[…] flutist Raquele Magalhaes and pianist Marie-Josèphe Jude have left nothing to chance, and have adapted scores written for the violin themselves. […] The quality of the playing and the harmony of the performers are just as important as the quality of the rewriting. In Ravel, the generosity and eloquence of the flute, cradled by an undulating piano, are a delight. The Schumann pieces and the Debussy Sonata, a mixture of poignant grace and playful poetry, give rise to a contest of commitment and expressiveness. And the richness of the colours of the Prelude elegantly composes the effacement of the orchestral timbres.

[…] The other works are due to both artists. Raquele Magalhaes' posthumous Sonata for violin and piano by Ravel is particularly convincing. This early work responds to the character of the flute through its kinship with Daphnis et Chloé or Debussy's Prelude. Evolving between enchantment, virtuosity and drama, the programme is interpreted in total connivance by performers who stimulate each other without dominating each other, at the service of both each other and the text.

[…] Raquele Magalhaes plays with a sound that is rich and clear. She also creates phenomenally smooth lines. With Jude, the Ravel is hypnotic. […] The oboe also projects differently from the flute, but the Romances work better and can be played with essentially no changes. These are interpreted superbly. The first might belong in a category of its own. Likewise, I’m delighted to hear the Debussy Sonata […]

The pianism from Marie-Josephe Jude gives these pieces everything they need, whether clarity or mystery. I loved this flutist’s 2016 debut album on Evidence (Jan/Feb 2017: 192) and feel no need to change my impression: to hear her is to fall in love with both the sound and musicianship.

[…] For in addition to a number of 'technical' problems, the difficulty is also one of expressiveness: the original instrumental nature is of far greater importance, including in the collective consciousness! And it is to the credit of the performers that they have managed to convince in such a natural way.

From beginning to end, the two musicians seduce with a duet and a sense of balance of rare perfection, but also with a refinement of every moment. Whether it is the delicacy, the temperament, the colours or the virtuosity, everything is of supreme quality. As for Raquele Magalhaes, gifted with an exceptional sound, she captivates with the poetry of her playing, subtly thwarting the traps of transcription, and combining finesse and intensity with dazzling talent. The disc is dedicated to the memory of Alain Marion: it is obvious that he passed on to his pupil an extraordinary inspiration…

[…] But there is also, as in this recording, the desire of two great artists to play together a wider repertoire than the smaller literature of their respective instruments, the piano and the flute. Marie-Josèphe Jude, pianist, and Raquele Magalhães, flautist, have the pleasure, for our sake, of renewing our understanding of certain pages of German Romanticism, through Robert Schumann, and of the French symbolism of Debussy and Ravel.

Composed in 1897, but published posthumously, Ravel's Sonata for violin and piano is transcribed by Raquele Magalhães, who takes us from the flight of the violin to the voluble vocality of the flute, sometimes dreamily melted in the silence, fluttering like a bird on the liquid flow of the piano. […] The roundness and dreamy softness of Raquele Magalhães's flute on Marie-Josèphe Jude's velvety piano, and the harmony of the instruments' volume and power (Track 7), as much as the tuning of the instruments, are to be savoured.

[…] Gustave Samazeuilh's transcription for flute and piano stretches out just as lazily and voluptuously as the sensual faun in the sun of desire, whose soft, smiling tressailment the two performers make us feel.

[…] The flute brings a lightness that happily matches the melodic and rhythmic lines drawn by a virtuoso piano. A fabulous agreement between two musicians at the top of their art.

[…] Its unique movement is adapted by the flautist herself. Its fresh elegance is loyally respected, in a spring rush, enthusiastic and fluttering. The delicate veil of the sonority of the piano like the controlled vehemence of the flute, in adorably carried phrases, are the assets of this attractive interpretation, visited by poetry. […] The voluble character of the flute easily reflects the shimmering treatment of the theme and its derived motifs. The fluidity of the piano skilfully leads its romantic wonder, highlighting the tragic shadow from which the modulation of the coda suffers. […]

The last does exactly the opposite: a heavy and dark atmosphere, sprinkled with optimistic outbursts. All the desired sensitivity is at the rendezvous of this disc. […] A few months before his death, the composer was finishing his Sonata for violin and piano in G minor. It is given here in an adaptation of the performers who conveys all the questions and pessimism.

[…] The two merge into perfect expressive unity, and thus the transcriptions of violin sonatas by Schumann (No. 1), Debussy and Ravel (Sonate postume) are more than enchanting. Samazeuilh's transcription of the "Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune" could not be performed more idiomatically, and for me Raquele Magalhães represents the pinnacle of today's flute art.

[…] The objections to the transcription of Schumann's 1st Violin Sonata presented on the CD will not be completely dispelled. The fact that the piano does not cover up the soft flute sound and that the unusual combination seems almost apart after a round of rehearsals is also due to the pianist's noblesse, is above all thanks to the fabulously, fabulously, magically gentle, soft, dark and rich tone of the flutist.
For me, the highlights of the CD are two works by Debussy. Whether his Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune has ever been performed and, yes, sung in a more colourful, dynamically finely graded and seductive way? She always has the Brazilian "folk singers" of her childhood and youth in her ear when she plays it. […] The sonata for violin and piano, which was written 25 years later and has a classical feel, was transcribed by the two artists: they play as Debussy demands, fantastically, lightly, lively, moving and lively.

[…] Here we have three Sonatas for violin and piano, the violin part of which is remarkably transcribed by the Brazilian flutist Raquele-Magalhães for her instrument, to which the chamber musician Marie-Josephe Jude, who needs no introduction, offers a superb pianistic setting. Ravel's "Posthumous Sonata" contrasts with Schumann's "Sonata opus 105" which follows, ending in apotheosis with Debussy's "Sonata no 3". […] Pages that their transcriptions tend to popularise while giving them another life; full and complete music.

[…] but in the intimate and warm sound of Raquele Magalhäes's flute they find a new, surprising vitality.

[…] Thus, Ravel's posthumous opus, his Sonata for violin and piano in a single movement from 1897, whose Faurean colouring can be savoured even more in the dreamy undulation of its flute. Twenty years later, Debussy's Sonata in G minor for violin and piano fascinates by its freedom of tone and the fusion it brings about between the two instruments, right up to the doubled notes of the 'Finale' - which are fully restored by the performers who also sign this version. […]

[…] The Brazilian flutist thus enriches the repertoire of her instrument, which she defends with a precise sense of colour and a solid technique. In this way, the music of Ravel and Debussy seems completely natural. The Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun, a huge hit in classical music, can even be rediscovered with interest thanks to this concentrated listening to the playing of the two musicians. […] A rare and generous artist, Marie-Josèphe Jude offers her delicate touch and her precious listening skills to make herself both an ideal partner for the flute and a pianist of great class. A real treat !

[…] What impresses on first hearing this CD is the quality of the duet playing, the fusion
of sound between the two instruments. It is obviously a very beautiful musical
encounter.
The incrustation of works by Robert Schumann between those of Maurice Ravel and
Claude Debussy is not as incongruous to the ear as one might have thought on
reading the programme. It does not cause any notable rupture, just a feeling of
changing planet.
This cede is a success, holding the attention without a measure of slackening, from
the first to the last second, in continuity. Claude de France's sickly Germanophobia
might make him cringe at being in such bad company... but it was so long ago.