Release Date: 08/12/2008
Run Time: 56:29

It's perplexing that Ravel found the combination of piano and violin such a mismatch. It is a medium to which he returned at several points during his output, from the very early, posthumously published sonata of 1897 to the much more mature, refined sonata of 1927. In the interim, Ravel composed several shorter works that have also found themselves as staples of the violin repertoire. As in other genres, Ravel attempted to mix musical styles: the "Blues" in the middle movement of the 1927 sonata, Jewish folk music in Kaddish, and Hungarian Gypsy idiom in Tzigane.
This Harmonia Mundi album features violinist Regis Pasquier and pianist Brigitte Engerer. Pasquier's playing is generally acceptable, but rarely dazzling in either technique or in capturing the various stylistic elements Ravel sought to combine. The "Blues" movement of the 1927 sonata, for instance, is generally quite rigid, lacking in the necessary free, improvisational feeling. The biggest letdown of the album is the sound quality of the piano. Thin, weak-sounding, and lacking in bass, Engerer instrument sounds more like an upright or toy piano. Balance unduly favors the violin in the two sonatas, robbing listeners of a more balanced, collaborative chamber music experience. ~ Mike D. Brownell, All Music Guide

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Release Date: 08/12/2008
Run Time: 56:29