Customer Reviews

Franck - Sonata for violin and piano · Debussy - Sonatas · Ravel - Introduction and Allegro / Chung · Lupu · Ellis · Melos Ensemble

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
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This CD unites two sets of classic performances: The Franck and Debussy Violin Sonatas by Kyung Wha Chung and Radu Lupu, dating from 1977, and two 1962 recordings by the Melos Ensemble (Ravel's Introduction and Allegro and Debussy's Sonata for Flute, Viola and Harp). At the time of thisreview,it is listed Kyung Wha Chung as a performer on the latter Debussy Sonata, which is not the case, though the fault probably lies with the way the disc is labelled and documented (you have to read the fine print to see exactly who is performing what). But all four of these are classic performances, with excellent sound (though analogue recordings), and there is no better buy in the catalog than this disc for chamber music lovers!

This is by far the best CD I have of French chamber music, immensely enjoyable. Chung and Lupu bring out the best of the two violin sonatas, the last movement of the Franck piece being particularly infectious. Unlike most other chamber music CDs I have which I put on when I have something else to do, this one makes you put everything down and just sit and listen.

My favourite track though is the Ravel, which has beautiful harp playing by Ellis, very atmospheric and idiomatic. The Debussy will need some getting used to, but as usual with his impressionistic pieces, they are very addictive when you learn to like them.

This group of works of French Impressionism is enjoyable from begining to end and can be highly recommended. The sound quality given its vintage is excellent. I have competing versions of the Ravel and Debussy and this version more than holds its own. The Franck is one of those works any fan of western art music should not be without. I purchased this after reading about it in the NPR guide which also recommended it highly.

I originally bought this fabulous CD to replace my vinyl version of the Ravel Introduction & Allegro (for harp, flute, clarinet, & string quartet). I was absolutely astonished at the phenomenal performance of the Franck and Debussy Sonatas by Kyung Wha Chung and Radu Lupu.

The Ravel is a seriously underrated miniature masterpiece. It is in fact a very sensual impressionist work, very cleverly written. The overwhelming impression is almost climactic in its passion and yet so perfectly beautiful... I don't understand why it isn't more widely known. This performance with Ossian Ellis and the Melos Ensemble is indeed exceptional, perhaps it doesn't sound so fair otherwise?

César Franck's sonata was dedicated to the Belgian vioinist virtuoso Ysa˙e, who bequeathed us a handful of wonderful old recordings from the early 1900s. The sonata is innovative in its recurring themes across the movements, and has an intimate quality never really captured by the recordings I have heard from Russian violinists. Kyung Wha Chung and Radu Lupu are sublimely gifted and underrated musicians, who capture the essence with astonishing beauty and some passion, playing in perfect partnership. Both are oustanding virtuosi who deny that epithet, preferring to be more modestly remembered for the musicianly qualities of their music making. Well, that's OK with me, but I just wish their refreshingly uncynical talents were more widely appreciated. They play the Debussy Sonata excellently. The Sonata for flute, viola, and harp is lovely.

This CD should be in all music collections, each piece is 5 gold stars and the disc is a bargain at three times the price.

Possibly my favorite classical music CD. I have listened to this more times than I could count, and I still love it.

Here's a mystery. One Amazon reviewer finds this performance of the Franck Violin Sonata powerful and extroverted, while the other calls it intimate, deliate, and sensitive. (I admire Amazon for giving this job to the deaf.) To anyone at all familiar with the music, this recording from 1977 by Kyung-Wha Chung and Radu Lupu is so refined and elegant as to drain Franck's idiom of its passion. I much prefer the recent account by Sergey Khachatryan, who soars with unabashed romantic fervor. Skillful as they are, Chung and Lupu fall into the trap of making this sound like salon music.

The pairing is Debussy's late Violin Sonata, written while he was slowly dying of cancer. The piece has been criticized as a drastic falling off into simpleness by a sick man, and there's no doubt that the harmonies are basic by Debussy's standards. The form is cyclical, with the opening theme returning in various guises from beginning to end (Debussy used the familiar image of a snake biting its tail). Here, the refinement of Chung and Lupu enhances the music. Light melody, quavering tremolo, and floating arpeggios are the stuff of Debussy's sonata, and these performers convey the atmosphere very well. The recorded sound is quite good, with no hint of digital glare in the transfer.

A second recording, from 1962, has been added to make a fairly generous (67 min.) CD. Osian Ellis was Britain's leading harpist in those years, and I remember being delighted by his version of both the melancholy Debussy sonata and the suave Raval Introduction and Allegro, which the composer tossed off in eight days as a commission from a harp-making firm before he sailed off on a cruise. Chamber works featuring the harp are rare, and these two pieces have become staples. Debussy planned to write six sonatas in his last phase, for varying combinations of instruments. He died before he oculd finish the project, but it's the link that joins this work for flute, viola, and harp and the violin sonata.

The old recording holds up beautifully; clsoe miking doesn't lead to distortion (perhaps just a bit during loud tutti passages). The vocabulary is simmple and melodic, but if that seems like a falling off to critics, there's still much pleasure for the listener. Debussy certainly hadn't lost his touch for haunting timbres; he makes special use of muted viola and flute playing in close harmony against ethereal harp scales and arpeggios. Ellis takes care not to sound too ethereal -- his touch can turn sharp and pointed, a nice relief from too much sweetness.

The Ravel expands by adding a clarinet and three more strings to Debussy's spare trio. One gets a sense of restrained lushness. We are also in a different emotional world, closer to the sensual languor of Daphnis and Chloe. The liner notes say of Ravel that he substitutes emotions for passion (whatever that means). Here, the lightly rippling surface of a pond glints with sunlight, and that seems to be enough. The harp and flute are thought of as especially Frnech, but even in these English performances the Gallic temperament comes through.

Tom Hanks won't have a regret on what CDs he should have brought to the island in the movie "Cast Away", only if he had this Chung & Lupu sonata!

A good solid recording, but not as exquisite as Anne-Sophie Mutter's or as warm as Josh Bell's.