This is an unusually refined performance of Debussy's sonata. The Netherlander Isabelle van Keulen's tone is subtle and she also offers a fine response to the rhythmic flow in his first movement, while her compatriot Ronald Brautigam is an excellent partner. The pain in this elusive music is well brought out (try the close of this movement for an example), but these artists don't make the bad error – particularly so with this composer – of overstating it. ''How much there is to discover, and then to suppress, '' Debussy wrote shortly before composing this, his last chamber work, ''before reaching the naked flesh of emotion. '' They also remind us that the signs of fatigue here (there is some short-windedness) don't represent a falling-off in quality, save to those who expect each masterpiece to sound like the last one.
I also like this duo's performance of Faure's First Sonata, which has freshness without brashness. The Andante isn't too solemn, and the scherzo has joie de vivre: appositely, the insert-note quotes Debussy to the effect that French music ''is synonymous with clarity, elegance, simple and natural declamation'' (unlike that of Gluck and Wagner, he goes on to say). Poulenc's Sonata is a wartime work dedicated to the memory of Lorca. Compared with the others here, it is emotionally less convincing and less well written for the violin, but he could always charm and touch the heart, and, played as well as it is here, it just about earns its place alongside the other music. A refined recording adds further to this disc's fine qualities. R1 '9510062'