David Fray | piano
Renaud Capuçon | violin

Although Schubert passed away at the age of just thirty-one and was the uncontested master of the Lied, he was equally prolific in the chamber music repertoire. His catalogue includes a number of major works, but there are only six pieces for violin and piano, although the musician knew and mastered the violin to perfection. The sonatinas are youthful works and tonight we will hear the second of the three in his catalogue. Nine years earlier, he composed the Rondo brillant, followed a year later by the Fantasie, and finally the sonata known as the “Grand duo”, which opens our performance this evening. It is a late work of huge proportions and the writing is more personal than its predecessors. The musicologist Brigitte Massin in her work on the composer highlights an “almost vocal dialogue over which the shadows of Mozart and his characters, notably Pamina and Tamino, seem to hover like a memory”. It is sometimes performed as piano duet, but tonight it will be thrilling to hear it in its original version performed by a duo at the peak of their powers.

Production Théâtre des Champs-Elysées