RARE FRENCH WORKS FOR VIOLIN & ORCHESTRA

1 GABRIEL FAURÉ Violin Concerto in D minor Op 14 [15'46]

2 CAMILLE SAINT-SAËNS Morceau de concert Op 62 [10'27]

ÉDOUARD LALO Fantaisie norvégienne

3 Andante – Allegretto [4'42]

4 Andante [4'41]

5 Allegro – Presto [4'38]

ERNEST GUIRAUD Caprice

6 Andante [6'21]

7 Allegro appassionato [5'27]

8 ÉDOUARD LALO Guitarre Op 28 [3'40] arranged by GABRIEL PIERNÉ (1863–1937)

9 JOSEPH CANTELOUBE Poème [15'29]

Philippe Graffin, violin

Ulster Orchestra / Thierry Fischer

This is a collection of absolute gems. The one-movement Concerto by Fauré is the only movement to have survived from an original three-movement violin concerto, and Saint-Saëns’s Morceau de concert was originally intended as the first movement of his third violin concerto. Lalo’s Fantaisie norvégienne, with its utterly gorgeous slow movement, was to become the inspiration behind Bruch’s Scottish Fantaisie, and Guitare is an early encore piece for violin and piano (later orchestrated by Gabriel Pierné) that Lalo (himself a violinist) wrote for his own use. Guiraud, who taught composition to both Debussy and Dukas, wrote the haunting Caprice for Sarasate, and the Poème by Canteloube shows much of the charm he is now so famed for through his Chants d’Auvergne.

The combination of Romantic French music for violin and orchestra, the ever-exquisite playing of Philippe Graffin, and superb accompaniment from the Ulster Orchestra under Thierry Fischer makes this disc quite simply enchanting.

Helios CDH55396