Lalo, Bruch, Saraste: Violin Works
Renaud Capuçon,Orchestre de Paris,Paavo Järvi
Lalo, Bruch, Saraste: Violin Works
Renaud Capuçon,Orchestre de Paris,Paavo Järvi
Renaud Capuçon exudes a youthful air, but, now firmly established as one of the world’s leading violinists, he celebrates his 40th birthday on January 27th 2016. This release of the best-known works of three composers - Edouard Lalo, Pablo de Sarasate and Max Bruch - marks this important personal occasion in a suitably festive fashion. Capuçon made the recordings with Paavo Järvi and the Orchestre de Paris at the orchestra’s new home, the French capital’s Philharmonie, which opened in early 2015 and was immediately hailed for its superb acoustics. The Bruch concerto became the first piece to be recorded there, in May 2015.
As it happens, Capuçon shares a birthday with Edouard Lalo, born in 1823 - and with Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart too! Lalo’s Symphonie espagnole, first performed in Paris in 1874, inhabits the same Franco-Spanish musical world as Bizet’s Carmen, which received its premiere the following year. The piece also has a special connection with both Sarasate’s Zigeunerweisen [Gypsy Airs] and Bruch’s Concerto No1, as Renaud Capuçon explains:
“These three works, first heard between 1868 and 1878, are among the most famous in the history of the violin, and there are links of friendship and respect between their three composers - Lalo, Sarasate and Bruch: Lalo dedicated his Symphonie espagnole to Sarasate [born in northern Spain and one of the most celebrated violinists of his time]. Bruch dedicated his Scottish Fantasy to Sarasate some years later, but it was the great Joseph Joachim who gave the first performance of Bruch’s Concerto No 1.”
All three pieces also have a special significance for Capuçon: “I first approached these works when I was 12 years old and studying at the Paris Conservatoire with Veda Reynolds [a celebrated American violin teacher]. I played the Bruch in my first competitions; the Lalo was the first piece I played to Gerard Poulet [Capuçon’s other teacher at the Paris Conservatoire] and the Sarasate featured in my first proper recital.”
The personal nature of this album is further emphasised by Renaud Capuçon’s wish to dedicate it to the memories of two people who meant a great deal to him: the broadcaster Jacques Chancel, who died in December 2014, and his father-in-law Gratien Ferrari, who died in October 2015
Track listing:
Bruch: Violin Concerto No. 1 in G minor, Op. 26
Lalo: Symphonie espagnole, Op. 21
Sarasate: Zigeunerweisen, Op. 20
Review
Alexandra Mathew
During the early stages of composition Max Bruch wrote to his teacher, ‘I do not feel sure of my feet on this terrain. Do you think that it is very audacious to write a violin concerto?’ Audacious or otherwise, Bruch’s violin concerto has now become one of the most often recorded and performed, not to mention famous, in the repertoire. Although Bruch himself was not Jewish, the dedicatee and premiere violinist, Joseph Joachim, was, and to my ear the music reveals distinct Ashkenazi folk influences. As such, any soloist requires a certain chutzpah – a quality that virtuoso violinist Renaud Capuçon has in spades.
Alongside his brilliant interpretation of the Bruch, Capuçon delivers equally impressive performances of Lalo’s Symphonie Espagnole and Sarasate’s Zigeunerweisen. The latter is a particular triumph. Not only is he a nimble and energetic violinist, but his precision in the faster passages is astonishing. Capuçon reels the music off as though, rather than being fiendishly difficult, it’s a mere trifle. The Orchestre de Paris, under Paavo Järvi, deserves a special mention for its unified and assured – but never overpowering – sound. Be sure to make room in your CD collection for Capuçon’s fabulous recording of Bruch’s ‘audacious’ violin concerto.
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