"At the beginning of the twentieth century, all roads led to Paris.... violinist
Manon Galy
and pianist
Jorge Gonzalez Buajasan
capture the flavor of that time of renewal and offer a glimpse of the audacity and modernity that characterized French music during those years." The problem with this is that it doesn't describe the contents very well; much of the music is from considerably earlier (
Debussy
's
Beau soir
in
Jascha Heifetz
evergreen arrangement
) or considerably later (
Poulenc
Violin Sonata
). This cavil aside,
Nuits parisiennes
is quite a promising debut for this young duo, whose cooperation was honed by a long acquaintance at the Paris Conservatoire.
Galy
is an insightful player who keeps control over the rapid flow of events in the two rather thorny sonatas at the center of the program. To surround these, the players devise a consistently delightful program that, by turns, shows
's way with a tune and offers some more unusual pieces, with the ragtime-y
Braziliera
from
Milhaud
Scaramouche
and his rarely heard
Cinema-fantaisie, Op. 58b
, both special pleasures. This release announces the presence of an exciting new duo. ~ James Manheim