– Composer: Achille-Claude Debussy (22 August 1862 — 25 March 1918)
– Performers: Shlomo Mintz (violin), Yefim Bronfman (piano)
– Year of recording: 1986
Violin Sonata in G minor, L 140, for violin and piano, written in 1916-1917.
00:00 – I. Allegro vivo
04:43 – II. Intermède (fantasque et léger)
08:49 – III. Finale (Très animé)
Debussy’s Violin Sonata presents a superb balance of sweetness, fire, humor, and nostalgia. It is a work imbued with deep melancholy that also embodies other characteristic traits that make Debussy’s work distinguishable from others: a sense of fantasy, freedom, and affective depth. Written at the very end of the composer’s life, the Sonata is one of the finest examples of Debussy’s compositional and artistic dexterity. At the time of this composition, Debussy was already ill with terminal cancer. He had continued to write despite his failing health, partly for financial reasons. It was in 1915 that he began a project of writing six sonatas for various instrumentations; the Violin Sonata was the third in the set, and the last work he completed before his death.
The challenge for the violin-piano duo in the Violin Sonata is the collaboration of senses and spirit. Unlike sonatas from earlier periods, or other sonatas of Debussy’s time, the two instruments do not accompany each other per se; rather, one instrument leads with a pulling energy against the counter melody or motif of the other. Ultimately, this creates a different kind of sonority and texture; the two instruments challenge one another but their arguments ultimately bring them closer together.
– The poignant opening chords of the first movement of Debussy’s Violin Sonata, Allegro vivo, played by the piano, immediately transport the listener into a subdued atmosphere, enveloped in nostalgia and sadness. The movement is filled with rhythmic and harmonic ambiguity with an ongoing momentum, regardless of speed.
– In contrast, the middle movement, Fantasque et léger, as indicated by its marking, is mostly light and fantastic, capricious with a hint of coquettishness and with a second theme as surprisingly melodious as it is sensuous.
– Debussy finished the final movement, Très animé, in October 1916, four months before he completed the preceding two movements. It begins with running notes in the piano, punctuated with a melodic emphasis from the second theme of the previous movement. The violin then enters in a slightly modified handling of the nostalgic theme from the beginning of the sonata. The main bulk of the movement, however, is a showcase of agility with a splash. In particular, Debussy uses the maximum pitch range available on the violin, going from the open G (lowest possible note of the instrument) to a C-sharp at three octaves and a half-step above the middle C. For the piano, he demands a tremolo-like speed with atmospheric lightness of touch.
The premiere took place on 5 May 1917, the violin part played by Gaston Poulet, with Debussy himself at the piano. It was his last public performance.