Frank, Debussy - Sonatas For Violin And Piano (Sealed) (LP)

1LP 180g 33rpm, I enjoyed this record enormously. Why I liked this new issue so much is primarily because Kyung-Wha Chung and Radu Lupu do not sound like two internationally famous soloists flung together in a recording studio just for an afternoon. They not only play into each other’s hands like a true, long-attuned duo, but also appreciate the very special intimacy of style (without any suggestion of muted ardour) inherent in chamber music. In Franck’s Sonata the music itself seems to generate the ideal tempo for them and in this movement I also preferred their more restrained rubato in the first quasi lento episode so that its resurgence a few bars later (Tempo 1, Allegro) can emerge the more emphatic. The natural ‘speaking’ eloquence of the newcomers seems to me more truly Franckian. I also think the greater clarity of their recording is all to the music’s good. Neither instrument sounds too close to the microphone. (Regarding the Debussy), I would suggest the new issue of this sonata as the easiest to live with, catching all the music’s moon-struck fantasy and wheedling melodic charm without self-conscious pursuit of either.