María Dueñas: A Romantic Tour

During the 19th and early 20th centuries, many composers were, María Dueñas tells Apple Music Classical, “fascinated with virtuosity and emotional depth”. The Spanish violinist’s playlist presents wide-ranging, often dramatic forays through well-known and less-familiar violin gems, from small-scale chamber music to epic concertos. From the intense passion of the Violin Concerto in E Minor by French composer Ernest Chausson that begins Dueñas’ adventure, we move to the equally impassioned worlds of two Russian composers, Arthur Lourié and Anton Arensky. It’s then a short step to the heart-on-sleeve slow movement from a violin concerto by Norwegian composer Johan Halvorsen, rediscovered in 2015 at the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Music Library. “The work had been stored in the archive of the renowned early 20th-century Canadian violinist Kathleen Parlow, who premiered it in 1909,” reveals Dueñas. “Its rediscovery has sparked renewed interest in both Halvorsen’s work and Parlow’s legacy.” Dueñas’ playlist also features some of the pieces from her second album, Paganini: 24 Caprices, including Berlioz’s Rêverie et Caprice, which reflects the deep friendship between Paganini and Berlioz, and Saint-Saëns’ Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso, which Duenas calls “iconic.” She continues: “Saint-Saëns wrote it for Pablo de Sarasate, one of the greatest Spanish violinists.”