Christiane Edinger & James Tocco - Eduard Franck: Sonatas for Violin & Piano (2007/2020) [Hi-Res]

Composed during the years 1853-1861, the Violin Sonatas of Eduard Franck convince the listener by virtue of their freshness and the originality of their thematic and metric-rhythmic invention as well as their formal perfection. On the other hand, Franck’s classicist aesthetic does not renounce its connection to the sound world of his teacher, Mendelssohn-Bartholdy and influences from French music, e.g. the works of C. V. Alkan. The genre of the violin sonata found itself in a crisis after the deaths of Beethoven and Schubert; it only found a renewal during the 1880s with the sonatas of Brahms, Dvorak, César Franck, Grieg and Saint-Saens. With the publication of the four Violin Sonatas of Eduard Franck, his contribution towards the overcoming of this crisis is put up for discussion. Due to their adaptation of elements of folk and church music, the Violin Sonatas stand on the threshold of a new musical realism which dominated the music history of the second half of the 19th century.

The four Violin Sonatas offer present-day virtuosos grateful and differentiated tasks; they deserve to be heard and appreciated anew.

Christiane Edinger, violin
James Tocco, piano