César Franck - Violin Sonata

- Composer: César-Auguste-Jean-Guillaume-Hubert Franck (10 December 1822 -- 8 November 1890) - Performers: Krystian Zimerman (piano), Kaja Danczowska (violin) - Year of recording: 1981 Sonata in A major for Violin and Piano, written in 1886. The 4 movements alternate between slow and fast: 00:00 - I. Allegretto ben moderato 06:24 - II. Allegro 15:01 - III. Ben moderato: Recitative-Fantasia 22:45 - IV. Allegretto poco mosso This sonata is one of Franck’s best known compositions, and considered one of the finest sonatas for violin and piano ever written. It is an amalgam of his rich native harmonic language with the Classical traditions he valued highly, held together in a cyclic framework. it was a wedding present for the 31-year-old violinist Eugène Ysaÿe. Twenty-eight years earlier, in 1858, Franck had promised a violin sonata for Cosima von Bülow. This never saw the light of day, but it has been speculated that whatever work Franck had done on that piece was put aside and eventually ended up in the sonat