Search - Irina Muresanu, Dana Ciocarlie :: Alberic Magnard | Guillaume Lekeu: Violin Sonatas

Double-Gs...

Sébastien Melmoth | Hôtel d'Alsace, PARIS | 09/27/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

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The ArRe-Se label appears to be Swiss or French.



This 2006 disc runs :70+mins, and features a great combo of Lekeu's (1892) and Magnard's (1901) violin Sonatas--both in G-major. Rare Art, to say the least.



Lekeu was a pupil of Franck; Magnard, D'Indy--(himself a pupil of Franck). The two actually met at Bayreuth in 1889.



So we have a Wagner-Franck/Franco-Belgian synthesis in the ripest late-Romantic manner of the Fin de Siècle: febrile and decadent--in the best artistic sense.



In this case the gigantism of the movements--(each :10+mins in length)--is a good thing, showing endless melody, imagination, and technique.



Both Sonatas were performed by Eugène Ysaÿe--who must have been the greatest violinist since Niccolò Paganini.



Collectors: get it while you can. Caplet/Magnard: Wind Quintets . MAGNARD : Sonate Pour Violon - Pièces Pour Piano - Zimansky / Keller . String Quartets & Piano Quartet . Guillaume Lekeu: Quatuor; Molto Adagio .

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Greatest French violin sonata?

David Dooley | San Diego, CA USA | 12/19/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"If you've never heard Alberic Magnard's violin sonata, imagine combining the romanticism and scope of Cesar Franck's violin sonata with the specifically French refinement and elegance of Gabriel Faure's violin sonatas. The result is about 45 minutes of musical bliss. The piece ends with the return of an exquisite theme which I think of as the return to a lost Eden. Magnard is one of the least-known masters. If Franck, Faure, Vaughan Williams, and Bax (any or all of them) are among your favorite composers, you'll probably love Magnard."