19 EVA ZAVARO, CLÉMENT LEFEBVRE Eva, why didn’t you choose Fauré’s First Sonata so as to juxtapose two largescale early works, one by each composer? Eva Zavaro: I wanted to underline the stylistic evolutions of the two composers over the course of their creative lives by giving listeners a chance to discover rarely heard works of their youth and maturity. These pieces display less wellknown facets of their respective styles. Clément, how did you approach the stylistic differences, compounded by the passage of time, between a sonata written in the composer’s youth (Szymanowski) and one written in the evening of his life (Fauré)? Clément Lefebvre: There are specific features which the pianist has to take into account in his or her playing. Szymanowski’s Sonata possesses the sort of élan, of radiant immediacy that means one can relate to the work intuitively and spontaneously. It has clear phrase structures, the violin writing is brilliant, and the texture of the piano part is very dense and orchestral. One can detect Germanic influences, such as those of Brahms and Richard Strauss. The approach to Fauré’s Second Sonata lies at the opposite extreme. This is a work that puts up a fight, that gives the performer, and even the listener, no space for complacency and comfort. We’re a long way from the salonnard image with which his music is all too easily saddled – there’s nothing lukewarm about this piece.
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