Renaud

Great classical repertoire, discoveries, chamber music, concert literature at the very highest level: violinist Renaud Capuçon inspires as a soloist in all areas. He celebrated the power of world harmony with Bach's concertos and the modern counterpart by Peteris Vasks, allowed styles to communicate with each other with the concertos by Beethoven and Korngold as well as Brahms and Berg, and ensured one of the most high-profile large-scale chamber music projects of recent years with a complete recording of the Beethoven sonatas. He is now continuing on this path - alongside the young, multi-award-winning Georgian pianist Khatia Buniatishvili.

If one did not know that French violinist Renaud Capucon had gotten married just two days earlier, one might almost have guessed it from these extraordinarily joyful recordings he made of Beethoven's and Korngold's violin concertos. Capucon was already well known among classical music cognoscenti from his many chamber music recordings for his supple phrasing, effortless lyricism, sweet tone, and big sound.

Renaud Capuçon, the 24 year-old French violinist, nominated as New Talent of the Year 2000 by the French Victoires de la Musique, is now an exclusive artist with Virgin Classics label, and this debut album, looks, on the face of it, like a Beecham lollipops album (though TB would never have tolerated a soloist to rival him), but it is rather more sophisticated than that.

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.

Mozart: The Violin Concertos, recorded with the Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne (OCL), of which Capuçon is Artistic Director. Mozart has been at the heart of the OCL’s repertoire since its foundation in 1942, and the orchestra’s extensive discography already includes acclaimed recordings of the composer’s complete piano concertos and serenades and other works. Now Mozart: The Violin Concertos reflects the rapport that Renaud Capuçon and the OCL have developed since the former became the ensemble’s Artistic Director at the start of the 2021 22 season.

Renaud Capuçon’s exciting new Mozart project for Deutsche Grammophon comprises three albums and two STAGE+ performances, all to come before the end of the year. Together they encompass the artist’s multi-faceted career as concerto soloist, chamber musician, artistic director and mentor to outstanding young talent. Mozart: The Violin Concertos, recorded with the Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne (OCL), of which Capuçon is Artistic Director, is scheduled for release on 29 September 2023. Recorded with three of the emerging artists mentored by Capuçon, Mozart: The Piano Quartets will follow on 10 November, and will inaugurate the Capuçon-DG Beau Soir imprint. The violinist’s trilogy of 2023 Mozart albums will be launched, meanwhile, with the release on 23 June of Mozart: Sonatas for piano and violin, made with American pianist Kit Armstrong.