Sonata In A Major for Violin and Piano

Description :
This recording gave me enormous pleasure. The main reason I liked this new edition is that Kyung-Wha Chung and Radu Lupu don't sound like two internationally known soloists who were thrown together in a recording studio for ... [Show more]

Description:
This recording gave me enormous pleasure. The main reason I liked this new edition is that Kyung-Wha Chung and Radu Lupu don't sound like two internationally known soloists who were thrown together in a recording studio for just one afternoon. They not only place themselves in the hands of the other like a real, long-coordinated duo, but also appreciate the very special intimacy of the style (without any hint of subdued passion) inherent in chamber music. In Franck's Sonata, the music itself seems to generate the ideal tempo for the duo, and in this movement too I preferred its more restrained rubato in the first Quasi-Lento episode, so that the resurgence a few bars later (Tempo 1, Allegro) all the more haunting can emerge. The natural 'speaking' eloquence of the two newcomers seems rather Franconian to me. I also think the greater clarity of the recording benefits the music; neither instrument was placed too close to the microphone. (Regarding Debussy) I would suggest this new recording of the sonata as the one that is best to live with, as it captures all of the moonstruck fantasy and melodic charm of the music without vainly striving for either. - Gramophone
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