César Franck violin sonata

I think that I fortunately came upon many good classical CDs this year. So, I should review all the CDs and introduce those to you.

Now I'm into César Franck violin sonata which is performed by Alfred Cortot and Jacques Thibaud. César Franck(1822-1890, Belgium) is not so popular as a classical music composer. Maybe it's because of his much fewer main works than other composers'. But his violin sonata might be the greatest one of 19th century. Because of the phenomenal popularity, the sonata was arranged for some other instruments such as cello, flute and solo piano. Franck composed this sonata for his violinist-friend, Ysaÿe as a wedding present.

I feel this song is filled with love. You can picture a concrete vision of love from this music. It's mostly unrealistic but you will be attracted to the imaginative scenes immediately.

By the way, I think what modern people lost is the fertile imagination like that. Now, people in developed countries are taking an advantage of the excessive information society, aren't they? I guess people used to create many stories and told them to friends, kids and their family to entertain.

This performance was recorded about 80 years ago. Pianist, Cortot and violinist Thibaud both are great storytellers. You cannot help imagining old European life styles and the scenery by their performance.