Schubert / Schumann / Debussy / Britten Gautier Capuçon & Frank Braley

• 1 I. Allegro Moderato 11:59
• 2 II. Adagio 04:19
• 3 III. Allegretto 09:18
• 4 I. Vanitas vanitatum - Mit Humor 03:28
• 5 II. Langsam 03:40
• 6 III. Nicht schnell, mit viel Ton zu spielen 04:11
• 7 IV. Nicht zu rasch 02:06
• 8 V. Stark und markiert 03:14
• 9 I. Prologue: Lent, sostenuto e molto risoluto 04:16
• 10 II. Sérénade: Modérément animé, fantasque et léger 03:00
• 11 III. Finale: Animé, léger et nerveux 03:22
• 12 I. Dialogo 07:24
• 13 II. Scherzo - Pizzicato 02:30
• 14 III. Elegia 06:39
• 15 IV. Marcia 02:19
• 16 V. Moto perpetuo 02:42
• Total Runtime 01:14:27

Info for Schubert / Schumann / Debussy / Britten

This collection of works for cello and piano, with Schubert’s Arpeggione Sonata as its centrepiece, sees Gautier Capuçon and Frank Braley paying tribute to two towering musicians of the 20th century, Mstislav Rostropovich and Benjamin Britten, who recorded all four of the works on the programme: Schubert’s ‘Arpeggione’ Sonata, Debussy’s Cello Sonata, Schumann’s Fünf Stücke im Volkston and Britten’s own Cello Sonata in five movements, which received its first performance at the Aldeburgh Festival in 1961, two years after composer and cellist had first met. “It is a magnificent piece,” says Gautier Capuçon of the Britten, “and too rarely played as far as I’m concerned. I grew up with Britten’s children’s opera The Little Sweep, so I am well acquainted with his language.” Moreover, 2013 marks the 100th anniversary of Britten’s birth.

Schubert wrote the Arpeggione Sonata – conceived for the eponymous six-stringed fretted instrument, but now standard repertoire for cello – in 1824, when he was already desperately ill and suffering from crushing bouts of depression. “It is a work that has always profoundly touched and moved me,” says Capuçon, “There is such greatness of feeling in it, even though Schubert was in the depths of despair. As Beethoven is reputed to have said: ‘Truly, in Schubert there dwells a divine spark!’

Debussy’s Cello Sonata was also written at dark time, in 1915, the second year of the First World War, when the composer was already ill with the cancer that was to kill him in 1918; yet it is a work of both sober elegance and mercurial fantasy from this archetypal musicien français – the words with which Debussy signed the score. Schumann’s Fünf Stücke im Volkston (Five Pieces in the Popular Style) were written in 1849, a productive time for the composer, even though he, too, was suffering from ill health – signs of the mental disturbances that were to lead to a suicide attempt five years later. Again, these are not dark works, but lyrical and accessible.

Gautier Capuçon, cello
Frank Braley, piano

Gautier Capuçon
is widely recognised as one of the foremost cellists of his generation and has received consistently high critical praise for his recordings and performances. Born in Chambéry in 1981, Capuçon began playing the cello at the age of five. He studied at the Conservatoire National Supérieur in Paris with Philippe Muller and Annie Cochet-Zakine, and later with Heinrich Schiff in Vienna. The winner of various first prizes in many leading international competitions, including the International André Navarra Prize, Capuçon was named ‘New Talent of the Year’ by Victoires de la Musique (the French equivalent of a Grammy) in 2001; in 2004 he received a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award since which time he has received several Echo Klassik awards, most recently for his recording of Tchaikovsky and Prokofiev with Gergiev and for his recording of Fauré’s complete chamber music.

Capuçon performs regularly as a soloist with the major orchestras worldwide, and is a favourite of conductors at the highest level including Gergiev, Dudamel, Bychkov, Haitink, Chung, Dutoit, Eschenbach, Nelsons and Nézet-Séguin. In recent seasons, concerto highlights have included orchestras such as LA Philharmonic, Seattle, Boston, Chicago Symphony, San Francisco Symphony, Berlin Philharmonic, London Symphony, Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Vienna Symphony and the Deutsche Symphony Orchestra with whom he toured Europe. A regular recital and chamber musician, Capuçon appears in the major halls and festivals across Europe, and every year at the Verbier Festival and at Project Martha Argerich, Lugano, performing with many of the world’s leading artists such as Barenboim, Bashmet, Caussé, Kavakos, Kirchschlager, Pletnev, Pressler, Thibaudet, Znaider, his brother Renaud and many others including those with whom he has recorded (see below).

In the 13/14 season, debuts include the Concertgebouw Orchestra/Bychkov, New York Philharmonic/ Boreyko and the Staatskapelle Dresden/Eschenbach in Dresden and the Salzburg Easter Festival. Other highlights include the Munich Philharmonic/Bychkov – both in Munich and at the Enescu Festival in Bucharest – with Sydney Symphony/Bringuier, Boston Symphony/Dutoit, Chamber Orchestra of Europe/Haitink in Amsterdam, Paris and the Lucerne Festival, with Mariinsky Orchestra/Gergiev at Salle Pleyel (Paris), NHK Symphony Orchestra/Dutoit, and in China with China Philharmonic and Guangzhou Symphony. In recital, Capuçon will perform with Frank Braley in the major venues in Paris, Amsterdam, Brussels, Vienna and Seoul, and with Yuja Wang in a recital tour of Japan.

Capuçon records exclusively for Virgin Classics. His recordings include the Dvořák Concerto with Frankfurt Radio Symphony/Paavo Järvi, Tchaikovsky Rococo Variations and Prokofiev Sinfonia Concertante with Mariinsky Theatre/Gergiev, the Brahms Double Concerto with his brother Renaud and Mahler Youth Orchestra/Chung, and the Haydn Cello Concertos with Mahler Chamber Orchestra/Harding. He has recorded several discs of chamber music with Martha Argerich, Frank Braley, Nicholas Angelich, Renaud and others, and the Rachmaninov and Prokofiev Cello Sonatas with Gabriela Montero. His next releases include a recital disc of music by Schubert, Schumann, Debussy, Britten and Carter with Frank Braley, and Saint-Saëns First Cello Concerto and Muse et le poète with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France/Bringuier, and earlier this year Deutsche Gramophone released a DVD featuring Capuçon as soloist with the Berlin Philharmonic/Dudamel in a live performance of Haydn’s first Cello Concerto.

As a partner of Gautier Capuçon, Colas co-produced, along with Virgin Classics, his latest recording with Gergiev and participated in the purchase of a Dominique Peccatte Bow. Since 2007 Gautier Capuçon has been an Ambassador for Zegna & Music project which was founded in 1997 as a philanthropic activity to promote music and its values. Gautier Capuçon plays a 1701 Matteo Goffriller.

Gautier Capuçon plays a 1701 Matteo Goffriller.

Frank Braley
was born in 1968, and began his piano studies at the age of four. Six years later he gave his first concert with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France in Paris, Salle Pleyel. In 1986 he decided to devote himself entirely to music and abandoned his studies in science. He entered the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris and three years later he was awarded unanimously first prizes for piano and chamber music.

In 1991, at the age of 22, he took part for the first time in an international competition, the Queen Elizabeth Competition of Belgium and won the First Grand Prize. Public and press unanimously recognise him as a pianist with exceptional musical and poetic qualities.

Since then, Frank Braley has been regularly invited to Japan, Canada, the United States, and all over Europe, to play with such orchestras as the London Philharmonic, Leipzig Gewandhaus, Orchestre de la Suisse-Romande, Orchestra della Swizzera Italiana, Zurich Chamber Orchestra, Philharmonique de Radio France, Orchestre National de France, Orchestre de Paris, Bordeaux, Lille, Montpellier and Toulouse Orchestras, Berlin Radio Orchestra, Orchestre National de Belgique, Liège Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Residentie Den Haag Orchestra, Göteborg Symphony, Copenhagen Royal Orchestra, Tokyo Philharmonic, BBC Wales Orchestra, the Royal Scottish Orchestra, the Berliner Sinfonie-Orchester, the Boston Symphony, the Baltimore Symphony orchestra, the Seattle Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra under Jean-Claude Casadesus, Stéphane Deneve, Charles Dutoit, Christopher Hogwood, Eliahu Inbal, Marek Janowski, Armin Jordan, Sir Neville Marriner, Kurt Masur, Sir Yehudi Menuhin, Antonio Pappano, Michel Plasson, Yutaka Sado, Michael Schonwandt, Walter Weller…

Frank BRALEY toured all over the world: in China with the Orchestre National de France under Charles Dutoit, Japan and China with the Orchestre du Capitole de Toulouse under Michel Plasson, with the Orchestre Français des Jeunes under Emmanuel Krivine in France and Italy, and again Italy with the Orchestra di Padova e del Veneto. He gave recitals with the violinist Renaud Capuçon(Amsterdam, Athens,Birmingham, Firenze, Ferrara,New York, Washington,Paris, Vienna). He also participates in special projects, such as Beethoven’s Piano Sonatas Cycle (La Roque d’Anthéron, Paris, Bordeaux, Nantes, Grenoble, Rome, Tokyo and Brazil).

He played in recital in Paris, Londres, Amsterdam, Bruxelles, Hanovre, Ferrare, in duo with Renaud CAPUÇON in Amsterdam, Athènes, Birmingham, Bruxelles, Rome, Florence, Trieste, New York, Washington, Paris, Vienne… He use to play music chamber with Renaud and Gautier Capuçon, Maria Joao Pires, Augustin Dumay, Paul Meyer, Gérard Caussé, Eric Le Sage, Emmanuel Pahud, Mischa Maisky, Yuri Bashmet…

In January 2014 Frank Braley succeeded Augustin Dumay as chief-conductor at the Orchestre Royal de Chambre de Wallonie (ORCW). 24 January 2015 they will open the new concert hall Alhambra in Mons. This will also be the official opening for Mons as the Cultural Capital of Europe in 2015.

For Harmonia Mundi he has recorded Schubert’s Sonata in A Major D. 959 and Klavierstücke D. 946 (for which he received the Diapason d’Or and has been compared to Claudio Arrau, Alfred Brendel, Radu Lupu, Andras Schiff...), Richard Strauss’ works for piano solo, and Beethoven’s Sonatas Clair de luneop.27 n°2, Appassionata op. 57 and op.110 (Harmonia Mundi), Gershwin’s complete piano music. For Virgin Classics he has recorded Ravel’s Chamber music with Renaud and Gautier CAPUçON, Saint Saens’ Carnaval des Animaux and Schubert’s Trout. BMG : Poulenc’sDouble Concerto with Eric Le Sage (Diapason d’Or). For Naïve DVD Liszt- Debussy-Gershwin (Choc - Monde de la Musique). For Virgin : Schubert’s Trios with Renaud and Gautier Capuçon. Last recording : Hungarian Dances with Nicholas Angelich.

Booklet for Schubert / Schumann / Debussy / Britten