Faure [Sonata] Sonatas for Violin and Piano – No. 1 in A, Op. 13; No. 2 in E minor, Op. 108. Berceuse, Op. 16. Romance in B flat, Op. 28. Andante in B flat, Op. 75. Dong-Suk Kang (vn); Pascal Devoyon (pf).

Naxos (Super budget price) (CD) 8 550906 (62 minutes: DDD).

Time was when violinists, ignorant of the existence of Faure’s E minor Sonata, enquired politely about possible couplings for the more popular and accessible A major Sonata. Today, the situation could hardly be more different and Kang and Devoyon are hardly alone in relishing the divide between early and late Faure; between his first poetic radiance and an altogether darker, more elliptical utterance. Both performances are strong and sensitive and will do much to challenge those who so regrettably see Faure as a composer of remorseless flow and with a capacity for endlessly prolonged arguments. Kang’s shaky octaves at 5'43" in the First Sonata hardly suggest the technical assurance of his finest competitors on record – Grumiaux, Mintz (DG, 1/88 – nla) and, most of all, Amoyal – and I have certainly heard a more mercurial way with the third movement’s vivo and leggierissimo, with its teasing syncopation, cross-accentuation and exuberantly changing phrase lengths. On the other hand Kang’s and Devoyon’s response to the first movement’s development and dialogue encourage one’s sense of how even Faure’s happiest ideas are quickly clouded by unease, and in the Andante’s central dolcissimo Elysium they achieve a timeless sense of reverie.

In the Second Sonata both players capture much of the music’s alternately austere and intricate local detail while maintaining Faure’s life-affirming momentum. But, again, compared with the best – with Amoyal and Roge – their fervour is less successfully complemented by a necessary degree of stylistic elegance and by that elusive mix of solace and regret inseparable from the finest Faureans. The ‘encores’, where Faure turns a well-worn salon idiom into a magical elixir, are well played, though the Berceuse could have been more seductively phrased. The recordings are too cavernous for music of such Gallic transparency, but Naxos’s bargain price is certainly enticing.

BM