Parisian Sonatas
Parisian Sonatas brings together French and French-inspired chamber music by Franck, Boulanger, Debussy and Vermeulen. With pianist Tobias Borsboom, Lidy Blijdorp explores a richly coloured and compelling programme for cello and piano.
César Franck Sonata in A major arr. Jules Delsart for cello and piano
Nadia Boulanger Trois Pièces
Claude Debussy Cello Sonata
Matthijs Vermeulen Sonata for Cello and Piano
Lidy Blijdorp · cello Tobias Borsboom · piano
Channel Classics · 2026 BBC Music Magazine · ★★★★★ BBC Music Magazine · Chamber Choice
Order CD Parisian Sonatas
Parisian Sonatas brings together French and French-inspired chamber music by Franck, Boulanger, Debussy and Vermeulen. With pianist Tobias Borsboom, Lidy Blijdorp explores a richly coloured programme for cello and piano, moving from late-Romantic intensity to clarity, wit and early modernist tension.
Parisian Sonatas received a five-star review from BBC Music Magazine in 2026 and was selected as Chamber Choice.
‘A fascinating album in every way.’
— Gramophone
Parisian Sonatas traces a line through the musical world of Paris: from Franck’s sweeping Sonata, heard here in Jules Delsart’s cello transcription, to the concentrated elegance of Nadia Boulanger and the mercurial colours of Debussy.
The album closes with Matthijs Vermeulen’s Sonata for Cello and Piano, a work shaped by lyricism, harmonic tension and restless energy. In this programme, Blijdorp and Borsboom bring together familiar masterpieces and a less often heard Dutch voice, creating a French-centred journey with its own distinctive edge.
Performed by Lidy Bijdorp cello, and Tobias Borsboom, piano.