Cast
Michael Barenboim — Violinist, violist
Julien Quentin — Pianist
Program notes
Celebrated violinist Michael Barenboim and piano superstar Julien Quentin perform a program of French duets! Ravel’s first violin sonata comprises a single impressionist movement, written as a student at the Paris Conservatoire. Admitted to the conservatoire at just eleven, Messaien composed his compelling Thème et Variations as a wedding gift for Claire Delbos. The serenity of Saint-Saëns’s Berceuse complements the elegiac themes of Franck’s emotive Andantino Quietoso, Fauré’s romantic Élégie, and Vieuxtemps’s expressive Élégie. Freeing his music from Wagnerian influence, Chausson combined late Romanticism with the vivid colors of Impressionism in his Pièce. The concert concludes with a demanding commission for the Paris Conservatoire viola concours: Enescu’s Concertstück.
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