'Novelty of form, selected modulations, strange tone colours, the use of completely unexpected rhythms', this is how Camille Saint-Saëns praised the debut work of a young colleague and continued: 'Above everything is a charm that surrounds the whole work and makes the mass of average listeners accept the most surprising audacities as something entirely natural.' The First Violin Sonata by Gabriel Fauré (1845 1924) was, indeed, an extraordinary composition which, at the same time, opened the way ...