On September 26, 1886, violinist Eugene Ysaye had two reasons to celebrate. First, this was his wedding day; second, a messenger delivered a most remarkable wedding gift from composer Cesar Franck: an innovative new sonata for violin and piano. This was exactly the sort of music Ysaye loved, harmonically advanced and full of Romantic ardor. It was also a turbulent and often melancholy score, perhaps not the most optimistic of wedding presents, but at least it ended in an affirmative A major. Ysaye premiered the work in Brussels, his and Franck's native land, not quite twelve weeks later, and introduced it to Paris audiences at the end of the following year. Heart On His Sleeve: Cesar Franck Despite its difficulties, not least of which is balancing the constant interplay between the two instruments, the Franck Violin Sonata has long fascinated musicians and audiences alike, to the point that some people might call for a moratorium on its performance, so inescapable has it become. From the beginning, Franck authorized its performance on the cello; violists and flutists have transcriptions of their own. The sonata even penetrated one of the most famous works of French literature; Marcel Proust used it as the model for the sonata by the fictitious composer Vinteuil in his novel In Search of Lost Time. Franck was 65 when he wrote the sonata. Like most of Franck's sensual, mature works, it is haunted by Wagner's Tristan and Isolde; the Wagnerian-turned-Franckian chromaticism brings a disturbing, restless yearning to the work's passions. Along with the opulent harmonies comes a loose, rhapsodic structure, unified by a small number of themes cycling through the work again and again. Indeed, the third movement, Recitativo-Fantasia, sweeps and sighs through fragments of themes from the previous two movements and offers a preview of what will happen to them in the canonic final movement. Ahead Of Its Time By the standards of 1886, this was avant-garde music. It begins with an audacious ninth chord--rare for the time--and despite its frequent changes of mood, most of the thematic ideas are based on the interval of the major third with a falling semitone. This, rather than adherence to sonata-allegro form, is what binds the sonata's structure. This work's difficulties are not only technical, but musical. How to maintain the right tension in both the harmony and the melodic line? How to phrase in a way that feels free but not disjointed? How to wring every drop of passion from the piece without overheating it into syrup? Violinist VINCENT SKOWRONSKI's first piece of advice is "leave the Franck Sonata alone." Convey its passionate style, but don't exaggerate the Romanticism that's already there aplenty.

"It's truly heart-on-your-sleeve Romanticism at its best, with great writing for both violin and piano," he says. "In all the years I've played it, and heard it played by other violinists and by students of mine, even if it's not done as perfectly or as wondrously as one would like it to be, you can't ruin the piece." Skowronski is an independent violinist based in Evanston, Illinois. A laureate of the 1970 International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, he operates a rare-instrument brokerage firm, runs his own CD label, and maintains a private teaching studio. On his label, Skowronski: Classical Recordings (www.skowronskiplays.com), he has reissued his powerful performance of the Franck Sonata from the LP era with pianist Donald Isaak on Skowronski Plays! Franck, Szymanowski, Bacewicz, and Saint-Saens (S:CR-04). "It's a work Skowronski loves, but doesn't exactly venerate. Around his studio, he refers to it as the "Franck Sinatra." Getting Started Skowronski says it's easy to go wrong in the Franck sonata even before playing the first note. "The biggest mistake even the finest concert violinists make is they don't get a pianist who can match them or surpass them, because the piano score is enormous," he warns. "You have to look for a pianist with fingers of steel, somebody who can knead concrete, but is also a sympathetic person to work with. Sometimes pianists get carried away with their technique and try to run with the piece, but that's not the essence of the sonata. "You need a good fiddle player, too," he adds, almost as an afterthought. "But it appeals even to students because, as I said, you can't ruin the piece. Like grandma's stew, no matter what she throws into it, it still turns out OK." "Convey the sonata's passionate style, but don't exaggerate the Romanticism that's already there aplenty." Skowronski suggests starting halfway through the third movement. The first half of that movement, the Recitative part, is actually one of the sonata's toughest passages, a wide-ranging, harmonically untethered meditation that picks up where Bach's solo suites left off. The movement's Fantasia section, in contrast, poses fewer difficulties. "This is the nucleus of the piece as far as thematic material goes, " he says. The Fantasia emerges from the big climax at rehearsal No. 8 in the Carl Fischer edition of the score. It eases off into a very quiet passage marked dolcissimo, then ebbs and flows in terms of dynamics and, to a lesser extent, tempo, then builds to a grand, loud climax before subsiding again, all the while toying with fragments of the sonata's various themes. In effect, this is an accompanied cadenza for the whole sonata. "You see things here that you rarely see in other violin scores," Skowronski points out, "markings like molto largamente e dramatico, with dynamic markings of triple forte. Franck's instrument was the organ, and with the organ he had no problem getting as much sound as he wanted and sustaining it. That's the key to the sonata here: great, sustained volume, like an organ.

"It takes a great bow arm to do that, while the pianist with his steely fingers is doing it, too; this is what makes the piece so monumental." No Slight Of Hand There aren't any tricks here. "In this section, the notes appear to be very simple," Skowronski says. "It's the underlying current of the piece that has to be maintained; you have to keep it a controlled musical stampede. Keep your hands on it. Don't let it take you away. Play on the other side of the beat; don't push the piece, because it's got to have that majestic quality. Leave the Franck Sonata Alone: Vincent P. Skowronski "If you try to push it, if you try to put something extra in it, overdo it, it's like a tenor or soprano who's continually forcing, and it gets a little edgy, a little strident. Franck wants that wholesome, rich, dark chocolate sound with the wind machine going, that huge volume behind it. "In the last four or five bars he writes molto lento, as if lento weren't enough, e mesto--pathetically, mournfully--and ends the piece in C-sharp minor. That's a pretty dolorous ending. If you don't get that point across, you've really missed what's important about this movement. "As far as technique is concerned, not much happens between rehearsal No. 8 and the end. It's just a matter of keeping the wind going. It's like a triathlon, when you jump out of the water then you've got to get on the bicycle, and when you get off the bicycle you have to hit the ground running. "It never lets up." Stamina is one thing, but what about Romantic touches like portamento and rubato? Can you go wrong with that in such a heart-on-your-sleeve sonata? "Portamento can be beautiful if it's done with good taste, or soupy and unlovely if it's not," he says. "If you get too soupy, it gets affected. Portamento done at the right place at the right time with the right speed and approach--you've got to know when to land on it, not too soon and not too late--when that happens, then you've got magic. The students today kind of are interested in a straight-up delivery with Franck. But when people do attempt portamento now, the whole world has to know about it. You never saw Muhammad Ali telegraph a punch. You never saw it coming. Portamento and glissando have to be like that, an integral part of what you're doing; you shouldn't sit there and say, 'Did you hear that portamento?' "I would suggest not doing anything, including rubato, excessively. A lot of times people get in the way of the music. If you try to fabricate something, you've missed the point. Just play what the man wrote and play on the back side of the beat and enjoy yourself. Don't beat it, don't try to whip it into submission, and the piece will carry you."