AUGUSTIN DUMAY / JULIEN QUENTIN
Augustin Dumay, the most illustrious representative of the historical French violin school (that of Thibaud, Neveu, Grumiaux, Ferras), performs with Julien Quentin some of the gems of the sonata repertoire: Debussy, Beethoven, and the wonderful Fantasiestücke by Schumann.
Programme
ROBERT SCHUMANN (1810–1856)
Fantasiestücke Op. 73
CLAUDE DEBUSSY (1862–1918)
Violin Sonata in G minor L. 140
LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN (1770–1827)
Violin Sonata No. 7 in C minor Op. 30 No. 2
Concert without interval
Augustin Dumay and Louis Lortie play Debussy: Sonata for violin & piano
Augustin Dumay has much in common with the founder of the French violin school and inspiration for Debussy, Eugène Ysaÿe: immense stature, a sound that oscillates between the most refined elegance and the most sensual intensity, and a way of colouring his playing that fits perfectly with Debussy’s Sonata, its hurdy-gurdy figurations and impressionistic sprinklings.
Colours are also needed to capture the dreamy melancholy of Schumann’s Fantasiestücke, its triumphant roars and its playful, energetic chromaticism.
The short, sharply cut opening motif of Beethoven’s Seventh Sonata anticipates the conciseness of the “Serioso” Quartet, written many years later. Its Sturm und Drang urgency, the discreet pomp of its slow movement and its epic tonalities have sometimes earned it the nickname “Eroica“, and the work remains a favourite with audiences.
