Poulenc, Stravinsky, Prokofiev: Violin sonatas David Grimal & Itamar Golan

• Francis Poulenc (1899 - 1963): Sonata for violin and piano, FP 119:
• 1 Poulenc: Sonata for violin and piano, FP 119: I. Allegro con fuoco 06:20
• 2 Poulenc: Sonata for violin and piano, FP 119: II. Intermezzo 05:47
• 3 Poulenc: Sonata for violin and piano, FP 119: III. Presto tragico 05:33
• Igor Stravinsky (1882 - 1971): Divertimento for Violin and Piano:
• 4 Stravinsky: Divertimento for Violin and Piano: I. Sinfonia 06:11
• 5 Stravinsky: Divertimento for Violin and Piano: II. Danses suisses 04:15
• 6 Stravinsky: Divertimento for Violin and Piano: III. Scherzo 02:54
• 7 Stravinsky: Divertimento for Violin and Piano: IV. Pas de deux (Adgio - Variation - Coda) 06:02
• Sergueï Prokofiev (1891 - 1953): Violin Sonata No. 1 in F Minor, Op. 80:
• 8 Prokofiev: Violin Sonata No. 1 in F Minor, Op. 80: I. Andante 06:02
• 9 Prokofiev: Violin Sonata No. 1 in F Minor, Op. 80: II. Allegro brusco 06:51
• 10 Prokofiev: Violin Sonata No. 1 in F Minor, Op. 80: III. Andante 06:30
• 11 Prokofiev: Violin Sonata No. 1 in F Minor, Op. 80: IV. Allegrissimo 06:57
• Total Runtime 01:03:22

Info for Poulenc, Stravinsky, Prokofiev: Violin sonatas

Three sonatas, three composers, three different universes, but three pieces dating from the same period, the 1930s and 1940s, between the rise of the totalitarian regimes and the Second World War and written for the same forces, a violin-piano duo.

It was the Paris Opéra that saw the 1928 premiere of the ballet Le Baiser de la fée (The Fairy’s Kiss), which Igor Stravinsky concocted from pieces by Tchaikovsky. Movements from this neo-classical score were rearranged in part four years later, with the help of the violinist Samuel Dushkin, under the title Divertimento.

Having returned to his native country, which had become the USSR, Sergei Prokofiev began composing his First Violin Sonata in 1938 for the legendary David Oistrakh, its dedicatee. The work was not to be completed until 1946, and Oistrakh played its two Andante movements at Prokofiev’s funeral.

In the meantime, Francis Poulenc had conceived his own Violin Sonata in occupied Paris in 1942-43 with input from the great violinist Ginette Neveu, who premiered it at the Salle Gaveau in June 1943 with Poulenc at the piano.

David Grimal, violin
Itamar Golan, piano

David Grimal
He started to play the violin at the age of five. Afterwards he did his postgraduate studies with Regis Pasquier. He also enriched and deepened his musicality by studying with such personalities as Philipp Hirschhorn, Shlomo Mintz, Isaac Stern.

David Grimal pursues an international career as a solo violinist, which has seen him performing regularly over the past twenty years in the world’s leading classical music venues and with prestigious orchestras such as the Orchestre de Paris, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Russian National Orchestra, Orchestre National de Lyon, Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Berliner Symphoniker, New Japan Philharmonic, Orchestre de l’Opera de Lyon, Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg, Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra and Sinfonia Varsovia, under the direction of Christoph Eschenbach, Michel Plasson, Michael Schønwandt, Peter Csaba, Heinrich Schiff, Lawrence Foster, Emmanuel Krivine, Mikhail Pletnev, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos and Péter Eötvös, Andris Nelsons, Christian Arming, among others

He has been the honoured recipient of dedicated works by various composers, among whom are counted Marc-André Dalbavie, Brice Pauset, Thierry Escaich, Jean-François Zygel, Alexander Gasparov, Victor Kissine, Fuminori Tanada, Richard Dubugnon, Ivan Fedele, Philippe Harrowing, Anders Hillborg, Oscar Bianchi, Guillaume Connesson and Frederic Verrièresearch In addition, David Grimal has for many years taken part in recitals with George Pludermacher.

They have toured worldwide and their collaborative discography, which features works by Ravel, Debussy, Bartok, Franck, Strauss, Enescu, Szymanovski and Janacek, has reaped countless awards (Strad Selection, 5 star British Broadcasting Corporation Magazine, Arte Sélection, Télérama’s ƒƒƒƒ, etc). David Grimal has recorded Schubert’s Sonatines with Valery Afanassiev.

In 2009, his recording of Bach’s complete Sonatas and Partitas along with Brice Pauset’s “Kontrapartita”, a creation originally dedicated to David Grimal himself, was distinguished by a Choc de Classica – Le Monde de la Musique (France’s leading classical music monthly).

His recording of Thierry Escaich’s Concerto for violin with the Orchestre National de Lyon was also awarded a Choc de Classica in 2011. Since 2008, David Grimal has been Artist in Residence at the Opéra de Dijon. He teaches violin at the Musikhochschule, in Sarrebrück, Germany.

He was appointed Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres by the French Ministre de la Culture in 2008.

In addition to pursuing his career as a solo artist, David Grimal has been keen to explore more personal projects. The liberty afforded by his collaboration with has enabled him to develop his inner universe by venturing into repertoires not available to soloists.

With, he has founded “L’Autre Saison”, a series of concerts performed to the benefit of and with homeless people in the Église Saint-Leu, in the very heart of Paris. David Grimal plays the Ex Roederer, Stradivarius (1710) lent by Fazenda Ipiranga, Mguaranesia / MG, Brasil.

Booklet for Poulenc, Stravinsky, Prokofiev: Violin sonatas