Isabelle Faust (viool) & Alexander Melnikov (piano)

DELIGHTFUL DIALOGUES FOR VIOLIN AND PIANO

“No other work by Johannes delights me as much.”, said Clara Schumann of Brahms’ second violin sonata(1886). This optimistic piece appeals and proves Brahms’ capacity for putting romantic feelings into classical forms.

Isabelle Faust and Alexander Melnikov, two world-class soloists, create a dialogue between Brahms’ lyric sonata and the violin sonata that César Franck composed the same year. Marcel Proust, no less, was a great admirer of the latter, which owes its enormous power to its cyclical structure and balanced mix of counterpoint and Wagnerian harmonies. Faust and Melnikov finish with two intensely virtuoso 20th-century works by Paul Hindemith and Sergei Prokofiev. Fireworks guaranteed.