Orchestre National des Pays de la Loire / Pascal Rophé MICHAEL JARRELL Émergences-Résurgences - 4 Eindrücke - ...Le ciel, tout à l'heure encore si limpide...

 

ORCHESTRAL WORKS

 

Renaud Capuçon / Stephen Hough / London Symphony Orchestra / Simon Rattle ELGAR Violin Concerto | Violin Sonata

 

VIOLIN CONCERTO | VIOLIN SONATA

Renaud Capuçon / Bertrand Chamayou / Edgar Moreau SAINT-SAËNS Sonates & Trio

 

SONATES & TRIO

 

Renaud Capuçon / Frank Braley / Gautier Capuçon BEETHOVEN Piano Trios "Ghost" | "Archduke"

                                                              GHOST | ARCHDUKE

Lahav Shani / Renaud Capuçon / Kian Soltani DVORÁK Piano Trio No. 3 TCHAIKOVSKY Piano Trio Op. 50

This recording features two major works of the chamber repertoire – one by Antonín Dvořák, the other by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. The two composers were contemporaries, born just a year apart: Tchaikovsky in 1840 and Dvořák in 1841. In the 1880s (Tchaikovsky’s Op.50 dates from 1881/1882, Dvořák’s Op.65 from 1883), neither man was known for his chamber music – Tchaikovsky’s reputation was based on his opera and ballet scores (works such as Eugene Onegin and Swan Lake), while Dvořák had made his name with works influenced by Slavonic folk music (the Moravian Duets and Slavonic Dances). Each of these two piano trios therefore has its own unique character, and both works signal new directions in the style of their respective composers.

Stéphane Denève / Brussels Philharmonic GUILLAUME CONNESSON Lost Horizon

After Lucifer (2014) and Pour sortir au jour (2016), the French composer Guillaume Connesson returns to Deutsche Grammophon with "Lost Horizon", a new double-album directed by Stéphane Denève at the head of the Brussels Philharmonic. Already awarded the Victoire de la Musique Classique in the Composer category in 2015, Guillaume Connesson received last February his second award as Composer of the Year 2019 for "Les Horizons perdus", Concerto for Violin created in September 2018 that we find within this double album. These two CDs show two facets of the composer's art and offer two trips. One outside, with the fantastic and festive "Cities of Lovecraft" and the saxophone Concerto A Kind of Trane performed by Timothy McAllister. A work that recalls the memory of the jazzman John Coltrane, real incarnation of the solo instrument as he imagines it. The other is a journey inside oneself illustrated by the Violin Concerto Les Horizons Perdus. Performed by Renaud Capuçon, this score refers to James Hilton's novel "Lost Horizon" (1933), adapted for film by Frank Capra. "The Tomb of Regrets" is a slow movement in which Guillaume Connesson was tempted by a very linear, almost choral writing to explore intimate feelings, those of time passing, buried regrets and impossible returns . Created in a short period between 2015 (A Kind of Trane) and 2018 (Les Horizons Perdus), these four scores show the many facets of a composer who draws his inspiration from the sources of scholarly art as much as popular, without borders or taboos.

Renaud Capuçon / David Fray BACH Sonatas

The violin was one of Bach’s favourite instruments and inspired his most lyrical outpourings. We know he was greatly influenced by the Italian masters whose work he discovered during his Weimar years – by the power of Frescobaldi, the melodic flexibility of Corelli, the sunny grace of Vivaldi – but he developed his own wonderful artistry in writing music of polyphonic density for the violin and “playing” with its sound palette. His deep understanding of the instrument clearly enabled him to exploit its full potential and to write as well as perform music of the utmost virtuosity.

Alexandre Tharaud BARBARA

It is 20 years since Barbara died, aged 67, on November 24th 1997. Alexandre Tharaud’s idea for this album dates back to the day of her funeral. He, like many other fans, went to the cemetery in Bagneux on the outskirts of Paris. After the crowds and TV cameras had departed, a group of devotees remained at her grave and joined in an impromptu rendition of her songs. “I realised then that Barbara would live on through our voices,” says Tharaud. “I was young, but the recording studio was already central to my life. That morning, at Bagneux Cemetery, I vowed to make an album dedicated entirely to the music of Barbara. I needed time, and singers … The guests on this album are not those anonymous mourners, but dear friends I have invited to lend their own unique voices to this tribute.” 

For Barbara, Tharaud has assembled a rich and imaginative line-up of performers from a variety of generations and diverse artistic and cultural backgrounds. While there is inevitably a Gallic bias among them, many of their names are well known around the globe. Among them are: actress-singers Juliette Binoche, Vanessa Paradis and Jane Birkin; rock star Radio Elvis; singer-songwriters Bénabar, Juliette, Dominique A, Tim Dup, Jean-Louis Aubert and Albin de la Simone; singers Camélia Jordana, Rokia Traoré, Hindi Zahra and Luz Casal; actor-director Guillaume Gallienne; Erato violinist Renaud Capuçon, clarinettist Michel Portal and the Modigliani string quartet. Alexandre Tharaud himself plays on nearly all the tracks – not just piano, but also electronic organ and keyboards, celesta and bells. 

"Like Jacques Brel, the artist known simply as Barbara was a connoisseur of melancholy. Yet this celebration marking the 20th anniversary of her death is anything but dirge-like. The classical pianist Alexandre Tharaud assembles a superb cast, from Vanessa Paradis to Rokia Traoré and Juliette Binoche, while the chamber settings - including a disc of instrumentals - are rich in subtle autumnal shades. A triumph." (The Sunday Times)

Renaud Capuçon / Bertrand Chamayou / Gérard Caussé / Emmanuel Pahud / Marie-Pierre Langlamet / Edgar Moreau DEBUSSY Sonates & Trio

The three sonatas that Debussy produced in his final years, together with the two books of piano Études composed immediately before them, hint at the new direction his music might have taken had he not died, aged 56, in 1918. The sonatas – for cello, flute, viola and harp (both composed in 1915), and for violin (1917) – were all that he lived to complete of a planned set of six such works. The fourth sonata was to have been for oboe, horn and harpsichord, and the fifth for clarinet, bassoon, trumpet and piano. The final work would have involved all the instruments used in the preceding sonatas, with the addition of a double bass.

Debussy insisted on calling himself “musicien français” on the published scores of these works. That was not only a patriotic gesture at a time when France’s existence was under threat from the horrifying war raging on its soil, but also signalled the source of the style of these enigmatic pieces – the elegance and clarity of French baroque composers such as Couperin and Rameau. It flagged up, too, that Debussy’s modernism was distinct from that of his Austro-German contemporaries, and that these works and their successors would put even more stylistic distance between him and Schoenberg, Berg and Webern.

But if Debussy’s fond backward glances were a kind of neoclassicism, the results are less blatant than Stravinsky’s later dive into the baroque. The outlines in Debussy’s sonatas may be crisper, the textures leaner than in his earlier works, but the world of these three sonatas is still typically elusive and suggestive, and like no other composer’s. And yet there’s nothing precious about these wonderfully responsive, all-French performances of the sonatas, in which pianist Bertrand Chamayou is very much the common denominator. He’s joined by Edgar Moreau in the Cello Sonata and Renaud Capuçon in the violin work, while the Sonata for Flute, Viola and Harp, one of Debussy’s greatest achievements, is played by Emmanuel Pahud, Gérard Caussé and Marie-Pierre Langlamet.

Some might prefer these sonatas in slightly less fulsome performances, but the sense of authority that runs through the whole disc is hard to resist. It also includes Syrinx, the jewel-like miniature for solo flute from 1913, which Pahud plays with willowy fluency, as well as a rarity from the beginning of Debussy’s career, the Piano Trio of 1880, composed while he was working for the Russian patron Nadezhda von Meck. It’s typical French chamber music of the mid 19th century, indebted to Massenet, Franck and early Fauré, with few hints of what would come later, but Capuçon, Moreau and Chamayou play it very winningly. (Andrew Clements / The Guardian)

Renaud Capuçon / London Symphony Orchestra / François-Xavier Roth BARTÓK Violin Concertos Nos. 1 & 2

Whenever I listen to performances by the French violinist Renaud Capuçon, I'm unfailingly won over by both his beautifully sweet tone and his impressive virtuosity, and so it has been an absolute pleasure to get to know his new recording of the two violin concertos by Béla Bartók, accompanied by the London Symphony Orchestra under François-Xavier Roth.

Although neither published nor performed until more than a decade after his death, Bartók's first concerto was actually written while he was in his twenties, and stylistically speaking is quite different from the much later second concerto. It begins with just a single line for the soloist alone, gradually joined by more and more members of the orchestral strings, and then eventually the woodwind enter with the same melodic phrase that began the concerto. It's a magical opening, and the interplay between Capuçon's melancholic sound and the counterpoint of the LSO string section is a marvellous thing to behold.

Shaping every single phrase to perfection is conductor François-Xavier Roth, whose care over even the smallest facets of Bartók's dynamic markings is really remarkable: there's a moment in the first concerto where the solo violin and the orchestral first violins play the sameforte throughout whilst the orchestra are instructed to begin pp with a crescendo. You can actually hear the shift in balance as the first violins catch up in volume with the soloist, until Capuçon is finally absorbed into the orchestral sound. It's the tiniest of details, but it makes such a difference.

line, but the soloist is marked

There are all sorts of examples of this in the second concerto too, where Bartók frequently makes extensive use of layered dynamics. This is most prevalent in his woodwind writing, where for instance a piano clarinet solo might receive an interjection from a pianissimo flute, with horns playing ppp underneath! It’s a credit to Roth that he pays such meticulous attention to these markings, and also a testament to both the LSO and the excellent recording quality that such minute gradations are actually audible!

The second concerto is also full of intriguingly unusual timbres and performance techniques, such as asking the cymbals at one point to be played on the edge with the blade of a penknife, or requesting that a particular triangle roll be performed with a thin wooden stick rather than the usual metal beater. All of these moments are brought out wonderfully by the orchestra. Similarly, there's always an especial satisfaction to be had on hearing the hearty thwack of the Bartók pizzicato (where the string is plucked so hard that it snaps back and hits the wood of the instrument, so-named after his use of it in various pieces).

One of my favourite passages in the second concerto is near the end of the first movement, where eerie phrases for murky bass clarinet and bassoons, accompanying the solo violinist playing with quarter tones, lead into an outstandingly splendid cadenza from Capuçon, with double stops aplenty. Elsewhere there is real tenderness, particularly the start of the second movement, an affectingly poignant melody for solo violin with harp, timpani, and strings, which is sublime.

I must admit when I first put it on, I wasn't expecting to be quite so knocked out by the quality of the performances, but for me this is a stunner of a disc. With commanding musicianship from Capuçon, extremely intelligent and attentive conducting from Roth, and the LSO on the very best of their always magnificent form, this is undoubtedly one of my top discs of the year so far! (James Longstaffe)

Renaud Capuçon RIHM - DUSAPIN - MANTOVANI

French violinist Renaud Capuçon is clearly relishing playing in live performance these twenty-first century concertos which were written specifically for him. Inspired by the number of commissions given by fellow violinists, notably Gidon Kremer and Anne-Sophie Mutter, when commissioning works Capuçon enjoys the privilege of being able to contribute towards expanding the repertoire of the violin. When working with living composers, Capuçon has stated that he enjoys the collaborative aspect of the project.

The earliest work here is Jeux d'eau from French composer Bruno Mantovani a work he completed in 2012. Like many composers before him, conspicuously Liszt, Debussy and Ravel, Mantovani has used a theme of water. With Jeux d'eau, Mantovani was specifically motivated by “the sound of clear water that flows from a mountain torrent.” It was Capuçon who premièred the score in 2012 at Paris. As the title suggests, the score to Jeux d'eau has an ineluctable aqueous quality marked by writing that feels clean, fresh and fluid. There is a variety of textures in both the violin and orchestra parts and noticeably broad dynamics.

Wolfgang Rihm is one of the pre-eminent composers working today. The winner of several prestigious awards, Rihm has been the recipient of numerous commissions. By my reckoning, Rihm has now written five violin concertos of which the best known is Gesungene Zeit (Time Chant) for Anne-Sophie Mutter who recorded the work on Deutsche Grammophon. Rihm’s violin concerto Gedicht des Malers (Poem of the Painter) was introduced by Capuçon in 2015 at Vienna. Rihm talks about the inspiration for the work coming from artist Max Beckmann, who painted Max Reger a year after the composer had died. Rihm has stated that he could visualise Beckmann painting virtuoso violinist Eugène Ysaÿe in the same way. It is as if the soloist has taken control of the artist’s brush on the canvas. Immediately, the aching intensity of the writing has a Bergian feel and the mainly high lying violin part strongly evokes celestial images. Two main contrasting impressions dominate the work first a mainly cool and shadowy often mysterious atmosphere and secondly episodes of coarsely-hewn agitation. The moods are disrupted by the quickly built screeching outburst at 9.23 and a sudden thunderous eruption at 12.40.

Another Frenchman, Pascal Dusapin, is represented by Aufgang, his concerto for violin and orchestra. In 2008, Dusapin was motivated by conductor Marek Janowski to write a violin concerto, but after some work on the piece, the project didn’t come to fruition. Subsequently a meeting with Capuçon led to the composer reviving the concerto that he completed in 2011. The first performance was given by Capuçon in 2013 at Cologne. Titled Aufgang, the word in English means Ascent, possibly meaning a staircase to the sky, relating to the high register where much of the violin part lies.

Dusapin talks about “emerging light” yet it is the contrasts that are striking. Evident in the opening movement is the very high lying register of the violin part against the orchestra, which becomes increasingly weighty and anxiety laden. Shadowy, infused with nervous tension in the movement two, the violin part gradually gains in prominence and assertiveness. Conspicuous in the third movement is the wild and fiery character at turns coolly expressive.

The liner notes include an essay by Marguerite Haldjian and a note from Capuçon which are helpful and interesting. Recorded live the sound quality across three separate concert halls is uniformly clear and well balanced. There is some minor audience noise but nothing too distracting, and applause has been kept in on two the works.

Playing with robust and impassioned lyricism, Renaud Capuçon is on exceptional form. This is the finest release of contemporary violin concertos I have heard in some years. (Michael Cookson)

Nicholas Angelich / Renaud Capuçon / Gérard Caussé / Gautier Capuçon BRAHMS Piano Quartets 1 - 3

With this two-disc set of the piano quartets, Nicholas Angelich proves conclusively that he is the best Brahms pianist of his generation. His previous Brahms recordings -- a 2005 disc of the violin sonatas with Renaud Capuçon, a 2006 solo collection featuring the Paganini Variations, a 2007 solo collection of the late piano works, and a 2008 disc of the First Piano Concerto with Paavo Järvi leading the Frankfurt Radio Symphony -- showed his skill in a variety of settings. But this disc takes all Angelich has done before and wrapped up in a single package. In these performances of the German Romantic's piano quartets, there's the poetry of his solo discs, the virtuosity of his concerto disc, and the ensemble ease of his sonatas disc. But here Angelich is teamed not only with Renaud Capuçon, but also with his brother, cellist Gautier Capuçon, and with violist Gérard Caussé, and this small ensemble gives Angelich the room to be everything he can be as a Brahms player. He's a fiery virtuoso in the G minor Quartet, a tragic poet in the C minor Quartet, and a lyrical pastoralist in the A major Quartet. But more than that, Angelich is a full partner with the Capuçon brothers and Caussé, and together they turn in performances that sound truly, deeply, and profoundly Brahmsian, that is, brilliant but thoughtful, reticent but emotional, and always consummately musical. No matter how many recordings of these wonderful works one has, this one should be heard by all dedicated Brahms listeners. Virgin's digital sound is clear, warm, and evocative, but with plenty of detail. (James Leonard)

Renaud Capuçon / Paavo Järvi / Orchestre de Paris LALO Symphonie Espagnole SARASATE Zigeunerweisen BRUCH Violin Concerto No. 1

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.

Capuçon’s credentials in this kind of Romantic music are made clear in reviews of past performances and recordings. When he played the Lalo in London in 2012, the Guardian praised him for capturing “the full measure of the seriousness behind its grace and wit. Capuçon played with virile agility and tremendous nobility of tone,” while The Times extolled a “gorgeous performance from violin soloist Renaud Capuçon, laidback in manner, but so nimble, so fiery.” The Bruch concerto – with its rhapsodic first movement and energetic, dancing finale is close in spirit to the Brahms Violin Concerto, composed in 1878 and also dedicated to Joseph Joachim. Capuçon’s recording of the Brahms was released in 2012. Reviewing the CD, the Telegraph wrote that: “Capuçon has an impressive grasp of the concerto’s expressive contours, using his technical arsenal with finesse and tracing the music’s breadth of line and its arching shapes while maintaining its inner momentum. The rhythmic punch and energy of the finale are echoed by the orchestra’s powerful attack and buoyancy ... This is altogether a remarkable disc.” (Presto Classical)

Martha Argerich CHAMBER MUSIC

This 8 CD boxed set is another in a series to commemorate the art of Martha Argerich in her 70^th birthday year. How lucky we all are as music-lovers to have the chance - where we don’t already own them - of obtaining these fantastic performances by a true artist. The title of one of the articles in the accompanying booklet is “The spirit of collaboration”. That sums up this set, for Argerich has, for many years, eschewed solo performances in favour of the collaborative process where she shares the platform with a whole range of world class colleagues, some very well known and some less so. You can be sure that if she wants to play with them they are at the very top of their musical game. I recently reviewed her solo and duos set which I described as “an embarrassment of riches”; this is an even greater one: 8 CDs of performances of the works of 9 composers in which she is accompanied by a total of 23 different musicians! The choice of repertoire cannot be faulted, involves plenty of variety and shows Argerich as a perfect fellow musician whether in duos, trios, quartets, quintets or septet. (Steve Arloff)  

 

Martha Argerich CARTE BLANCHE

The first release in Deutsche Grammophon’s new partnership with the Verbier Festival that will see the release of exceptional concerts with great artists (2 sets per year from 2016) recorded by Verbier over the years.

Something special was bound to happen when Martha Argerich was given carte blanche to invite whoever she wanted, to play whatever she and they chose at her Verbier Festival concert on 27 July 2007. She was the life and soul of the party, playing in seven works and making a rare solo appearance in Schumann’s Kinderszenen. Argerich’s artistic partners are Yuri Bashmet, Renaud Capuçon, Lang Lang, Mischa Maisky, Gabriela Montero, Julian Rachlin in a killer programme.

An uproarious encore was given by Gabriela Montero improvising a tango version of “Happy Birthday” (for Mischa Maisky’s daughter Lily Maisky).

This release offers over two hours of exceptional music-making with an enviable line-up of colleagues is now re-created on these two CDs. (McAlister Matheson Music)

Martha Argerich and Friends LIVE FROM LUGANO 2010

Martha Argerich's involvement with chamber music has dominated the later part of her career, so it's easy to think of her name with the words "and friends" tacked on, and to visualize the large and diverse retinue of famous musicians who have recorded with her. This triple-disc box set from EMI Classics presents live recordings from the 2010 Progetto Martha Argerich in Lugano, several of them collaborations with Argerich, notably in works by Robert Schumann, Franz Liszt, and Béla Bartók, as well as a performance of Frédéric Chopin's Piano Concerto No. 1 in E minor, where she is the featured soloist with the Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana. Fans of Argerich, for whom money is no object, may buy this set on the strength of these four recordings, overlooking the eight other performances that do not include her. But other listeners may balk, feeling that the packaging is misleading and the program is lopsided, offering much less of Argerich than the title and cover photo suggest. In any event, these performances are a mixed lot in a program that includes loud, bravura playing and quieter pieces and subtler reflections, and from a roster of some of the leading musicians regularly performing in Europe. Violinist Renaud Capuçon and cellist Gautier Capuçon are perhaps the best known, and each performs with Argerich in pieces by Schumann. Celebrated pianist Stephen Kovacevich also joins Argerich in the Bartók Sonata for two pianos and percussion, so this certainly is noteworthy for the match-up. But the rest of the set should be sampled before purchase, because name recognition is not enough to guarantee satisfaction. EMI's sound quality is good, considering the concert venue. (Blair Sanderson)

Martha Argerich and Friends LIVE FROM LUGANO 2011

The Martha Argerich Project, presented annually at Lugano, Switzerland, has yielded many exciting sets of live recordings for EMI, all starring its namesake but prominently featuring many musicians she enjoys working with, both established artists and rising talents. Live from Lugano 2011 encapsulates the tenth of these festivals, and this three-disc package offers selections by Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schumann, Liszt, Rachmaninov, Shostakovich, Ravel, and a name new to many of the participants: Juliusz Zarebski. This 19th century Polish composer is represented by a piano quintet he composed a few months before his death in 1885 at age 31, and Argerich has recorded this piece for the first time here. The obscurity of the work may compel some listeners to play it first, and that's not a bad way to explore the set, which need not be appreciated in sequential order. Zarebski's music is not widely known, but the quintet's brooding Romanticism and passionate outpourings hold a special appeal that Argerich's fans will respond to immediately. Once the Zarebski work has been heard, the rest of the program can be absorbed at leisure. The mix of a piano concerto, chamber pieces, and keyboard works is evenly spread out, so there is little chance of aural fatigue, and the variety of musicians and styles keeps the tone of the proceedings fresh. Of course, there is a great deal of vigorous and splashy playing -- note especially Argerich's high octane performance of Ravel's Piano Concerto in G major -- and rough edges abound with all this virtuosity, so don't expect the most polished or refined performances. EMI's sound is quite good for concert recording, though the focus on the instruments is a little variable, due to the microphone set-ups.(Blair Sanderson)

Martha Argerich and Friends LIVE FROM THE LUGANO FESTIVAL 2006

All too often, chamber music collaborations between established, accomplished soloists do not yield favorable results. Merely putting together virtuosic musicians does not mean they will play well together. Such is not the case with this recording of Martha Argerich's 2006 festival in Lugano. This album represents an amazing synthesis of well-known artists, musicians just coming into their own fame, as well as compositions ranging from standard repertoire to rarely heard works. Argerich's decision to include violinist Renaud Capuçon and brother Gautier Capuçon was wise indeed, as their energetic and fiendishly virtuosic playing is nearly enough to carry the CD on its own. All of the music-making is simply top-notch, yet there are still ensembles that truly stand out. The first such remarkable performance is of Schumann's Piano Quartet, Op. 47, with Argerich herself at the helm joined by brothers Renaud and Gautier Capuçon and Lida Chen. The quartet breathes amazing new energy and life into a composition that is frequently given a backseat to the piano quintet. Schumann receives another boost in the performance of his Piano Trio, Op. 63, this time by pianist Nicholas Angelich joined again by the Capuçon brothers. Both of these Schumann interpretations could stand alone as reference recordings of the works. As for lesser-known works, the Taneyev Piano Quintet is perhaps the weakest piece on the program primarily due to the slightly poorer sound quality. The three-disc set concludes with the Schnittke Violin Sonata and a concerto for cello (again with Gautier Capuçon) and wind orchestra by Friedrich Gulda. Anyone the least bit interested in chamber music should give this album a try. (Mike D. Brownell)