Catalogue

Summary:

Editor’s Choice ” “A beautiful disc, this, its message one of gentle longing and nostalgia, though the playing is anything but sentimental.” – Rob Cowan, Gramophone

Recording of the Month – “… a fascinating disc… this is a disc brimming with dedication and admirable engagement. The Enescu is not the only version in the catalogue but it’s played with charismatic intensity, the Ravel is wonderfully different and the Hartmann-Debussy a fine salute from one violinist to another…” – Jonathan Woolf, MusicWebInternational.com

“… highlights include Graffin’s newly discovered revision of Ravel’s celebrated ‘Tzigane’ and a commanding performance of the Debussy sonata. All sound fresh and vibrant in the hands of one of the most versatile violinists of the moment.” – Anthony Holden, The Guardian

Recordings of the Year – “… superb performances, passionately played, beautifully phrased. These two musicians were born to play together; their sympathy for each other as an ensemble is uncanny. Graffin’s lush, even lusty tone is well matched by Désert’s fleet fingers. Never outshining the other, they are a true duo, and their music-making is perfectly enthralling….  This is a must-have for all lovers of violin playing. Buy it soon, and prepare to be transported, transmuted, transfixed and transfigured!” – Kevin Sutton, MusicWebInternational.com

Philippe Graffin provided one of Avie’s landmark releases, the world-premiere recording of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s Violin Concerto. 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.

Tracklist:

GEORGE ENESCU (1881–1955)
Impressions d’enfance, Op. 28 (22:01)
1. I. Ménétrier
2. II. Vieux Mendiant
3. III. Ruisselet Au Fond Du Jardin
4. IV. L’oiseau En Cage Et Le Coucou Au Mur
5. V. Chanson Pour Bercer
6. VI. Grillon
7. VII. Lune À Travers Les Vitres
8. VIII. Vent Dans La Cheminee
9. IX. Tempête Au-Dehors, Dans La Nuit
10. X. Lever De Soleil

MAURICE RAVEL (1875–1937)
11. Tzigane – Rapsodie de concert for violin and luthéal (original version) (10:41)
12. Sonata, Op. posthumous (12:37)

CLAUDE DEBUSSY (1862–1918)
13. Nocturne et Scherzo (re-adaptation by Phillipe Graffin) (4:11)
14. Il pleure dans mon Coeur (trans. A Hartmann, 1908 and 1943) (3:04)
15. La fille aux cheveux de lin (trans. A Hartmann, 1910) (2:27)
16. Minstrels (trans. Debussy, 1914) (2:22)

Violin Sonata (13:14)
17. I. Allegro Vivo
18. II. Intermède: Fantasque Et Léger
19. III. Finale: Très Animé

20. Beau Soir (trans. A Hartmann, 1941) (2:14)

Total duration: 73:16

Recorded 4 & 5 September 2004, at Doopsegezinde Kerk, Deventer
6 September 2004 (track 11), at Musical Instrument Museum, Brussels
Recording Producer and Sound Engineer: Tom Peeters