Sonate pour violon et violoncello

Eric
Tanguy is one of the leading composers in France with a catalogue of some 70
works, most of them quite short. His latest premiere is for a Stabat Mater for
cello and choir. His Sonata for violin and cello was written for the Gautier
brothers and premiered at the Chambéry Festival in 2003.

Duos
for violin and cello are more widespread than one might think. The benchmark is
by Ravel, followed by Kodaly, Schulhoff, Honegger and Martin?, but there are
others by Eisler, Scelsi and Pfitzner. They are particularly suited to family
duos like today as they are far from straightforward to perform.

Surprisingly
the Duo is conceived in the traditional three movement mode and the Animé even has the classical format of
exposition with two themes, a development and a recapitulation, treated, it
must be said, in a far from traditional manner. The opening movement is
electrifying, taking off with a series of mighty pizzicatos that signal a huge
outburst of energy that never lets up. The slow movement is an impassioned duet
between two lovers, circling obsessively around each other. The last movement
has a relentless beat in a variety of irregular metres that furiously work
their way to a sudden conclusion.