Interview, Renaud Capuçon on Lalo, Sarasate and Bruch

Renaud Capuçon's recording-career spans almost twenty years, but until recently he had never recorded three of the best-loved works for violin and orchestra - Lalo's Symphonie espagnole, Sarasate's Zigeunerweisen, and Bruch's evergreen First Violin Concerto. We've been enjoying his new disc of this repertoire in the office for several weeks now, so thought it was high time we caught up with him to find out a little more…

Aside from the Spanish connection between the Lalo and the Sarasate (and the sheer popularity of all three works), was there any other particular reason for bringing these three pieces together?

Yes! I love them and I’ve been playing them since I was 12 years old. It felt natural to come back to these pieces being 40 years old!

Speaking of that Spanish/gypsy connection, do you detect any similar influences in the Bruch concerto?

You can definitely feel the "violonistic" influence on these three pieces. Simply the fact that Bruch and Lalo admired Sarasate as a virtuoso so much, it shows certain similarities in the way it is written for the violin.

Given the gypsy influence in the Sarasate in particular, do you go down the road of incorporating any stylistic elements from the folk tradition when you approach this piece, or do you feel that's already written into the score to such an extent that there's no real need to modify your technique?

In general, I try to respect the indications and to serve the composer as much as I can. As an interpreter, you have to be yourself, of course, but always serving the composer!

Did any (or all!) or these works play a special role in your development as a musician or your career-path? How long have they been in your repertoire, and how has your approach to them altered over the years?

I played Bruch a lot, and Lalo much less. Sarasate… I played it with an orchestra for the first time… the day of the recording! And it was so exciting!

Finally, these three works must be among the best-loved compositions for violin and orchestra in the entire repertoire - what is it, do you think, that makes the first Bruch Concerto so much more popular than its successors, or the Lalo so much more frequently performed than his Violin Concerto?

There are pieces which are "winners", like some theatre pieces or books. You can't really explain it: it’s just inspiration and genius!