Ax Archive

FAURE: Violin Sonata No. 1 in A Major; R. STRAUSS: Violin Sonata in E-flat Major – Itzhak Perlman, v./ Emanuel Ax, p. – DGG

by Audiophile Audition | Dec 29, 2015 | Classical CD Reviews

For their first inscription together, Perlman and Ax gloriously collaborate in two works new to the Perlman legacy. FAURE: Violin Sonata No. 1 in A Major, Op. 13; R. STRAUSS: Violin Sonata in E-flat Major, Op. 18 – Itzhak Perlman, v./ Emanuel Ax, p. – DGG B0023611-02, 53:52 (8/28/15) [Distr. by Universal] ****:
 This recording (7-9 September 2014) represents a “debut” in several respects, since Perlman and Ax, having often appeared in recital, had never before made a recording together; and these sonatas represent major additions to the Perlman legacy. Given the seventieth-birthday acknowledgments for Itzhak Perlman, the disc maintains his reputation for tonal beauty and passionate involvement in the music he champions. The 1876 Sonata in A by Gabriel Faure marks – in the words of admirer Saint-Saens – “the [composer’s] unimagined audacity as something quite normal. With this work Monsieur Faure takes his place among the masters.” The writing for both participants proves quite demanding, rife with broken octaves and dynamics that swell up in expressive ardor. Ax sets the tone immediately, Allegro molto, with a fulsome statement of the main theme, itself redolent of lyric and sensuous power. Once Perlman enters, the sense of an elastic, ever-evolving […]