JOSHUA BELL French Impressions

Camille Saint-Saëns - Sonata No.1 for Violin and Piano in D minor, Op. 75 (1885)

1. Allegro agitato

2. Adagio

3. Allegretto moderato

4. Allegro molto

César Franck – Violin Sonata in A Major (1886)

5. Allegretto ben moderato

6. Allegro

7. Recitativo – Fantasia: ben moderato – molto lento

8. Allegretto poco mosso

Maurice Ravel - Sonata for Violin and Piano (1927)

9. Allegretto

10. Blues: Moderato

11. Perpetuum Mobile: Allegro

Joshua Bell, violin

Jeremy Denk, piano

This is Joshua Bell’s first CD of Sonatas on Sony Classical and it is a passionately nuanced interpretation of works from Saint-Saëns, Franck and Ravel. Joshua Bell is one of the world’s most successful violinists and has won multiple Grammy awards, was awarded the prestigious Avery Fisher Prize and named Instrumentalist of the Year by Musical America. Bell was recently named Music Director for the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields becoming the first person to hold this title since Sir Neville Marriner founded the Orchestra in 1958.

Often referred to as the “poet of the violin”, his 2004 album Romance of the Violin was named the “Classical CD of the Year” by Billboard Magazine, with Bell named “Classical Artist of the Year.”

The three Sonatas chosen for this disc are very different though linked extraneously through their inherent national style:

The Saint-Saëns sonata remains one of the most exciting sonatas in the repertoire; the feverish finale is guaranteed to bring the house down. Bell’s recording of César Franck’s Violin Sonata allows him to pay homage, through his mentor Josef Gingold, to the two great artists who created this undying masterpiece. Written 125 years ago, at the height of the French Belle Epoque for the wedding of his friend, the virtuoso Eugene Ysaÿe (with whom Gingold studied). Ravel’s more fantastic sonata offers a kaleidoscope of different thrills, as seen in the unexpected yet beautiful blending of genres in the slow “Blues” movement of his sonata.

“French Impressions is the culmination of my last decade of exploration and performance with pianist Jeremy Denk, and I hope that with this recording we can affect the listener with the same joy and spiritual enrichment that these masterpieces have provided us with over the years.” – Joshua Bell

Sony 88697891822