Ravel: Violin Sonata in A minor 'Sonate posthume'

This new recording of Ravel’s works is performed by Julian Steckel (winner ECHO Klassik 2012, category “Newcomer of the year”), and includes the rarely played piece “Habanera”.

The young violinist Lena Neudauer captivated the critics with her first recording for Haenssler, Schumann’s Complete Works for Violin and Orchestra (HAEN93258), and on this new recording she tackles the incredibly demanding violin works of Maurice Ravel. Accompanied by Paul Rivinius (who is a critically acclaimed performer in his own right), Lena’s interpretation is wonderfully inspired.

Maurice Ravel’s mature works for violin and piano have established a central place in the core recital repertoire and are considered among the most popular of the genre. These diverse works acknowledge the influences of a range of musical styles from jazz to Impressionism and fuse the tonal colours of Debussy with the lyricism of Franck.

The posthumously published one-movement Violin Sonata, written by Ravel as a student, is a lyrical precursor to the composer’s stunning Violin Sonata in G major with its unique character and adoption of the ‘blues’ idiom. The spontaneity, tonal colours and exotic soundscapes in Ravel’s violin music call for immense skill in interpretation, and passages in the frenzied Tzigane test the limits of the performers’ virtuosity.

Violinist Alina Ibragmiova rises to these challenges with extraordinary verve. Recent winner of the Royal Philharmonic Society’s prestigious ‘Young Artist of the Year’ award, she displays a vast expressive range and interpretative maturity.

She is accompanied by pianist Cédric Tiberghien, who gives elegant and flawless performances and relishes Ravel’s iridescent piano parts.

The addition of Guillaume Lekeu’s masterwork, the extensive and engaging Violin Sonata, makes this major new release a chamber disc to treasure.

Both artists were child prodigies. Amanda Favier entered the International J S Bach Competition in Leipzig when she was only nine. She has won many prizes since then, gives international masterclasses and is often invited to be a jury member for competitions. Jean Dubé has been giving public performances since the age of four and performs as a recitalist and concert soloist throughout the world.

Violinist Maria Bachmann presents the world premiere recording of Phillip Glass’ Sonata No.1 for Violin and Piano (2008) in a recital which also features Schubert’s A major Sonata, Ravel’s posthumous work and Ave Maria by Bach/Gounod.

Philippe Graffin provided one of Avie’s landmark releases, the world-premiere recording of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s Violin Concerto (AV 0044). He returns with a more intimate but equally innovative disc devoted to works from his homeland. The figureheads of French impression – Debussy and Ravel – are paired with Impressions by the revelatory Romanian George Enescu, for whom Paris was like a second home.

Graffin, a multiple Gramophone Editor’s Choice artist, offers some popular melodies in unfamiliar guises. A trio of Debussy miniatures – Minstrels, Il Pleure dans mon Coeur, and La fille aux cheveux de lin – are heard in arrangements by Hungarian violinist Arthur Hartmann, a close friend of the composer. Ravel’s Tzigane is heard here with the original instrument it was written for, the prepared-piano sounding lutheal, using the last known instrument (from 1922) which is housed in the Musical Instrument Museum in Brussels.