Pauline Viardot: Violin Sonatina - Paul Viardot: Violin Sonatas Nos. 1-3

Album review

The last name Viardot is inextricably tied to the first name Pauline – even though other family members rose to fame under different names, for instance her father Manuel Garcia or her sister Maria Malibran. But that’s forgetting that Pauline had a son named Paul (1857-1941), whose three Sonatas for violin and piano, along with his mother’s Sonatina, are presented here. While Pauline Viardot’s Sonatina, written in 1874, still shows traces of Mendelssohn and Chopin (still developing a harmony of deeply personal fragrance, rich with highly bold and charming surprises and breaks), Paul’s three Sonatas attest of the influence of the end of the century in the first one (1898), of the new century for the second one (1902), and a lot less of the interwar period for the third one, although it was written in 1931. Saint-Saëns, with whom the Viardots were close friends, Franck, who was his professor, Fauré who almost became his brother-in-law, remained at the foundation of Paul Viardot’s writings until the end of his life, when he decided to completely avoid modernistic styles and resolutely remained in the French bosom of his masters. Nonetheless his works are still worth discovering and enjoying, like here, brought to life by violinist Reto Kuppel who was Concertmaster of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra for a long time, accompanied by pianist Wolfgang Manz, winner of the Queen Elisabeth Competition in 1983. © SM/Qobuz