Un violon à Paris

During the pandemic lockdowns of 2020, Renaud Capuçon was one of the many artists who were determined to bring live music to audiences across the world by performing online. For two months beginning in March 2020, he and pianist Guillaume Bellom delivered a daily mini-recital of chamber miniatures, arrangements, movie soundtracks and more. Eighteen months later, they compiled this heartwarming programme from 22 of the pieces performed in their online concerts. Un violon à Paris is a reminder of the power of music to comfort and heal in even the most testing of times. Much of the album conveys a sense of calm: Bach’s “Suite No. 3 in D Major” (“Air”), Debussy’s “Clair de lune” and Elgar’s “Chanson du matin”, for instance, but there are thrills along the way in the form of Brahms’ “Hungarian Dances, WoO 1” and Kreisler’s proto-Baroque “Prelude and allegro in the style of Pugnani”.