JOHAN DALENE / JULIEN QUENTIN

When Ravel composed his bravura piece Tzigane for violin, it is highly likely that he had in mind a quirky musician friend (otherwise why the out-of-place accents that seem to describe a mock disjointed march?). Originally intended for violin and luteal, an instrument that sounds like something between a piano and a harpsichord, the work opens with a large violin cadenza that seems improvised, before the piano takes its companion into a dance that is first soaring, then wild.  

Einojuhani Rautavaara develops a very different mood in his Notturno e Danza. After an indolent piano introduction reminiscent of Shostakovich, the violin makes its entrance with a dreamy melody, beginning in the bass before soaring to the heavens in a meditative gesture reminiscent of the finale of Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time. 

Grieg’s Second Sonata is a declaration of love to Norway: when he presented it to his master, the latter even deemed it “too Norwegian”! He was no doubt referring to the typically Nordic tragic atmosphere that pervades the score, and which has earned it a special place in the world of the great Romantic sonatas. 

As for Franck’s Sonata, it is so imbued with the aura of its dedicatee, Eugène Ysaÿe, that one almost forgets that it was not originally conceived for a particular instrument, which perhaps explains its contemporary universality and the enthusiasm with which violists, cellists and flautists approach this work. The originality of its form, with two slow movements alternating with two fast ones, the lyricism and the unforgettable character of its melodies have made it a timeless classic of the repertoire since its creation.