Philippe Graffin - Ysaÿe: Sonatas Nos. 1-6 for Solo Violin etc. (1997)

Tracklist

01. Ysaÿe: Sonata No. 1 for Solo Violin in G Minor, Op. 27/1: I. Grave. Lento assai
02. Ysaÿe: Sonata No. 1 for Solo Violin in G Minor, Op. 27/1: II. Fugato. Molto moderato
03. Ysaÿe: Sonata No. 1 for Solo Violin in G Minor, Op. 27/1: III. Allegretto poco scherzoso. Amabile
04. Ysaÿe: Sonata No. 1 for Solo Violin in G Minor, Op. 27/1: IV. Finale con brio. Allegro fermo
05. Ysaÿe: Sonata No. 2 for Solo Violin in A Minor, Op. 27/2: I. Obsession "Prélude". Poco vivace
06. Ysaÿe: Sonata No. 2 for Solo Violin in A Minor, Op. 27/2: II. Malinconia. Poco lento
07. Ysaÿe: Sonata No. 2 for Solo Violin in A Minor, Op. 27/2: III. Danse des ombres "Sarabande". Lento
08. Ysaÿe: Sonata No. 2 for Solo Violin in A Minor, Op. 27/2: IV. Les furies. Allegro furioso
09. Ysaÿe: Sonata No. 3 for Solo Violin in D Minor, Op. 27/3 "Ballade"
10. Ysaÿe: Sonata No. 4 for Solo Violin in E Minor, Op. 27/4: I. Allemanda. Lento maestoso
11. Ysaÿe: Sonata No. 4 for Solo Violin in E Minor, Op. 27/4: II. Sarabande. Quasi lento
12. Ysaÿe: Sonata No. 4 for Solo Violin in E Minor, Op. 27/4: III. Finale. Presto ma non troppo
13. Ysaÿe: Sonata No. 5 for Solo Violin in G Major, Op. 27/5: I. L'aurore. Lento assai
14. Ysaÿe: Sonata No. 5 for Solo Violin in G Major, Op. 27/5: IIa. Danse rustique. Allegro giocoso molto moderato
15. Ysaÿe: Sonata No. 5 for Solo Violin in G Major, Op. 27/5: IIb. Moderato amabile – Tempo I – Poco più mosso
16. Ysaÿe: Sonata No. 6 for Solo Violin in E Major, Op. 27/6
17. Ysaÿe: Poème élégiaque, Op. 12
18. Ysaÿe: Rêve d'enfant, Op. 14

Eugène Ysaÿe was the charismatic and flamboyant successor to Wieniawski in the great French tradition of violin virtuosity. Yet he was to take the genre to new and giddy heights with his Six Sonatas for solo violin of 1924. Each sonata is dedicated to one of the rising stars of the younger generation of virtuosos and the work as a whole is in many ways a twentieth-century response to the Six Sonatas and Partitas for solo violin by Bach.

The two works for violin and piano on this recording are in a rather less virtuosic vein and date from some thirty years earlier. Rêve d'enfant is a short and tender lullaby in the spirit of Fauré, while the Poème élégiaque, itself dedicated to Fauré, combines a sublime atmosphere with unashamedly Wagnerian vision.

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