Bartók: Violin Concertos Nos. 1 & 2

A violin concerto as a declaration of love: one thinks involuntarily of great romanticism. But Béla Bartók laid the foundation for modernism with this idea in the first decade of the 20th century: his first concerto was written for Bartók's childhood friend, the violinist Stefi Geyer - and it forms the prelude to the recording of both violin concertos with Renaud Capuçon, who here presents another milestone in his discography together with the London Symphony Orchestra and its Principle Guest Director François-Xavier Roth. The album is released on CD and in a vinyl version. Three decades separate the two works, which themselves represent very different compositional worlds: While in the first concerto, an early work full of a spirit of optimism, Bartók was still creating from the achievements of the almost lavish sonorities of a Richard Strauss or Claude Debussy, in 1938 he drew a sum of his composing life to date with the second concerto: the exploration of Hungarian folk music, the reassessment of strict classical forms and the possibilities of expanded tonality opened up completely new stylistic worlds for Bartók. Renaud Capuçon's close relationship with François-Xavier Roth has existed for years, and it has developed in many joint performances. The Bartók concertos are the first joint recording project.