"I almost began here by expressing my surprise that no one had previously thought of pairing the respective violin sonatas of Maurice Ravel (1875-1937) and Mel Bonis (1858-1937) on a recording, given how naturally Ravel and Bonis sit together as compatriots, contemporaries and fellow lovers of magical faraway worlds – and then I remembered how few of us had even heard of Bonis, a César Franck pupil, as recently as five years ago. But how times can change in the blink of an eye! For here we are now not only in an increasingly Bonis-aware world, but also one in which exists this highly accomplished and impassioned pairing of her sonata with that of Ravel.

This is Clémence de Forceville’s first solo album, but she isn’t entirely new to Gramophone’s pages, thanks to having been first violinist of Trio Sōra when it released its well-received Beethoven trios triple album (Naïve, 12/20). Since leaving the trio to pursue a solo career, she has held prestigious concertmaster posts with ensembles including the Orchestre de Chambre de Paris, and now performs with artists such as Renaud Capuçon and Anna Fedorova, while receiving advice from the likes of Daniel Barenboim. In other words, we shouldn’t be surprised to find such assurance and high technical finesse here; and similarly for pianist Ismaël Margain, a 2012 Long-Thibaud Competition prizewinner who has been well reviewed in these pages as a soloist recording with Naïve (5/23).

The two of them make wonderful work of Bonis’s Sonata, a four-movement beauty, dated around 1914, full of rapturously lyrical, lushly textured romanticism and chromaticism-rich, occasionally eastern-flecked harmonies. De Forceville plays with silkily silvery, songful flow and sweetness, and a firm handle on its long phrases regardless of how capriciously bitty the violin lines sometimes are within. Margain too. Theirs is a reading delivering in spades both on broad conception and on colouristic and partnering intricacy.

The balance between violin and piano feels just right too, and captured with a very attractive, silvery-bright clarity and immediacy. Perhaps some listeners might find this brightness on the edge of too intense. Certainly that’s slightly where I’ve been with the Ravel, but only very slightly, and melded with admiring enjoyment. Plus, it works brilliantly well for their concluding Ravel Tzigane – a non-crazy-fast yet panache-filled reading over which I’ve loved the sleek metallic swish and glow of de Forceville’s double-stops and harmonics. Then for a front bookend there’s Margain’s own duo arrangement of Bonis’s mystically rippling, gliding Phoebé, originally for solo piano, whose closing quiet interrupted cadence acts as a perfect overture from which to tip into her sonata’s softly searching opening bars.

Truly, chapeau to de Forceville and Margain. Perhaps other Ravel and Bonis pairings will follow, but with this catalogue-expanding piece of simple yet harmonious programming, they set the bar deliciously high."

- Gramophone Magazine / Charlotte Gardner

"A tense, thoroughly convincing juxtaposition of the violin sonatas by Mel Bonis and Maurice Ravel, both of whom died in 1937. Bonis’s rarely heard sonata was composed in 1914, around ten years before Ravel’s better-known work; it is more conventional in structure, yet no less demanding in interpretation, and is presented here with great assurance.

Clémence de Forceville is particularly compelling, with her slender, warm tone and finely balanced control of all parameters, precise use of vibrato, and only a hint of portamento. Ismaël Margain is recorded just a little too prominently, but proves a sensitive and appropriate partner to his colleague; the Steinway piano and the Storioni violin blend beautifully in terms of tone color.

The slow movement of Bonis’s sonata builds a bridge to Ravel’s “Tzigane,” which concludes the CD; Margain’s arrangement of Bonis’s piano piece “Phoebé” also establishes connections to Ravel’s sonata in its own way."

Fono Forum /Jürgen Schaarwächter

Translated from german

          

"On Evidence, violinist Clémence de Forceville presents an engaging survey of French chamber music from the opening decades of the twentieth century. The programme pairs the violin sonatas of Maurice Ravel (1875–1937) and Mélanie Bonis (1858–1937), inviting listeners to explore two distinct yet complementary voices. Although the two composers belonged to the same generation and shared a broadly similar musical milieu, their individual styles reveal contrasting responses to the changing artistic landscape of the period.

Bonis's music proves an especially rewarding discovery. Pianist Ismaël Margain's arrangement of Phœbé opens the album with an atmosphere of luminous delicacy and suspended lyricism, immediately establishing its distinctive character. The Violin Sonata in F-sharp minor confirms Bonis as a composer of genuine individuality. Richly steeped in the refined harmonic language of the French fin de siècle, the work combines post-Romantic warmth with an emerging modern sensibility. The influence of her teacher, César Franck, is unmistakable, while echoes of Gabriel Fauré and subtle Impressionist colours lend the score both elegance and expressive depth. De Forceville and Margain shape the sonata with conviction and natural eloquence, allowing its lyrical generosity and emotional sincerity to unfold with effortless fluency.

The shift to Ravel's Violin Sonata is all the more telling. After the expansive expressivity of Bonis, the performers adopt a leaner, more transparent aesthetic, emphasising the precision, wit and structural clarity of Ravel's mature style. Their restrained approach allows the music's rhythmic ingenuity and finely calibrated textures to emerge with striking freshness, underlining the composer's unmistakable modernity.

The recital concludes with Tzigane, where de Forceville displays dazzling virtuosity allied to an impressive range of tonal colour. Her performance captures both the work's flamboyant, quasi-Gypsy rhetoric and its underlying sophistication, while Margain proves an alert and responsive partner throughout. Here again, the contrast with Bonis's luxuriant post-Romantic language is illuminating, and the duo finds the ideal balance between exotic brilliance and the understated elegance and humour that are so quintessentially Ravelian."

GIANLUIGI BOCELLI/ le Courrier

Translated from french

"For her debut recital devoted to violin sonatas, Clémence de Forceville brings together the sonatas of Maurice Ravel and Mel Bonis, seeking, in her own words, "to create a dialogue between two important voices in French music." The pairing is anything but arbitrary, and is crowned by performances of the highest calibre.

At first glance, the musical worlds of Maurice Ravel and Mel Bonis appear quite distinct. Yet, as the young violinist observes, they "seem to answer one another, like two kindred spirits in search of another world." In reality, the two composers seem to have shared few artistic affinities—Bonis is even known to have judged some of Ravel's works rather harshly. Nevertheless, both were drawn to different forms of musical exoticism.

Bonis explored this fascination in Femmes de légende (1909), a series of piano pieces inspired by legendary female figures, including the Greek goddess Phœbé. Heard here in an accomplished arrangement for violin and piano, the piece unfolds like a gentle lullaby, its dreamlike atmosphere sustained by harmonies that are both refined and subtly original.

The Violin Sonata in F-sharp minor, Op. 112, completed in 1914, clearly acknowledges the influence of César Franck in its cyclic design and four-movement structure, while recalling Gabriel Fauré in the elegance and suppleness of its writing. Yet Bonis's own imagination is unmistakable. The opening Moderato immediately captivates with its adventurous harmonic language, shared equally between violin and piano. The Presto, an agile scherzo tinged with wit, radiates quiet exuberance. At the emotional heart of the sonata lies the Lento, built upon a Greek folk melody that inevitably recalls the tune employed by Ravel in one of his Five Greek Folk Songs. In Bonis's hands, however, the theme acquires a profound, deeply affecting quality, unfolding sinuously on the violin above the piano's tender accompaniment. The concluding Con moto sets the principal theme whirling through a succession of transformations and changing tempos, including a Habanera episode—a rhythmic gesture that Ravel himself would embrace the same year in his Piano Trio.

Ravel, for his part, turned to exotic inspiration in Tzigane (1924), written for the celebrated violinist Jelly d'Arányi, who had also inspired Béla Bartók. The work's architecture is well known: a dazzling, seemingly improvised solo violin introduction gives way to a theme and variations once the piano enters, its writing frequently evoking the sonorities of the cimbalom through its driving, increasingly breathless rhythms.

The Violin Sonata in G major, premiered in 1927 by George Enescu with the composer at the piano, remains one of Ravel's most fascinating chamber works, its three movements remarkable for their originality of form and strikingly unconventional sound world. While the opening Allegretto still retains a distant connection to traditional sonata form, unfolding largely in hushed dynamics, the central Blues breaks decisively with convention, embracing the rhythms and spirit of American jazz. Violin and piano proceed almost independently, one suggesting the banjo, the other the double bass. The mounting crescendo incorporates pungent dissonances, while the figurations approach an almost mechanical precision. The concluding Perpetuum mobile pursues this highly syncopated language with relentless momentum, culminating in a brilliant peroration. One is reminded of Ravel's own description of La Valse as "a fantastic and fatal whirl."

Clémence de Forceville and Ismaël Margain approach these contrasting scores with the conviction and commitment of true advocates. Born in 1991, de Forceville studied at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris and the Ozawa Academy, benefiting from the guidance of Daniel Barenboim, András Schiff, and Alfred Brendel. An accomplished soloist and chamber musician, she is joined by Margain (born 1992), also a graduate of the Paris Conservatoire and mentored by Nicholas Angelich, Roger Muraro, and Michel Dalberto. Equally at home as soloist and chamber musician, he proves an ideal partner.

Neither performer seeks virtuosity for its own sake. Instead, their playing is characterised by modesty, sincerity and a constant attentiveness to one another, supported by impeccable technical command. These qualities are beautifully served by the recording, made at Amsterdam's Studio 150, whose superb engineering achieves an almost ideal balance between the two instruments while conveying an engaging sense of presence and immediacy."

Jean-Pierre Robert/ ON-Mag.fr

Translated from french

This is the type of programme that I relish. The masterpiece here, Ravel’s Violin Sonata in G major, is regularly coupled with one or two of his chamber works, or often violin sonatas by Fauré, Franck, Debussy, Saint-Saëns or Poulenc. Not unexpectedly, Ravel’s Tzigane a ubiquitous album filler is included, too but this pairing with Bonis’ rarely encountered Violin Sonata makes a refreshing change.

Born in 1858, Parisian Mélanie-Hélène Bonis was known in music circles by her pseudonym ‘Mel’ Bonis. She attended the prestigious Paris Conservatoire, where she was taught by César Franck and studied alongside fellow students Chausson, Debussy and Pierné. Despite the ingrained ‘gender bias’ of the time, she won prizes for her achievements. However, her parents opposed her love affair with another student, forcing her to leave the Conservatoire, and a ‘more suitable’ marriage was arranged for her.  

(...)

A Titan goddess, Phoebé is a daughter of Uranus (Sky) and Gaia (Earth). Originally a solo piano piece, Phoebé appears in an effective version for violin and piano arranged by pianist Ismaël Margain. Taking just under three minutes, this is an attractive and dreamy piece of nocturnal atmosphere, which does not outstay its welcome. 

The engaging Violin Sonata in F-sharp minor, Op. 112 is one of Bonis’ most admired works; although it was written in 1914 it wasn’t published until 1923 and was premiered at the Paris Conservatoire by soloist Léon Zighera with the composer on piano. In it, Clémence de Forceville and Ismaël Margain communicate intense waves of longing and romance. The opening movement Moderato is an intriguing blend of both nostalgia and an unsettling quality, followed by a fervent Presto played with verve. The relaxing Lento movement contains a yearning folk melody taken from the collection Mélodies populaires de Grèce et d’Orient by Louis Bourgault-Ducoudray. Marked Con moto themood of the Finale moves rather curiously between states of relative uncertainty and unbridled joy. 

(...)

Begun in 1923, the Violin Sonata in G major (No. 2) was premiered some four years later in the Salle Érard, Paris by renowned violinist George Enescu with the composer at the piano. (...)

Opening the work, is an Allegretto movement where De Forceville and Margain delight in the abundance of tense activity. There is an aching melody on the violin, then a burst of nervy energy is followed by a music of a slow funereal feeling. In the second movement, Ravel’s take on the ‘Blues’ sounds more like jazz-inspired rhythms. Regardless of that this memorable central movement clearly reflects the fashion of the time. De Forceville and Margain provide prolonged, heady and energetic virtuosity in a riveting performance (...)

The final work here is Ravel’s Tzigane, a rapsodie de concert that often gets tagged onto the end of an album.It was commissioned by the celebrated British/Hungarian violinist and dedicatee Jelly d’Arányi, who with pianist Henri Gil-Marchex premièred the score in 1924 at London. Ravel orchestrated the score providing a version for violin and orchestra.A colourful and virtuosic work, Tzigane is compellingly performed by De Forceville and Margain. There is a definite ‘Roma’ character to the writing with suggestions, too, of the Middle East. Here, Tzigane sounds intense and fiery, as if Ravel was making a contentious proclamation. 

The duo of Clémence de Forceville and Ismaël Margain prove to be a rewarding partnership throughout this programme. They make a most attractive sound; de Forceville plays a violin by Cremonese maker Lorenzo Storioni (1777) and Margain a Steinway Model D piano. Their playing provides convincing drama and an impressive soft focus when required. They are inspired performers of high integrity.

The sound engineers have done full justice to the soloists by providing clarity and excellent balance. (...)

MusicWeb/Michael Cookson

                      

" Violinist Clémence de Forceville and pianist Ismaël Margain weave connections between the two composers throughout the program of this recording.

The program is built around Ravel’s Sonata in G major and Tzigane, alongside Phœbé (in an arrangement for violin and piano by Ismaël Margain) and the Sonata in F-sharp minor by Bonis.

Without necessarily speaking of a mirror effect between the works, the entire disc is permeated by a shared era, a sense of modernity, a slightly mysterious light, boldness both in tonal and rhythmic terms, a taste for narrative, stylistic mastery, and a strong musical personality.

Mel Bonis’s compositions do not pale in comparison with those of Maurice Ravel and fully deserve to be “associated” with them.

The two musicians work together in perfect harmony, investing themselves wholeheartedly in this repertoire. Their command of nuance, phrasing, and dynamics allows the music to unfold fully. "

- Froggy's Delight/ Jérôme Gill 

Translated from french

       

" Maurice Ravel (1875–1937), a major figure of refined modernism, and Mel Bonis (1858–1937), long kept in the shadows despite a rich and inspired body of work, are featured on this CD with Ravel’s Violin Sonata in G major and Tzigane, as well as the Violin Sonata in F-sharp minor, Op. 112, and Phœbé, Op. 30, arranged for violin and piano by Ismaël Margain, by the French composer. The alternation between these two worlds invites the listener to rediscover a history of French music that is richer and more diverse than textbooks have long suggested.

The two performers, Clémence de Forceville (born 1991) and Ismaël Margain (born 1992), embody a new generation of French musicians who combine virtuosity and curiosity. Trained in Paris with Olivier Charlier and then in Germany with Antje Weithaas and Mihaela Martin, violinist Clémence de Forceville distinguished herself very early through international prizes and an international career as a soloist and chamber musician. Her incisive and singing playing highlights Ravel’s virtuosity while allowing the romantic fervor of Bonis to blossom.

Ismaël Margain, a pianist from Sarlat, came to prominence at the Long-Thibaud Competition in 2012 and was named “Instrumental Soloist Revelation” at the Victoires de la Musique Classique. Trained at the Paris Conservatoire with Nicholas Angelich, Roger Muraro, and Michel Dalberto, he pursues an eclectic career combining recitals, concertos, and recording projects. By bringing together the two composers mentioned, this recording underscores the need to rehabilitate forgotten figures not by isolating them, but by placing them within a living dialogue with the great names of the repertoire. In this way, music regains its dimension as a shared heritage, in which every voice, celebrated or little known, contributes to the brilliance of the whole."

Opus Haute Définition E-magazine/ Jean-Jacques Millo

Translated from french

Disque classique du jour: https://www.radiofrance.fr/francemusique/podcasts/le-disque-classique-du-jour/maurice-ravel-mel-bonis-sonates-pour-violon-clemence-de-forceville-ismael-margain-6844825

Emilie Munera/ Rodolphe Bruneau-Boulmier

             

"After François Sochard’s impressive achievement with Paganini (NoMad), the other concertmaster of the OCL releases his own album. Clémence de Forceville teams up with pianist Ismaël Margain for this project. More and more, Mel Bonis is gaining the recognition she truly deserves as a composer. At first glance, Mel Bonis and Ravel don’t seem to have much in common, apart from the era in which they lived. However, by bringing these two worlds together, Clémence de Forceville uncovers their hidden connection: melodic power, refinement, a taste for the exotic and for legends, and the smoldering fire beneath the contained expressiveness. The duo perfectly embraces the intensity and virtuosity of these works, allowing us to rediscover not one, but two geniuses. The Lento of Mel Bonis’ Sonata is a pure delight."

- 24 heures/ Matthieu Chenal, Nicolas Poinsot

Translated from french

"From the very first note of Pēteris Vasks's Castillo Interior (b. 1946), an extraordinary stillness descended upon the audience. That solitary opening note—bare, fragile and filled with quiet anguish—immediately gave way to a dialogue of remarkable subtlety between Clémence de Forceville's violin and Edgar Moreau's cello.

What followed possessed a rare beauty, evoking the interwoven double stops and polyphonic lines so characteristic of the viola da gamba repertoire. The music unfolded with tenderness, melancholy and exquisite delicacy before an agitated episode, driven by a relentless rhythmic ostinato, seemed to express all the confusion and violence of the world. One sensed the awakening of consciousness within a newly born body, its first encounter with the soul, before the brutality of existence abruptly intruded.

When the dialogue between the two instruments returned, it had acquired greater purpose, strength and harmonic richness. It was as though the polyphony of an unaccompanied choir had begun to resonate within a small chapel on the pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela. Once again the insistent, abrasive ostinato erupted, eventually dissolving into an ending that abandoned conventional notions of harmony, seeming almost to collapse beyond the bounds of tonality. At that moment, one could equally imagine the emergence of Western music itself, growing from simplicity towards ever greater complexity.

The conversation between violin and cello became increasingly expansive, eloquent and powerful. A brief reappearance of the rhythmic motif soon subsided of its own accord, allowing the two instruments to resume their lyrical exchange with even greater intensity. Each stretched towards the outer reaches of its register, while the returning rhythm seemed to pass like a flight of swallows across a stained-glass window. The impassioned song of the two string instruments attained extraordinary expressive force, conveying an emotional complexity that suggested the full flowering of both human personality and musical expression.

A prolonged silence held the audience before it erupted into enthusiastic applause.

De Forceville's violin seemed literally to emerge from silence itself, ascending towards luminous, soaring high notes of exceptional fullness. The glances exchanged with her partner revealed a rare artistic communion, each searching instinctively for the precise weight and colour of every note. Edgar Moreau matched her with remarkable refinement, drawing from his cello a gentleness one scarcely imagined possible. In the closing pages, he was finally able to reveal the instrument's most resonant and beautiful low register.

Rarely does one encounter a work that demands such complete concentration and shared commitment, not only from its performers but also from its listeners. The opening of this concert was nothing short of astonishing in both its intelligence and its beauty."

Culture 31/ Hubert Stoecklin

Translated from french

              

"French violinist Clémence De Forceville has been appointed as the first concertmaster of the Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne (OCL) in Switzerland, following a successful trial period. She will assume the role in March 2024.

‘We wish her lots of happiness and lots of great moments within our orchestra,’ OCL released in a statement.

De Forceville studied at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse in Paris with Olivier Charlier, where she has since taught as Philippe Graffin’s assistant since 2021, and continued her studies in Germany with Antje Weithaas and Mihaela Martin.

As a soloist, she has performed with orchestras including the Baden-Baden Philharmonic Orchestra, the Portuguese Philharmonic Orchestra, the New Europe Orchestra, the Südwestphalia Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Catalan Chamber Orchestra. 

As an ensemble player, De Forceville has performed with the Paris Chamber Orchestra, Lille National Orchestra, Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Pierre Boulez Ensemble, as well as the Hieronymus String Quartet and Sōra Trio.

She plays on a 1777 violin by Lorenzo Storioni, on loan from the Boubo-Music Foundation.

‘So happy to be appointed first concertmaster of the Orchestre Chambre Lausanne,’ De Forceville released in a statement on social media. ‘A huge thank you to all my colleagues for their support and trust, it is a great joy and an honour to join such a wonderful group of musicians.’

-The Strad news