Violin Sonata No. 2 in G major, M. 77

Composed between 1923 and 1927 and premiered on 30 May 1927 by the dedicatee George Enescu at the violin and the composer at the piano, Ravel's Second Violin Sonata is a work of extraordinary stylistic range and calculated paradox. Ravel declared that the violin and piano are 'fundamentally incompatible' instruments, and the sonata exploits this incompatibility as an expressive resource: the two instruments often pursue independent paths, creating a texture that is deliberately cool, ironic, and non-fused. The central Blues movement — one of the first European art-music appropriations of American blues style — is a playful tour de force with guitar-like pizzicato effects, blue notes, and jazz syncopation. The finale Perpetuum mobile is a dazzling moto perpetuo for the violinist over a restless piano accompaniment. The sonata is a cornerstone of the modern violin-piano repertoire and a vivid example of Ravel's neoclassical irony.