CAPRICCIO • Renaud Capuçon (vn); Jérôme Ducros (pn) • VIRGIN 74087 (73:38)

MENDELSSOHN On Wings of Song. SCHUBERT of Dresden (arr. Wilhelmj) The Bee. SCHUBERT (arr. Capuçon) Ave Maria. ELGAR La capricieuse. DVOŘÁK Humoreske (arr. Heifetz). Slavonic Dance No. 1 (arr. Kreisler) SUK Un poco triste. DINICU (arr. Heifetz) Hora staccato. SZYMANOWSKI(arr. Kochanski) King Roger: Roxana’s Song. DEBUSSY (arr. Roelens) Suite bergamasque: Clair de lune. STRAVINSKY (arr. Dushkin) Russian Song. PROKOFIEV (arr. Heifetz) Romeo and Juliet: Masks. TCHAIKOVSKY Valse sentimentale, op. 51/6. GLUCK (arr. Kreisler) Orfeo ed Euridice: Dance of the Blessed Spirits. KORNGOLD Much Ado about Nothing: Garden Scene. R. STRAUSS (arr. Příhoda) Der Rosenkavalier: Waltz. An einsamer Quelle, op. 9/2. POLDINI (arr. Kreisler) Poupée valsante. KREISLER Liebesleid. SCHUMANN Frauenliebe und Leben: Er, der Herrlichste von allem; Du Ring am meinem Finger

The notes to Renaud Capuçon and Jérôme Ducros’s recital of miniatures focus on the emergence of this pair of French musicians a decade ago and the affinity they display with this repertoire. And affinity there surely seems to be. The arrangers of these pieces, Wilhelmj, Heifetz, Kreisler, Dushkin, and Příhoda themselves championed works of this kind and surely knew how to put them across. It’s gratifying to add Capuçon to the list. On Wings of Song, like Schubert’s Ave Maria, may be a Heifetz specialty, but Capuçon and Ducros strongly personalize them, with the violinist even providing his own arrangement of the latter. So, like La capricieuse, they display a range of persuasive dynamics and a willingness to employ a subtle palette of expressive portamentos and nuanced changes in tempo harking back to another era to make their various rhetorical points. Dynamic range seems to be one of the keys to their success: the middle section of Humoreske and the lurches of Prokofiev’s “Masks” rise to an intensity to which few listeners may be accustomed, especially in an era of somewhat dutiful performances of such pieces. If a majority of them suggest triste rather than capriccio, and evoke polite rather than rowdy gatherings, the exceptions, like Dinicu’s Hora staccato, provide thumping good entertainment of a more visceral kind. In fact, while Heifetz’s performance may dazzle listeners with down-bow flying staccato of a brilliance never before (and never since) encountered, Capuçon’s communicates hotter gypsy passion, while remaining exciting on a purely instrumental level. Still, the pervasive melancholy (for example, Capuçon has included Kreisler’s Liebesleid rather than his Liebesfreud or even Caprice viennois)—exhibiting a narrower range than do similar collections by others, like Francescatti, Milstein, Heifetz, or Oistrakh, to name a few who compiled effective collections—may nudge it, despite the devotion of both performers to the kind of pieces they’ve chosen (including a few less familiar ones, like Strauss’s “Einsamer Quelle” and the two Schumann songs), into a category that overlaps what some call “crossover.” And insofar as that nudge increases its appeal for some audiences, it’s sure to decrease it for others. Still, for those who like this kind of thing, this is the kind of thing they’ll like. Strongly recommended to them, but nearly as strongly recommended to others as well.

Incidentally, Capuçon plays the recital on a 1737 Guarneri del Gesù that the notes identify as having belonged to Isaac Stern for half a century. It’s to Capuçon’s credit that in his hands the instrument doesn’t speak with the voice of its former owner; it sounds sinuous rather than straightforward. And it’s been captured, together with Ducros’s brighter piano part, in clear recorded sound with a dynamic range more than sufficient to Capuçon’s own expressive devices. These bonuses intensify each of the above recommendations.

FANFARE: Robert Maxham