Search - Gabriel Faure, Florent Boffard :: Fauré: Sonates pour violon & piano

Passionate Faure

M. C. Passarella | Lawrenceville, GA | 10/21/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Isabelle Faust has to be one of the finest violinists recording chamber music today. Her recording of the three Schumann sonatas is revelatory, and she just garnered a couple of rave reviews for her complete Beethoven sonata cycle (which I haven't heard). This disc devoted to the music of Faure is outstanding in every way.



Faust and Florent Boffard adopt a passionate approach to the sonatas, eschewing the more patrician style of, for example, Grumiaux and Crosley. Faust's immaculate, bell-like intonation is a joy to hear, whether in the melting Andantes of both sonatas or in the quicksilver scherzo of the First Sonata.



Like the Cello Sonatas of Faure, the proto-Impressionistic Second Violin Sonata is just as lyrical as the First but without the hummable melodies. It's every bit as involving, though, in the hands of Faust and Boffard.



The fillers include the ubiquitous Berceuse, charmingly rendered, and the Romance Op. 28, Andante Op. 75, and Morceau de lecture, the last written as an examination piece for the Paris Conservatoire. The Andante is an especially lovely work, poised but tinged with an air of melancholy.



Harmonia Mundi's recording balances a sense of immediacy with airiness and impact. At the price, a bargain in every way."