Biography

French cellist Victor Julien-Laferrière has racked up an impressive roster of prizes in his still-young career: first-prize winner of the Queen Elisabeth Competition in 2017 (the first year it was dedicated to cello), first-prize winner of the Prague Spring International Competition in 2012, a prize from the Safran Foundation for Music in 2013, and Soloist of the Year nomination at the 2018 Victoires de la Musique classique on French National TV, among others. His first sonata recording (Debussy, Franck, Brahms) was released in 2016 on the Mirare label and won high praise from the critical press, including a Diapason d’Or, CHOC from Classica, ffff from Télérama and Editors’ Choice from France Musique. His most recent recording, on the Alpha Classics label, consists of concertos by two of France’s leading contemporary composers, Dutilleux and Dusapin. This won the Diapason D'Or prize in 2023. Among the many great orchestras Julien-Laferrière has appeared with are the Royal Concertgebouw, Orchestre de Paris, Orchestre national de France, Rotterdam Philharmonic, and Bournemouth Symphony. In 2012 he, pianist Adam Laloum, and violinist Mi-sa Yang formed the Trio Les Esprits, which signed an exclusive recording contract with Sony Classical. In recent years Julien-Laferrière has also developed into an important conductor. In addition to leading his own ensemble, Consuelo, he guest conducts the Orchestre National d’Ile-de-France and the Orchestre de l’Opéra de Rouen on tour. 2nd LMMC concert.

Théo Fouchenneret won the first prize at the Geneva International Competition in 2018. The same year he won the 1st prize as well as five special prizes at the Lyon International Chamber Music Competition with the Trio Messiaen. Applauded by great halls and international festivals, he also performs with internationally renowned musicians. LMMC Debut.

https://www.victorjulien-laferriere.com/

https://www.theofouchenneret.com/?lang=en

Notes

Beethoven’s five cello sonatas are of pioneering importance in form, content, and the advancement of instrumental technique. The earliest cello sonatas of the classical-romantic repertory are by Beethoven, the two of Op. 5 from 1796. Op. 69, from 1807-08 is third of the five, by far the most popular, and the most frequently performed outside the cycle. The opening theme for cello alone is one of the most gracious Beethoven ever wrote for any instrument. The second movement, a scherzo, is highly spirited, full of intriguing rhythmic displacements and irregularities. The Adagio cantabile is of exquisite loveliness, and the following Allegro vivace brims with playful ideas and happy sentiment.

Bartók composed both of his rhapsodies for violin and piano in 1928. However, the first performance of No. 1 was given in a different form, for cello and piano in March of the following year with cellist Jenö Kerpely and the composer at the piano. The fruits of Bartók's labor in collecting on cylinder phonograph the folksongs and dances of Hungary and Romania can be heard to full advantage in this Rhapsody. Throughout, Bartók evokes images of country fiddlers, peasant villages, and rustic landscapes.

Kodály shares with Bartók the reputation for being one of the two greatest Hungarian composers of the twentieth century. Born just a year apart, they also shared during their lifetimes a deep common interest in music of their homeland, and conducted extensive scholarly research into music of the Hungarian gypsies and peasants in addition to that of surrounding countries. To Bain Murray, in his Cello Sonata he “captures the atmosphere of the rugged, sweeping Hungarian plains: turbulent, wild, yet romantic and beautiful,” and to Harry Halbreich, “the cello seems to speak Hungarian.” 

Everyone knows that the piano was the heart and soul of Chopin’s existence, but if the composer could be said to have had a second love, it was for the cello. Scattered among his many piano pieces are four works that include cello. The Cello Sonata is a composition of substantial proportions, laid out in four movements and lasting nearly 25 minutes. It was one of Chopin’s last works, and his last of significant size. It was also the work he played at his last public performance, which took place in Paris on February 16, 1848. The sonata received its premiere at this concert with its dedicatee, August-Joseph Franchomme, as cellist.

Robert Markow