LDV102

35 XAVIER PHILLIPS, CÉDRIC TIBERGHIEN The Second Sonata seems to have wings: it advances with unflagging momentum. Cédric Tiberghien : Its first movement gives the impression that it’s stretching out ad infinitum. It’s an endless melody. In the finale, by contrast, everything is condensed, tautened. This Allegro vivo has something volatile about it. It possesses an extraordinary urgency, an irresistible effervescence that sweeps you along like a whirlwind. It was here that the word ‘incandescence’ occurred to me as defining exactly what this music is for me. It’s like when you switch on the gas and the flame ignites at once. A single spark that sets everything ablaze. It’s overwhelming for the performer, who is propelled into a sudden, irrepressible energy. I’ve rarely encountered that elsewhere – maybe sometimes in Schumann.