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