Debussy, Fauré, Franck : Violoncelle et piano

Description

The French musical school of the second half of the 19th century owes much to the personality of César Franck. He composed his greatest masterpieces in the last ten years of his life. It is during this period that the sonata for violin and piano (given here in a transcription for cello and piano) belongs. The "cyclic" principle dear to Franck is found here: the same theme reappears in the various movements, ensuring the unity of the work.
In the chamber music of Gabriel Fauré, the cello occupies an important place, associated with other string instruments, and often a partner of the piano. In 1908, the "Sérénade," op. 98, more refined, more sensual, and all a-quiver. Everywhere, the same melodic invention, the same subtlety, the same sensitivity.
At the end of his life, ill, shocked by the war, Claude Debussy decided to write "Six sonatas for various instruments, in the French style." In reaction against the German romantic style, he intends to reconnect with the great French tradition of the 17th and 18th centuries, that of Couperin and Rameau, that of clarity, economy of means, and refinement. On the score, Debussy noted: "Let the pianist never forget that he must not fight against the cello, but accompany it."