TRACKLISTING

CD 1
1-4 Fauré: Violin Sonata No.1 in A major, op.13
5-7 Debussy: Violin Sonata
8-11 Franck: Violin Sonata in A major

CD 2
1-4 Chausson: Concert pour piano, violon et quatuor à cordes, op.21
Ravel: Trio pour piano, violon et violoncelle

Joshua Bell violin
Jeans-Yves Thibaudet piano
Steven Isserlis cello
Takács Quartet

RECORDING INFORMATION

Joshua Bell started his recording career with DECCA in 1986 at the age of 19 and remained a DECCA artist for ten years. During that time he made over a dozen CDs of music ranging from Mozart Concertos to chamber works by Shostakovich and Ravel. He recorded with major conductors such as Ashkenazy, Dohnányi, Dutoit and Marriner, and with them recorded some of the cornerstones of the violin concerto repertory.

More of the French repertoire is represented in this pair of discs in which Joshua Bell is partnered by Jean-Yves Thibaudet in a disc of three French Violin Sonatas. That by Franck is regarded as one of the very greatest in the repertoire and that by Debussy is one of the composer's very few explorations in the sonata medium. Opening the disc is Fauré's delightful early First Sonata. Joining Joshua Bell and Jean-Yves Thibaudet for the second CD in this set is the Takács Quartet and together they give us Chausson's largest-scale chamber work, the Concert for violin, piano and string quartet. A work which occupied the composer between 1889 and 1891and written on a grand scale, this is an emotionally charged work that teems with melodic invention and which has secured a definite place in the chamber music repertory. The other chamber work included on this disc is another masterpiece and one of the compoer's very few works in the medium: the Piano Trio by Ravel. For this piece Steven Isserlis joins Joshua Bell and Jean-Yves Thibaudet for a performance of this perfectly-crafted masterpiece.

"Joshua Bell, Jean-Yves Thibaudet and Steven Isserlis are second to none in sensitivity, and both Bell and Isserlis play with great tonal finesse and artistry. They are recorded with great clarity and presence, and those wanting this particular couplijg will find much to admire."
The Penguin Guide to Compact Discs (1994)

This series of six 2-CD sets makes most of Joshua Bell’s recordings available again in attractive couplings and at two-for-one price!