FAURÉ and FRIENDS Irène Duval & Angus Webster

• Reynaldo Hahn (1874 - 1947): Romance in A major:
• 1 Hahn: Romance in A major 05:12
• Gabriel Fauré (1845 - 1924): Berceuse Op. 16:
• 2 Fauré: Berceuse Op. 16 03:55
• Andante in B flat major, Op. 75:
• 3 Fauré: Andante in B flat major, Op. 75 04:31
• George Enescu (1881 - 1955): Violin Sonata No. 2:
• 4 Enescu: Violin Sonata No. 2: I. Assez mouvemente 07:45
• 5 Enescu: Violin Sonata No. 2: II. Tranquillement 06:20
• 6 Enescu: Violin Sonata No. 2: III. Vif 07:45
• Camille Saint-Saëns (1835 - 1921): Berceuse, Op. 38:
• 7 Saint-Saëns: Berceuse, Op. 38 04:29
• Gabriel Fauré: Romance in B flat major, Op. 28:
• 8 Fauré: Romance in B flat major, Op. 28 05:22
• Violin Sonata No. 2:
• 9 Fauré: Violin Sonata No. 2: I. Allegro non troppo 08:36
• 10 Fauré: Violin Sonata No. 2: II. Andante 07:35
• 11 Fauré: Violin Sonata No. 2: III. Finale. Allegro non troppo 06:22
• Morceau de lecture:
• 12 Fauré: Morceau de lecture 01:35
• Total Runtime 01:09:27

Info for FAURÉ and FRIENDS

For me, art, especially music, consists of elevating ourselves as far as possible above what is.’ Gabriel Fauré Fauré is one of my favourite composers. His music transports us to an ideal world of multiple reflections and harmonic nuance, in a continuous musical and rhythmic flow. The warmth of his music sings, touches, consoles, fills with joy, exults! He is the composer who has accompanied me the most over these past five years. 2024 marks the centenary of his death, and with this programme, I wished to celebrate him along with single works by his friends Georges Enescu, Camille Saint-Saëns, and Reynaldo Hahn.

The first of these, Reynaldo Hahn’s Romance in A major, was composed around 1901; it is dedicated to Gaspar Marcano – Hahn’s fellow-Venezuelian compatriot, author of works on pre-Columbian Venezuela. Born in 1874 in Caracas, Hahn was four years old when his family moved to France. He showed an astounding early talent for music; composing his first and successful cycle of melodies, “Les chansons grises” on poems by Verlaine from age 12 and 15. Singing always held an important place in his musical life (he himself had a beautiful baritone voice); as one plays his music, one can easily imagine him in a Parisian salon, singing at the piano, ‘a cigarette at the corner of his mouth’ as described by Marcel Proust, his friend and onetime lover… The present Romance seems to be his first piece for violin, a sonata and concerto for the instrument following some 25 years later. The melody is simple, charming, and melodious, the violin and piano conversing in an expressive dialogue.

Hahn had a great admiration for Gabriel Fauré. He spoke of him beautifully when introducing four concerts dedicated to Fauré’s music in 1914, at the Université des Annales.

Irene Duval, violin
Angus Webster, piano

Irene Duval
Born in France, to a French father and Korean mother, Irène Duval grew up in Japan, Indonesia and Hong Kong before returning to France at the age of 11. Since graduating from the Conservatoire de Paris and Kronberg Academy, Irène is firmly establishing herself as a compelling and versatile performer with a strong interest in combining little-known works with works central to the repertoire.

Praised for her mastery of phrasing and of the dramatic dimension ”(Diapason), “astonishing virtuosity” (Revelation Classiques) and her “infinite delicacy” (Le Populaire du centre), Irène has won multiple international competitions and is an active performer of concerti, recitals and chamber music.

Recent highlights include her debut with the Philharmonia Orchestra at the first symphonic concert given by an international orchestra in Mauritius, her debut in Australia at Bendigo Chamber Music Festival, at the Verbier Festival, replacing Lisa Batiashvili at short notice, in Budapest at Kamara.hu Festival, and her debut with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe at the inauguration concert of the Casals Forum in Kronberg.

This season, she gives concerts at the Festival de Musica de Canarias with Joshua Bell, Blythe-Engstroem, and Steven Isserlis; at Wigmore Hall with Jean-Efflam Bavouzet and Steven I., with Angus Webster; she returns to the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra with Mendelssohn Concerto; she plays in Sheffield for a celebration of Gabriel Fauré’s music. Fauré is the central composer of her next recital recording with Angus to be released by Capriccio this year Irène has performed widely in Europe, giving recitals at major venues and festivals including the Konzerthaus Berlin, Théâtre des Champs Elysées, Salle Gaveau, Dresdner Kulturpalast, Sommets Musicaux de Gstaad, Philharmonie de Paris, and Les Folles Journée de Nantes.

Solo highlights include collaborations with the Dresdner Philharmonie, Orchestre d’Auvergne, Sinfonia Varsovia at the National Forum in Tokyo, Kremerata Baltica, working with such conductors as Maxim Emelyanychev, Jamie Phillips, Michael Sanderling, Robert Trevino, and Roberto Fores Veses.

Chamber music holds a big space in Irène’s heart and she feels lucky to have had the chance to play with musicians such as Gidon Kremer, Olli Mustonen, Ferenc Rados, and Christian Tetzlaff. She participates with great pleasure in Open Chamber Music at IMS Prussia Cove in Cornwall, Krzyzowa Chamber Music Festival in Poland, and was invited to Norsjo Chamber Music Festival in Norway and Chamber Music Connects the World Festival at Kronberg Academy.

Irène plays a beautiful Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume violin, which is kindly on loan to her through the Beare’s International Violin Society.

Irène began studying the violin at the age of seven in Hong Kong. Back in France in 2003, she studied with Jean-Jacques Kantorow, Suzanne Gessner, and at CNSM of Paris with Roland Daugareil and Daria Hovora. In 2013, she completed her Master’s degree with distinction, and received the award of Révélation classique de l’Adami.

In 2009 and 2010, Irène won the 1st prize and the public prize at the International Violin Competition of Avignon and two special prizes at the 1st edition of the International Violin Competition in Mirecourt: the prize for “most exceptional personality” and the prize for the “best interpretation of a French sonata” for her performance of the Poulenc sonata. In May 2011, Irène was awarded the 1st prize at the 46th International Instrumental Competition in Markneukirchen for her performance of the Beethoven violin concerto, as well as the “Manfred-Scherzer” prize for her outstanding interpretation of a piece by Reger. Her performance of the Beethoven concerto received accolades, the German Free Press noting that ‘it was a Beethoven in heaven. Her sound in the second movement was like the music of the angels.’ (16.05.2011 Beethoven im Paradies, Deutsche Freie Presse). In 2012, Irène received the Appassionato Joël Klépal prize in Caen and was given a generous grant from the Meyer Fondation. In 2014, she went at the Kronberg Academy in Germany to study with Mihaela Martin in Further Master Studies, and received artistic advice from internationally renowned musicians until 2017.

She has been supported by Fondation pour la vocation Marcel Bleustein-Blanchet, Fondation SAFRAN pour la musique, la Fondation de l’Or du Rhin, la Fondation d’Entreprise Banque Populaire, ArteMusica Stiftung, and Günther Caspar Stiftung.

In 2021 Irène was a prize-winner at the Young Classical Artists Trust International Auditions.

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