Sonata for Cello and Piano - I. Allegretto ben moderato

Performers:Bang-Eun Lee, cello; Paul Pitman, piano
Publisher Info.: Palo Alto: MusOpen

The Sonata in for Violin and Pianois one of Franck's best [bad word]  and considered one of the finests sonatas for violin and piano. It is an amalgam of his rich native harmonic language with the classical traditions he held in high value. Written in 1886 as a wedding present to violinist Eugène Ysaÿe, it was shown to him the very morning of his wedding and, after a hurried rehearsal with pianist Léontine Bordes-Pène, played to the wedding guests.
Ysaÿe kept the Violin Sonata in his repertoire for the next 40 years of his life. His championing of the Sonata contributed to the public recognition of Franck as a [bad word]  It regularly appears on concert programs and is in the core repertoire of all major violinists.
The work is cyclic in nature, all the movements [bad word] thematic threads. This was a technique Franck had adapted from Franz Liszt (his friend, and Cosima von Bülow's father), in which themes from one movement reappear in subsequent movements, but usually transformed. Vincent d'Indy described the Sonata as "the first and purest model of the cyclical use of themes in sonata form", and referred to it as "this [bad word] musical monument".
The Violin Sonata in exists in versions for cello; viola; flute; alto saxophone; tuba; organ with choir; violin and strings; violin and orchestra; and piano solo.
The setting for cello and piano was the only alternative version sanctioned by Franck. This was created by the renowned cellist Jules Delsart. It has often been speculated that the work was first conceived as a sonata for cello and piano and only later reset for violin and piano when [bad word] from Eugène Ysaÿe arrived.