‘W ait, you did this when?’ These aren’t Renaud Capuçon’s words but my own, some way into our Skype conversation about his recording of Elgar’s Violin Concerto with the London Symphony Orchestra under Simon Rattle, and the composer’s Violin Sonata with pianist Stephen Hough.
Until that moment, surprises about this project had been thin on the ground – beyond the unusualness of not having heard a whisper of such a major recording on the grapevine before a press email pinged into my inbox in September. For starters, if ever a violinist should fit these two nobly Romantic works like a glove, it’s Capuçon, with that warmly singing tone of his. Then, you couldn’t hope for more perfect partners: the very orchestra Elgar conducted at the Concerto’s 1910 premiere with soloist Fritz Kreisler, and which in 1932 recorded the work with Yehudi Menuhin, again under Elgar; plus Hough, one of the most intelligent and sensitive interpreters of our times. So, when even our interview has kicked off with Capuçon being deliciously true to form – so fast off the blocks with his thoughts that my intended first question has been left blinking in his cloud of dust back at the starting line – there is a sense of glorious inevitability to the project. But then Capuçon says something truly surprising: ‘It could have been much more complicated, as this was a September recording in London, with everything closed and no direct travel to England from France without a quarantine. So I went through Germany.’
Lisez l'article complet et bien d'autres dans ce numéro de
The Strad
Options d'achat ci-dessous
Si le problème vous appartient,
Connexion pour lire l'article complet maintenant.
Numéro unique numérique
January 2021 and String Courses Supplement
Ce numéro et d'autres anciens numéros ne sont pas inclus dans une nouvelle version de l'article
abonnement. Les abonnements comprennent le dernier numéro régulier et les nouveaux numéros publiés pendant votre abonnement. The Strad
Abonnement numérique annuel
€57,99
facturé annuellement