Rêves - Philippe Graffin

Rêves - Philippe Graffin

AV2650 (Avie, CD)

DDD
Stereo
FIRST RELEASE (9 February 2024)

Playing time: 71'33"
Tracks: 7
Booklet pages: 29
℗ 2024 Traces Festival
© 2024 Traces Production
Main country of recording: United Kingdom
Country of manufacture: Austria
Reviewer: Gerald Fenech
Review of Rêves - Philippe Graffin published on 12 March 2024

Philippe Graffin, violin
Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra (tracks 1-4)
Jean-Jacques Kantorow, conductor (tracks 1-4)
Marisa Gupta, piano (tracks 5-7)

Eugène Ysaÿe, orchestrated by Erika Vega:

1 Poème concertant (first recording)

Eugène Ysaÿe, third movement orchestrated by Xavier Falques:

Violin Concerto in E minor (first recording of the complete concerto)
2 Allegro appassionato non troppo vivo
3 Andante
4 Allegro in modo di pomposo ma furioso

Eugène Ysaÿe:

Two Mazurkas de salon, Op 10 for violin and piano
5 No 1: Dans le lointain
6 No 2: Mazurka

7 Rêve d'enfant, Op 14 for violin and piano

This new album by acclaimed French violinist Philippe Graffin features two first recordings of freshly discovered concertos by Belgian virtuoso violinist and composer Eugène Ysaÿe - the complete Violin Concerto in E minor and Poème concertant. Rounding out this beautiful album are gems for violin and piano: two Mazurkas de Salon, Op 10, and Rêve d'enfant. The first recording of the complete Violin Concerto in E minor by Belgian virtuoso violinist and composer Eugène Ysaÿe has arrived! Following the recent discovery of a first movement, further manuscripts which complete the work have come to light - one a full orchestration, others for violin and piano - which were found on opposite sides of the Atlantic. Philippe Graffin's close collaboration with Ysaÿe aficionado Xavier Falques led to a page-by-page analysis and painstaking reconstruction of the musical puzzle pieces, resulting in this recording of the full, three- movement concerto which displays Ysaÿe's trademark ardour, intensity and originality. For reasons unknown, Ysaÿe abandoned his Violin Concerto in E minor in 1885, but some years later embarked on another, Poème concertant, which was also recently discovered in manuscript form and is imbued with passion and the love Ysaÿe felt for his pupil Irma Sethe. Their love was mutual but their relationship could not endure, possibly sealing the fate of Poème concertant, which lay undiscovered for over a century but is now brought back to life with this first recording. Philippe rounds out the recording with three Ysaÿe gems for violin and piano: two Mazurkas de Salon, Op 10, works the violinist/composer frequently performed and gained popularity with throughout Europe and Russia in his lifetime; and Rêve d'enfant ('A child's dream'), which he dedicated to his youngest son Antoine.

Recorded: 20-21 June 2023 at The Friary, Liverpool, UK (tracks 1-4) and 9 October 2023 at Grande Salle, Royal Conservatory of Brussels, Belgium (tracks 5-7).