche Grammophon
http://www.deutschegrammophon.com/en/cat/4458802

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Review

PERFORMANCE: **** / SOUND: *****

Duos don’t always have the temperament for the smouldering fires of Franck as well as the sudden whims of Debussy. Dumay and Pires join the select few. They take their time to find Debussy’s opening pulse, but they establish an individual, thoughtful freedom that ‘speaks’ sensuously and assertively. In the finale, they let unexpected passion grow from the central waltz, setting up a brilliant final flourish. Implicit in the initial, floated phrases of the Franck is a sense of the arduous journey to come. Intensity surges up by degrees towards the soul-torturing struggles at the sonata’s centre, and recedes before a gradual return of serenity and confidence. The gathering excitement has great subtlety and expressive power in this very ‘live’ (though session-made) performance. They play Ravel with delicacy and panache, but the best Ravel here comes from Tetzlaff and Andsnes, who find a generous range of character from Spanish hardness to a lyrical, irony-free blues and a playful good humour that banishes thoughts of brittleness. A fine, fluent Debussy Sonata even outshines Dumay and Pires in the sly asides of the middle movement, and Nielsen’s dour concentration is delivered with proper grit. They react well to Janácek’s abrupt mood-changes and lyrical feeling, though they don’t quite reach the operatic heights of passion.

-- BBC Music Magazine

More reviews:
http://www.amazon.com/Violin-Sonata-DUMAY-AUGUSTIN-PIRES/dp/B0000012W6

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César Franck (10 December 1822 – 8 November 1890) was a composer, pianist, organist, and music teacher who worked in Paris during his adult life. As an organist he was particularly noted for his skill in improvisation. Franck is considered by many the greatest composer of organ music after Bach. Franck exerted a significant influence on music. He helped to renew and reinvigorate chamber music and developed the use of cyclic form. He became professor at the Paris Conservatoire in 1872, his pupils included Vincent d'Indy, Ernest Chausson, Louis Vierne, Charles Tournemire, Guillaume Lekeu and Henri Duparc.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C%C3%A9sar_Franck

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Claude Debussy (22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. Along with Maurice Ravel, he was one of the most prominent figures associated with Impressionist music, though he disliked the term when applied to his compositions. Debussy is widely regarded as one of the most influential composers of the 20th century. His innovative harmonies and his use of non-traditional scales were influential to almost every major composer of the 20th century and also some modern music groups. Debussy's music is noted for its sensory content and frequent usage of nontraditional tonalities.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claude_Debussy

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Maurice Ravel (7 March 1875 – 28 December 1937) was a French composer, pianist and conductor. He is often associated with impressionism along with Claude Debussy, although both composers rejected the term. In the 1920s and 1930s Ravel was internationally regarded as France's greatest living composer. Among his works to enter the repertoire are pieces for piano, chamber music, two piano concertos, ballet music, two operas, and eight song cycles. His best known works include Boléro (1928), Gaspard de la nuit (1908), Daphnis et Chloé (1912). Ravel was also an exceptionally skilled orchestrator.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maurice_Ravel

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Augustin Dumay (born 17 January 1949) is a French violinist and conductor from Paris. His international career took off when Dumay was invited as a soloist to appear with Yo-Yo Ma in Paris by Herbert von Karajan. He subsequently performed regularly with the world’s finest orchestras, conductors and chamber musicians. Over the last ten years, Dumay has also become very active as a conductor, both on stage and on disc. His discography is available on the Warner, Deutsche Grammophon and Onyx Classics labels, and have won many awards for him such as Gramophon Award, Grammy and Victoires de la Musique.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augustin_Dumay

http://augustindumay.com/

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Maria João Pires (born 23 July 1944 in Lisbon) is a Portuguese classical pianist. Pires studied with Campos Coelho in Lisbon, Rosl Schmidt in Munich, and Karl Engel in Hannover. International fame came in 1970, when she won the Beethoven Bicentennial Competition in Brussels. Subsequently she performed with major orchestras in Europe, America, Canada, Israel and Japan, as a solo artist and also in chamber music. Her many successful recordings include performances of Beethoven's and Mozart's sonatas. Her recordings of the Chopin nocturnes was praised by Gramophone magazine.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Jo%C3%A3o_Pires

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