Face à face: Duos for Violin & Cello

Johan Halvorsen (Composer), Zoltan Kodaly (Composer), Eric Tanguy (Composer), Erwin Schulhoff (Composer), Joseph / Servais, Francois Ghys (Composer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Composer: Johan Halvorsen, Zoltan Kodaly, Eric Tanguy, Erwin Schulhoff, Joseph / Servais, Francois Ghys
• Audio CD (July 8, 2003)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: EMI Classics
• ASIN: B00008ODZJ
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #89,204 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

This is a recording to induce smiles of incredulity, admiration, and delight. The Capuçon brothers are dazzling virtuosos who revel in their technical prowess with unabashed, sometimes mischievous relish; their tone is simply gorgeous: rich, vibrant, and intense, and they have the impetuosity, exuberance and abandon that befits their youth. (Renaud was born in 1976, Gautier in 1981, in Chambery, France.) The recording is designed to display every aspect of their matchless virtuosity, but equally astonishing are their uncanny rapport and unanimity and the homogeneity of their tone: they trade phrases and take over lines literally imperceptibly, and at times, especially when the cellist plays high up on the A and the violinist on the G-string, one cannot tell which instrument is playing what. The program includes a world premiere: Eric Tanguy's Sonata, written for the brothers and tailored to their strengths: two marathon run-around movements flanking a dark, passionate, slow one, all full of close interplay between the instruments. Kodály's familiar, very difficult Duo, played with great idiomatic empathy, unbridled temperament and mournful lamentation, exploits all the instruments' resources of colors and sound effects. The less familiar Duo by Erwin Schulhoff is equally difficult; with its wildly contrasting moods, abrupt changes of character and improvisatory freedom it has a powerful emotional impact. The program begins and ends with brilliant fireworks: Handel-Halvorsen's "Passacaglia," tossed off with playful nonchalance, and "Variations brillantes sur God Save the King," by two virtuosos: violinist Joseph Ghys and cellist Adrien Servais. (It is tempting to imagine that each wrote his own part.) Prefaced by a solemn, operatic Introduction, the five variations are the last word in acrobatics; the pyrotechnics are so incredible that the piece sounds like a parody of its own genre. Naturally, the playing is absolutely stunning. --Edith Eisler

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Magnificent music making!, July 17, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Face à face: Duos for Violin & Cello (Audio CD)

The playing and music making on this disc are magnificent. The Capuçon brothers are virtuosos of the first rank, but more importantly they are incapable of playing an unmusical or uninteresting note. They speak with one voice when called upon, but are perfectly willing to engage one another in heated musical dialogue in the Kodaly and Tanguy. The performance of the Kodaly is especially wonderful. Technical perfection, panache, an infinite pallete of colors and amazing musicianship: what more could you want in a cd? I urge you to buy this cd and all others by these remarkable young brothers, especially their Ravel disc.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A smile in the mind..., September 12, 2003

By 

RICHARD THOMAS "An eclectic pleasure seeker" (Cotuit, Cape Cod, MA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Face à face: Duos for Violin & Cello (Audio CD)

Refreshingly interesting programming combined with virtuosic music-making makes this one of the few "must-have" classical albums of the year (2003). No re-hashes here...it's all new to the ear (well, my ear). and the sense of ensemble between these two brothers is uncanny and breathtaking, underscored throughout by a sly sense of wit...merry, witty and just plain fun! BUY THIS CD...you'll love it and you'll be supporting some darned interesting upcoming new talent! P.S. The liner notes and photos are subtley hilarious...very well put-together package.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Virtuosity Face à Face!, June 3, 2011

By 

Grady Harp (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Face à face: Duos for Violin & Cello (Audio CD)

Renaud and Gautier Capuçon have all the musicality and talent and taste and flair for the stage that, once experienced in person, makes their avid following credible. Both of these young men know their way around scores of major and minor works, orchestral works and chamber music. This recording is all about hero worship - both for the two handsome and inordinately talented men they are, but also about their passion for fascinating programming and music of all kinds. This is a recital, a private concert with no extraneous interference, just simply the two brothers playing their hearts out. They are electrifying.

The first work on this recording served as the spontaneous encore after a performance with Dudamel and the LA Phil of the Brahms Double Concerto (spectacularly sinewy) - Johan Halvorsen's tribute to Handel - the 'Passacaglia and Sarabande with Variations in G after Handel for violin & viola (in this case cello) is a work that bows to Handel's themes and structures but from there becomes a showpiece for sheer virtuosity on the parts of the soloists. It works wonders here: it led to an audience eruption of adoration when live in the concert hall.

The haunting Zoltan Kodaly 'Duo for violin & cello, Op. 7' gives both instruments the full court press as far as physicality is concerned. Eric Tanguy's 'Sonata for violin & cello' is another through-composed work that the Capuçons understand completely as is the Ervin Schulhoff 'Duo for violin & cello' - a much less familiar composer and work. But the piece that allows the physicality of these two men is the rather strange but beguiling 'Variations brillantes et concertantes on "God Save the King", for violin & cello' by Joseph Ghys and Francois Servais - an unlikely theme written by French string players Joseph Ghys (1801 - 1848) and Adrien-François Servais (6 June 1807 - 26 November 1866) for the French soloists. It makes a charming finale. This recording will likely become an archival items as both of these brothers continue to dazzle the musical world both together and alone. Grady Harp, June 11