I. Allegretto ben moderato

César Franck's masterful Cello Sonata in A, one of his greatest works, stems from the last decade of his life. The sonata was composed as a wedding present to the celebrated Belgian violinist Eugène Ysaÿe. It is one of the great sonatas for violin. But it is equally readily a sonata for cello. Ysaÿe told Pablo Casals that he clearly remembered how Ysaÿe had told him that Franck had said that the sonata was intended for violin or cello. In practice there is no problem. The cello transposes down an octave and both cello and Franck resound. With Swedish pianist Hans Pålsson.
AAD recording.