Poulenc: Violin Sonata, FP 119

This new disc from the acclaimed London Concord Ensemble presents Francis Poulenc's complete chamber music on 2 CDs. This flexible ensemble of internationally recognised young soloists and chamber musicians has excelled in bringing works for unusual instrument combinations to the fore, including the chamber music of Ludwig Thuille on a recent Champs Hill release.

"The ensemble clicks perfectly, the playing seemingly effortless and a regard for precision never stifling the musicians' natural feeling for life and breath." BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE

The music traverses his career, from early works such as the Sonata for Two Clarinets of 1918, to the late Sonatas for Oboe and Clarinet. It reflects his compositional personality, from the mischievous wit of his early neo-classical phase, to the profundity of his last composition. His music for wind instruments is beloved of its performers; immensely idiomatic and exploiting the full strengths of each instrument.

"Nothing is further from human breath than the bowstroke." he wrote. But it's important not to overlook the importance of his other chamber music, for instance the Sonatas for Violin and Cello. The Sextet and Trio for Piano and winds are arguably the greatest written for their combination of instruments. The Trio was the first of his chamber pieces to use his own instrument, the piano, and was eventually completed in 1926 after some advice from Stravinsky (whose astringent woodwind writing he had emulated in his early works).

His Sextet required even more revisions, eventually reaching its current form in 1939. It is one of Poulenc's earliest works to show the influence of Prokofiev. After some false starts, he completed the Sonata for Violin and piano in 1942 and it was premiered in 1943 at the Salle Gaveau in Paris although some may argue that his Cello Sonata, completed in 1948, is altogether more successful. His moving memorial to the great English horn player Denis Brain is the Elégie of 1957 and includes a bleak lyrical central section which anticipates Poulenc's final choral work, Sept répos des ténèbres. The two final sonatas, for Clarinet (1962) and for Oboe (1962-3), were also written in memory of departed friends, to Honneger and to Prokofiev respectively.

Showcasing violinist Tasmin Little’s impressive versatility, these recordings highlight her sensitivity to both orchestral and chamber works. From the lyricism and blues-inspired melodies of Ravel’s Violin Sonata to the impassioned melodies of Delius’s Double Concerto, Little’s playing breathes life into every aspect of the music.

Iskandar Widjaja describes the two worlds of Bach and Blues as reflecting his musical schizophrenia. He has performed as a soloist and chamber musician throughout Europe and regularly appears as a soloist and concertmaster with the Berlin Chamber Soloists. He is very popular in Indonesia and is celebrated there like a pop star.

Both these artists are 2009 winners of the German Music Competition. Byol Klanfg was born in Salzburg and has been learning the violin since she was eight years old.

Described as “The most exceptionally gifted young violinist I have ever encountered” by Ruggiero Ricci, Tamsin Waley-Cohen explores her European/American heritage in her debut disc, 'An American in Paris'.

Tamsin says of this project: 'Song is one of the primary connections between all the works on this disc; folk songs, cafe songs, blues songs, traditional songs. I grew up with many of them; the Ives and the Gershwin, and even the Blues in the Ravel, from my American Mother. Some, such as the cafe songs of the Poulenc, are part of my European heritage. The juxtaposition of the beauty of these songs with the sardonic humour and the macabre, which in particular inhabit both the Ives and the Poulenc, adds power and poignancy to the content of these works.'

Poulenc’s Violin Sonata, written while the composer was coming to terms with life under Nazi occupation, is dedicated to the memory of Federico Garcia Lorca, the poet and playwright who was murdered by opposition forces in the Spanish Civil War in 1936.

Ravel’s Sonata, composed between 1923 and 1927, contains long periods of refined, rather reserved music punctuated by moments of full-blooded passion and although influenced by blues is far from mere pastiche.

Decoration Day was first composed by Charles Ives in 1912 woven with themes from part-fictional, part-autobiographical recollection of personal childhood memories. The piece was reconstructed by the pianist and scholar John Kirkpatrick from surviving sketches after 1919.

George Gershwin visited Paris in 1928 and met, among other composers, Ravel, Poulenc, Prokofiev and Berg. Although Porgy and Bess (1935) attracted mixed reviews, songs such as the lullaby ‘Summertime’, ‘It ain’t necessarily so’ and the heartbreaking ‘My man’s gone now’ became instant hits. The arrangement by Heifetz heard here of half a dozen numbers from Porgy and Bess is testament to the high esteem in which the legendary violinist held his music.

Tamsin Waley-Cohen was born in London in 1986. She is currently associate artist with Orchestra of the Swan and performs as a soloist with others, including the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestra of St John's, London Concert Orchestra. Since 2007 she has played the 1721 ex-Fenyves Stradivarius violin.

On this recording, the French violinist Louise Chisson presents major violin sonatas of the 20th century. Whereas Poulenc’s and Prokofiev’s sonatas date from the Second World War, Leoš Janáček’s sonata was written in 1914, at the beginning of the First World War. The works evince Impressionist elements, stylistic ruptures and a preparation of Modernism. Against the backdrop of the dates of composition of these works, it is surprising that there is also scope for lightness and beauty besides death, gloom and despair. Together with the Georgian pianist Tamara Atschba, Chisson effortless manages to walk a tightrope and convey the most expressive emotions from the darkest years of the past century.

Written between 1900 and 1949, these four sonatas for violin and piano represent some of the best music written in France in the first half of the 20th Century. Each work is a masterpiece and together they form a richly varied recital, expressing the gamut of human emotion.