Like Daniel Hope, another young-ish violinist, Renaud Capuçon, is paid the due honour of a boxed set devoted to him, immortalising his recordings still further. Invariably, this is a three-CD box of selected movements from his discography, a taster of his talent.
It was with a certain degree of familiarity that I listened. I’ve reviewed quite a large number of his discs over the past decade or so, and it seems only sensible to link those reviews here; despite my searches there may be one or two that have escaped me:
•
Beethoven and Korngold•
Brahms Double Concerto•
Kreisler’s Miniature Viennese March•
Beethoven Spring Sonata•
Mozart Concertos
It seems pretty much gilding the lily to repeat what I’ve written about him but a few words about the box are certainly in order. The first disc is devoted to Concertos, of which we hear single movements. The French violinist is a sensitive, stylish player, and not one given to febrile extroversion. He prefers elastic bar-lines. There’s nothing Olympian about his Beethoven, which is seraphically introspective, largely, and occasionally inert. His Korngold is rather disappointingly languid and episodic. His Brahms, both the Violin and the Double Concerto, is subtle, flexible and essentially small-scaled. One has to accept Capuçon, and his cellist brother’s, rather lateral, reserved chamber-intimate approach. I like his Mozart - a composer that suits his occasionally elegantly aloof musicality.
The second disc is devoted to chamber music. His Brahms is a touch reserved but his chamber colleagues make a fine corporate sound. His Beethoven
Spring Sonata movement is gently sensitive, lightly bowed, avoiding wholly the tensile muscularity of the Russian School. I wouldn’t, though, herald him as the successor to Augustin Dumay in the august lineage of the Franco-Belgian tradition, largely because he lacks Dumay’s unerring phrasing and stylistically aristocratic approach. Beethoven’s Eighth Sonata, please note, is not from the complete set with Frank Braley, which I’ve reviewed in full. Instead Martha Argerich is on hand, as she is in the movements from both Schumann Sonatas. Michel Dalberto is the pianist in the Fauré First Sonata. Given the repertoire we hear much here from Gautier Capuçon.
The final disc includes one previously unreleased recording in the shape of Korngold’s
Marietta’s Lied from
Die tote Stadt. Otherwise it’s all recycling of crowd pleasers. There are some Kreislerian things here, including the
Miniature Viennese March and
Liebesleid, in which Jérôme Ducros is over-metrical. The Dvořák
Humoresque is disappointingly arch. His well-established musical rapport with conductor Daniel Harding is evident even here, though I doubt that the
Meditation from
Thaïs really requires such support as is provided. It’s a perfectly pleasant sequence, though I wouldn’t go to the French fiddler for a riveting performance of Dinicu’s
Hora staccato.
If, however, as a novice in Capuçon Studies you want to hear what all the fuss is about, then this lavishly illustrated sampler box should do the trick.
Jonathan Woolf
Full track-listing
CD1 - Concertos
Felix MENDELSSOHN (1809-1847)
Violin Concerto in E minor, Op.64; I. Allegro molto appassionato [12:46]
Mahler Chamber Orchestra/Daniel Harding
Erich Wolfgang KORNGOLD (1897-1957)
Violin Concerto in D major, Op.35:II. Romance : Andante [9:09]
Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra/Yannick Nézet-Séguin
Johannes BRAHMS (1833-1897)
Violin Concerto in D minor, Op.77; III. Allegro giocoso, ma non troppo vivace [7:49]
Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra/Daniel Harding
Double Concerto for violin, cello and orchestra, in A minor Op. 102; III. Vivace non troppo [8:37]
Gautier Capuçon (cello)/Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra/Myung-Whun Chung
Robert SCHUMANN (1810-1856)
Violin Concerto in D minor (1853): II. Langsam [6:05]
Mahler Chamber Orchestra/Daniel Harding
Ludwig van BEETHOVEN (1770-1827)
Violin Concerto in D major, Op.61: III. Rondo : Allegro [10:21]
Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra/Yannick Nézet-Séguin
Triple Concerto for piano, violin and cello in C major, Op.56: II. Largo [5:27]
Martha Argerich (piano): Mischa Maisky (cello)
Orchestra della Svizzera italiana/Alexandre Rabinovitch-Barakovsky
Wolfgang Amadeus MOZART (1756-1791)
Symphonie concertante for violin, viola and orchestra in E flat major, K.364 : II. Andante [10:44]
Antoine Tamestit (viola)/ Scottish Chamber Orchestra/Louis Langrée
Concerto for Violin and Orchestra no. 1 in B-flat major, K. 207: III. Presto [5:20]
Scottish Chamber Orchestra/Louis Langrée
CD 2 - Chamber Music
Johannes BRAHMS
Piano Quartet no. 1 in G minor, op. 25: IV. Rondo alla Zingarese. Presto [8:19]
Gérard Caussé (viola); Gautier Capuçon (cello): Nicholas Angelich (piano)
Violin Sonata no. 2 in A major, op. 100 "Thun": III. Allegretto grazioso (quasi andante) [5:51]
Nicholas Angelich (piano)
Ludwig van BEETHOVEN
Trio for Piano, Violin, and Cello no. 5 in D major, op. 70 no. 1 "Ghost": II. Largo assai e espressivo [10:46]
Mischa Maisky (cello): Martha Argerich (piano)
Sonata for Violin and Piano no. 5 in F major, op. 24 "Spring": I. Allegro [9:50]
Frank Braley (piano)
Sonata for Violin and Piano no. 8 in G major, op. 30 no. 3: III. Allegro vivace [3:14]
Martha Argerich (piano)
3:14
Robert SCHUMANN
Sonata for Violin and Piano no. 1 in A minor, op. 105: I. Mit leidenschaftlichem Ausdruck [7:18]
Sonata for Violin and Piano no. 2 in D minor, op. 121: II. Sehr lebhaft [4:35]
Martha Argerich (piano)
Franz SCHUBERT (1797-1828)
Quintet in A major, D. 667 ‘Trout’: IV. Theme con variazioni. Andantine - Allegretto [7:34]
Gérard Caussé (viola): Gautier Capuçon (cello): Alois Posch 9double bass): Frank Braley (piano)
Gabriel FAURÉ (1845-1924)
Sonata for Violin and Piano no. 1 in A major, op. 13: IV. Allegro quasi presto [5:53]
Michel Dalberto (piano)
Maurice RAVEL (1875-1937)
Violin Sonata in G major: III. Perpetuum mobile: Allegro
Sonate pour violon et piano: III. Perpetuum mobile [3:32]
Felix MENDELSSOHN
Trio for Piano, Violin and Violoncello no. 1 in D minor, op. 49: III. Scherzo. Leggiero e vivace [3:22]
Martha Argerich (piano); Gautier Capuçon (cello)
Franz SCHUBERT (1797-1828)
Piano Trio no. 2 in E-flat major, op. 100, D. 929: II. Andante con moto [8:39]
Frank Braley (piano); Gautier Capuçon (cello)
CD 3 - Encores
Jules MASSENET (1842-1912)
Méditation de Thaïs [5:21]
German Chamber Philharmonic Bremen/Daniel Harding
Claude DEBUSSY (1862-1918)
Clair de lune (Suite Bergamasque) [4:16]
Jérôme Ducros (piano):
Johann HALVORSEN (1864-1935)
Passacaglia after Handel’s Suite No.7 in G minor [6:12]
Gautier Capuçon (cello)
Christoph Willibald von GLUCK (1714-1787)
Orpheus and Eurydice; Dance of the Blessed Spirits [3:46]
Jérôme Ducros (piano)
Antonín DVOŘÁK (1841-1904)
Humoresque in B flat major, Op.101 No.7 [3:06]
Jérôme Ducros (piano)
Maurice RAVEL
Tzigane, rapsodie de concert for violon and orchestra [10:03]
German Chamber Philharmonic Bremen/Daniel Harding
Fritz KREISLER (1875-1962)
Liebesleid [3:14]
Jérôme Ducros (piano)
Marche miniature viennoise: Tempo di Marcia [3:16]
Gautier Capuçon (cello): Aude Capuçon (piano)
Grigoras DINICU (1889-1949)
Hora staccato arr. Jascha Heifetz [2:03]
Jérôme Ducros (piano)
Camille SAINT-SAËNS (1835-1921)
Introduction et rondo capriccioso in A minor, Op.28 [8:45]
Danse macabre, poème symphonique Op.40 [6:25]
German Chamber Philharmonic Bremen/Daniel Harding
Le Carnaval des Animaux, grande fantaisie zoologique, no 14, Final : Molto allegro [1:56]
Renaud Capuçon, Esther Hoppe (violins): Béatrice Muthelet (viola): Gautier Capuçon (cello): Paul Meyer (clarinet): Janne Saksala (double bass): Emmanuel Pahud (flute): Florent Jodelet (percussion): Frank Braley, Michel Dalberto (piano)
Erich Wolfgang KORNGOLD
Mariettas Lied zur Laute (Die tote Stadt) [5:04]
Much ado about nothing Op.11 : Gartenszene [5:16]
Jérôme Ducros (piano)
Josef SUK (1874-1935)
Un poco triste Op.17 no 3 [3:41]
Jérôme Ducros (piano)
Gabriel FAURÉ
Berceuse Op.16 [3:39]
Michel Dalberto (piano)
Pyotr Ilyich TCHAIKOVSKY (1840-1893)
Valse sentimentale en fa mineur Op.51 no 6 [3:24]
Jérôme Ducros (piano)
Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen (German Chamber Philharmonic Bremen)
