Franck, C: Prélude, Fugue et Variation Op. 18

“This coupling is not as strange as it might seem on paper...Dumay’s clean, sweet tone harks back to the great exemplars of the Franco-Belgian school, Arthur Grumiaux and Eugène Ysayë, the dedicatee of Franck’s Sonata. Their way with this heady, passionate music is expansive, with melting portamentos in the great Recitative-Fantasia, and entirely idiomatic.” Sunday Times, 24th February 2013

“Compelling playing form one of today’s great violinists … this outstanding disc is a timely reminder of one of the modern violin greats.” The Strad, May 2013

“Augustin Dumay and Louis Lortie, ideally matched in this work, make it easy to lose oneself in the ardent Straussian reverie … Here’s a violinist who knows all the tricks – the expressiveness of a well-placed portamento, the way that carefully regulated vibrato gives every note a beating heart and so on … I will return to it [the recording] often.” International Record Review, May 2013

“Make no mistake, this is artistry of the highest order. In their hands, Strauss's melodic fluency somehow manages to combine rich luxuriance with deftness of gesture.” BBC Music Magazine, June 2013 *****

“Alain is a completely involved communicator.
More than anyone else she delves into the very soul of these works. Thus we have an intensely prayerful Prière, a majestically statuesque Grandepièce symphonique while the Chorales are delivered with an unexpected degree of fervour; perhaps the Third is a shade overfervent since some of the semiquaver figurations lack absolute clarity – something which after one or two hearings serves to heighten the excitement but which might, after repeated listening, become irritating. This is a highly authoritative release not just in terms of playing but also in Alain's accompanying notes.
The Caen organ is a particularly fine specimen of a Cavaillé-Coll, dating from 1884 – 25 years after the St Clotilde organ for which Franck wrote much of this music. The recording captures it, and the church's atmosphere, effectively.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010