Sonata for violin and piano • Bagatelle in D minor for violin and piano
Sonata for clarinet in B flat and piano • Sonata for piano and cello

One of the most famous French composers of the twentieth century, Francis Poulenc was essentially a miniaturist with a prolific output of chamber and instrumental music, together with a large catalogue of songs in varying moods. The Violin and Clarinet Sonatas feature among his frequently performed works, Poulenc's characteristic mixture of vivacity and bittersweet melodies providing an immediate attraction. The Sonata for Piano and Cello also reveals the composer’s ready sense of fun, though a feeling of nostalgia for the days of his youth tinges each of the four movements.

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‘Alexandre Tharaud, whose superb pianism enlivened Volume I of this ongoing series, plays this music with a freshness, seriousness, and bigness of gesture that reveals its greatness at every point. The Clarinet Sonata, of course, is “classic” Poulenc: Tharaud and Ronald Van Spaendonck have a ball both with its suavity and its caustic wit.’

– ClassicsToday.com