" Opus haute définition e-magazine " II / 2011- Frankreich 

Inspired. That is what this SACD of three sonatas for violin and piano assuredly is. Opening this program is the Sylvester Sonata Op.48 by the famous pianist Jörg Demus, dedicated to the violinist of the present recording. In five movements, the work is a wonder of eloquence and expressiveness. Next comes the
Sonata in G minor by Claude Debussy dating from 1917. This latter, in all senses of the word, is a “painful” work that the French composer, prey to sickness, had much trouble finishing. Still, as Harry Halbreich notes, “By the harmonious fusion of the two instruments, Debussy equals the miraculous accomplishments of Mozart or Brahms in the Sonata in G.” The extremely well-known Sonata in A major by
César Franck is without doubt a masterpiece. Dedicated to the violinist Eugène Ysaye, it was first performed in 1886, that is three years before the composer’s death. Proust himself referred to it, it would seem, in “Du côté de chez Swann”: “This time, Swann clearly for a few moments distinguished a phrase rising above the sound waves. It suggested to him a singular voluptuousness the likes of which he never would have known before hearing it. It smelled like nothing else. Only it could make itself be known. He found it to be like an unknown love…” The communion, or rather the osmosis, between the piano of Jörg Demus and the violin of Thomas Albertus Imberger is admirable in its breath and liveliness. The musical discourse is both warm and deep throughout. This is quite an accomplishment, in
a sound recording in harmony with the interpretation.

Translation Lawrence Schulman

ensemble I/II  2011 .....