Canadian violinist Blake Pouliot (born 1995) won the Montreal Symphony Orchestra's 2016 Manulife competition, which gave him the opportunity to perform with this fine orchestra a little while later, in Korngold's Concerto. The Toronto Star described him as "one of those special talents that come along once in a lifetime.", while La Presse of Montreal called him"clearly, absolutely, indubitably a virtuoso". Armed with these credentials, Pouliot quickly threw himself into a fine international career, which has already seen him performing with all of Canada's orchestras, and a few American ones too; and here he offers up a recording début dedicated to the Sonatas of Ravel and Debussy, a sophisticated but also dangerous choice, considering the sheer amount of discographic competition stretching back years. He acquits himself with great talent and conviction, putting clarity and fidelity above any desire for superficial virtuoso flights, which this music doesn’t need anyway. In it, we (re)discover the French, colourist, spiritual side of Ravel, who remains Parisian down to the tip of his bow, even in the second movement of Blues. It's nice to think that this might be exactly how Enesco and Ravel would have played this on violin and piano back when this was first performed in 1927. As for Debussy's Sonata, more or less his last completed work, it gives an account of the quintessence of his language, with all the Pelléasisms stripped away, to make way for a return to the vision inherited from Rameau and Couperin. © SM/Qobuz