Debussy: Violin Sonata - Cello Sonata - Sonata for Flute, Viola and Harp - Syrinx

We're continuing to impregnate ourselves with Debussy's wonderful late sonatas, this time in a very compelling reading by members of the London-based Nash Ensemble. These are Virgin recordings that have been originally issued in the early 1990s. Now they are re-issued as part of a 5CD box sold at a fire sale price (14 euro to be precise).

The Violin Sonata remains my favourite. I am astonished that compared to the other sonatas it receives short shrift in most of what I have read about Debussy. Marcel Dietschy in his "A Portrait of Claude Debussy" finds it 'unbalanced'. Victor Lederer in his "Quiet Revolutionary" also thinks it is 'less imaginative' than the companion pieces. Balderdash! It's a forceful, heartwrenching piece that leaves me dumbfounded every time I hear it. The reading here by Marcia Crayford on violin and Ian Brown on piano is particularly successful. The two musicians take their time, stretching the first movement just over five minutes, as a result of which it almost sounds didactic. But that doesn't equate with 'stodgy' or 'characterless'. Quite the contrary, there's a levelheadedness and honesty to the playing that is quite affecting. The Allegro's slower tempo reinforces the music's stoic mournfulness. I just would have wished a tad more angst in that final cry of anguish that brings the introductory movement to a devastating end. The faster movements are delivered with similar composure, illuminating the wistful rather than the fantastic side of this layered score. I was really moved by it. Being so impressed by this level of musicianship I looked up the background and whereabouts of Marcia Crayford.  Having studied with Yehudi Menuhin, she led the Nash Ensemble for 25 years, until 1995, after which she went on to become the London SO's concert master. Recently she has said the bustle of the capital goodbye and has taken up the leadership of a new regional chamber orchestra in the midst of rural Wales.

The Cello Sonata with Christopher van Kampen (who sadly passed away at a relatively young age in 1997; he had been married and divorced to Marcia Crayford) is equally rewarding and shares some of the traits of the companion recording of the Violin Sonata. It's sobriety is a relief after the larger than life histrionics of the Maisky-Argerich partnership.

I was particularly curious about the trio sonata as the reading by the Melos Ensemble had left me so dissatisfied. Happily enough, this version (with Philippa Davies on flute, Roger Chase on viola and Marisa Robles on harp) seems to make a much more convincing case for this piece. I can start to sense an overall form and direction now. But I'm not yet at the point yet where I share the unreserved admiration of many commentators (de Falla thought it was 'music for Paradise'; I read someone else who curiously enough compared the sonata to 'Jeux'). It will take me a few more auditions to get a handle on this piece.

Finally, kudos to Philippa Davies for Syrinx, a wonderful flute arabesque composed in 1913 that reminisces about earlier milestones in Debussy's artistic path, notably the Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faun.