César Franck - (Martha Argerich, Itzhak Perlman)
Sonata per Violino e Piano in La maggiore, M 8

From an old man, advice is accepted. From an old man, you don't expect a stroke of genius; those usually (it seems) come within the first twenty-eight years and tend to decrease very quickly.
César Franck (1822-1890), French, is the exception that proves the rule; he is the man from whose life you just don't expect a masterpiece, and certainly not at over 60 years old. You create the masterpiece when your emotions are still warm, strongly inspired, less inclined to comply with the prevailing rules. With this, I certainly don't mean to say that a 60-year-old man is no longer capable of strong emotions, mind you, but it is certainly difficult for him to pull out the best thing of his "intellectual" life out of a hat.

I've been listening to this sonata for over twenty years, I save it for my most intimate moments and I'm always entangled in it, always unable to leave it halfway, without being able to interrupt the enchanting flow it emanates, especially in the heartbreaking Allegro ben moderato that introduces it, with the piano acting as a pursuer to a violin that wants to escape but is constantly reached and restrained. The whole sonata actually plays on this brilliant balance between love and rationality.
In the second Allegro movement, it's instead the piano that at the opening seems to want to fly away but is then captured by the precise melody of the violin that softens it and mitigates the explosive force of the beginning, more and more sweetly and silently. It proceeds with the languid fantasy of the third movement to resume the opening theme in the final Allegretto poco mosso, which slowly re-excites and reinvigorates the feelings that had calmed down in the previous movement.
The influence of this work on subsequent generations is evident, particularly on Debussy and Ravel.
The CD also features Beethoven's "Kreutzer" Sonata, which has already been well-reviewed on this site. As for the quality of the performers, I believe there is very little to object to; the concert was recorded in Saratoga in July 1998, and compared to other versions, it seems to me to be the one with the most emotional charge.

Immerse yourself in this half-hour of pure enjoyment.