Part of: Russian Nights, Carnegie Classics, and Perspectives: Yuja Wang
Gautier Capuçon, Cello
Yuja Wang, Piano
FRANCK Violin Sonata in A Major (transcr. for cello)
CHOPIN Introduction and Polonaise brillante, Op. 3
RACHMANINOFF Cello Sonata in G Minor
Encores:
SAINT-SAËNS "The Swan" from Carnival of the Animals
PIAZZOLLA Le Grand Tango
This concert is generously underwritten by Olivier and Desiree Berggruen.
One of the most beloved works in the chamber music repertoire, Franck’s luxuriantly Romantic Violin Sonata in A Major was composed for Belgian violin virtuoso Eugène Ysaÿe. Considered by many as the composer’s masterpiece, it has been enthusiastically appropriated by cellists, violists, and flutists. Like Mendelssohn’s Violin Sonata, Franck’s features a freely declamatory slow movement in which the two players meditate upon material presented elsewhere.
In the fall of 1829, fresh from a triumphant tour of Austria and Germany, Chopin accepted an invitation from Prince Antoni Radziwiłł to visit his hunting lodge in the mountains outside Warsaw. An amateur composer and cellist, the prince was eager for his daughters to have high-level musical instruction. It was for one of the “two young Eves in this paradise,” as Chopin called them, that he composed the Introduction and Polonaise brillante.
Rachmaninoff remained an unabashed champion of Romanticism long past the style’s sell-by date in the first half of the 20th century. The lush and impetuously lyrical language that characterizes such early works as the G-Minor Cello Sonata of 1901 remained the pianist-composer’s stock in trade for the remaining four decades of his life. Rachmaninoff’s soaring melodies, richly upholstered textures, and highly idiomatic writing for both cello and piano have given the work a secure place in the repertoire.
Gautier Capuçon is a true 21st-century ambassador for the cello. Performing each season with many of the world’s foremost conductors, orchestras, and instrumentalists, he is also founder and leader of the Classe d’Excellence de Violoncelle at the Louis Vuitton Foundation in Paris. Acclaimed internationally for his expressive musicianship and exuberant virtuosity—and for the deep sonority of his 1701 Matteo Goffriller cello—Mr. Capuçon is the Valencia Orchestra’s artist in residence this season.
The 2018–2019 season sees Mr. Capuçon premiere a new concerto for cello and piano (Richard Dubugnon’s Eros Athanatos) with Jean-Yves Thibaudet—a piece written for the duo—with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra, Antwerp Symphony Orchestra, WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne, and Orchestre philharmonique de Radio France. He also performs as soloist with, among others, the New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Munich Philharmonic, Czech Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, NHK Symphony Orchestra, Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra of Europe, and Orchestre de Paris. As a chamber musician, Mr. Capuçon performs with Lisa Batiashvili and Mr. Thibaudet as a piano trio on an extensive European tour. He also appears in recital with Frank Braley, Gabriela Montero, Yuja Wang, and Mr. Thibaudet in venues that include Walt Disney Concert Hall, Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, and Vienna’s Musikverein.
Recording exclusively for Erato / Warner Classics, Mr. Capuçon has won multiple awards and holds an extensive discography. His latest album, a disk of Schumann works, was released in January 2019. Mr. Capuçon’s 2018 album, Intuition, was recorded with the Orchestre de chambre de Paris, Douglas Boyd, and Jérôme Ducros. He appears onscreen and online in programs that include The Artist Academy, Prodiges, and Now Hear This. Born in Chambéry, Mr. Capuçon began playing the cello at the age of five.
Critical superlatives and audience ovations have followed Yuja Wang’s dazzling career. Celebrated for her charismatic artistry and captivating stage presence, she is set to achieve new heights during the 2018–2019 season, which features recitals, concert series, season residencies, and extensive tours with some of the world’s most venerated ensembles and conductors.
Ms. Wang began the current season with a performance of Beethoven’s First Piano Concerto at the Tanglewood Music Festival with the Boston Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Andris Nelsons, followed by a tour with the Berliner Philharmoniker and Kirill Petrenko that featured Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 3. In the spring of 2019, Ms. Wang embarks on a tour to Los Angeles, Seoul, and Tokyo with the Los Angeles Philharmonic to give the first-ever performances of John Adams’s new piano concerto. She also reunites with cellist and frequent collaborator Gautier Capuçon for a vast chamber tour of the United States.
Additional engagements this season include an extensive recital tour to South America, several concerts with the Munich Philharmonic and Valery Gergiev in Asia, concerts with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra at Versailles, performances at the Summer Night Concert Schönbrunn with Gustavo Dudamel, tours with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla, and concerts in Istanbul, Toronto, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Kotor. In addition to this evening’s concert, Ms. Wang’s Perspectives series at Carnegie Hall includes performances with Martin Grubinger, Leonidas Kavakos, Igudesman & Joo, and the New World Symphony and Michael Tilson Thomas. This season, Ms. Wang also is an artist in residence at Vienna’s Konzerthaus and Luxembourg’s Philharmonie.
Ms. Wang was born into a musical family in Beijing, China. After childhood piano studies, she received advanced training in Canada and at the Curtis Institute of Music under Gary Graffman. Ms. Wang’s international breakthrough came in 2007 when she replaced Martha Argerich as soloist with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. She signed an exclusive contract with Deutsche Grammophon two years later, and has since established her place among the world’s leading artists with a succession of critically acclaimed performances and recordings. Ms. Wang was named Musical America’s 2017 Artist of the Year.
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