- Sonata for Violin & Piano No. 3 in D major, Op. 128 – Allegro assai
Joachim Raff (1822-1882)
Intégrale des Sonates pour Violon et Piano – Volume 1
Violon : Laurence Kayaleh
Piano : Jean-Fabien Schneider
Joachim Raff’s violin & piano sonatas are beautiful works – and also a marvelous discovery for me as a violinist, and a precious complement for my artistic being !
These sonatas have been rarely played – or recorded – and certainly deserve wider exposure. Working in depth on such a most engaging repertoire represents a rich artistic and esthetic journey.
Performing works of composers such as Raff, Catoire, Medtner or Honegger – which I recorded in the past years – has given me a new and fresh perspective on the creative dimensions of musical interpretation. The rarity of recorded material of such masterpieces entices the interpreter to investigate new musical avenues. For an artist, this constitutes a wonderful nourishment for inner growth.
Raff was a prolific composer and quite renowned in his time. Unfortunately, his music was forgotten and neglected for too many years… His violin sonatas are very substantial works imbued with romanticism and characterized by gorgeous melodic structures. The architectural wealth and mastery, as well as the complex contrapuntal polyphony of Raff’s music, offers musicians a wide range of dialogues, while venturing into the descriptive moods and endless ambiances inspired by the composer.
Recording these outstanding violin and piano sonatas was for me a memorable artistic exploratory endeavor. I am grateful and proud to present this repertoire through these recordings, and strongly hope that more violinists (and pianists !) will be inspired by this music and will enjoy performing it – for pleasure or on stage !
Last, but not least, Joachim Raff was a German-Swiss composer. Being myself Swiss-Canadian, I guess this journey was certainly meant to be part of my artistic path !
© Laurence Kayaleh – Violinist on Joachim Raff’s Complete Violin Sonatas
NAXOS Records – Fall 2019.