Composers: Vierne, Franck, Ysaÿe
Compositions: Music for violin and piano
Performers: Alina Ibragimova v, Cédric Tiberghien
Catalogue Number: Hyperion CDA68204

This is a journey into the hothouse of late romantic chamber music, the prize display an emblem of passionate musical expression, César Franck’s Violin Sonata – a wedding present for another composer featured, Eugène Ysaÿe.

You can imagine Franck’s Sonata played in a richly upholstered salon in a more gilded age. The pieces around it too are fascinating souvenirs of a richly coloured aesthetic, by composers who were violinists themselves. Ysaÿe charts a tragic...