Renaud Capuçon / Martha Argerich – Beethoven / Schumann / Franck (UHQCD)

Violinist Renaud Capuçon and pianist Martha Argerich have been delighting audiences in international concert halls as a duo for 20 years. This release of the recording from the Easter Festival in Aix-en-Provence in April 2022 includes three of the most beautiful sonatas for violin and piano: Schumann’s „Sonata No. 1 op. 105,” Beethoven’s „Sonata No. 9 op. 47,” and Franck’s „Sonata for Violin and Piano in A Major.”

The two musicians met 30 years ago at a concert of the European Union Youth Orchestra, where Capuçon, then 16, accompanied Argerich, 35 years his senior. A long musical and personal friendship developed, which is reflected in their familiar, fine playing.

UHQCD stands for Ultimate High Quality Compact Disc and is a joint development of the Japanese CD replication company Memory-Tech and the Audio Quality CD Company from Hong Kong. Unlike conventional CDs, UHQCDs are not pressed from polycarbonate, but cast from a photopolymer and cured with UV light. Another layer of high-purity polycarbonate is applied to the softer photopolymer for scratch protection. The combination results in significantly reduced reflection of laser light inside the CD and an unmatched precise edge transition between pits and lands of the CD. UHQCDs are 100% compatible with standard CD players. Musically, the result is a sound image strongly reminiscent of analog master tapes.

While Universal Music Japan’s first UHQCD series relied on the DSD data of previous SHM-SACD releases, with increasing popularity, albums that had not previously been released as SHM-SACD are now appearing. Typically, the Universal Archive master tapes are re-converted to DSD for this purpose. UHQCDs are ideal for music lovers who want to get as close as possible to the sound of the recording, but do not own an SACD player.

Lista pieselor

Robert Schumann

Violin Sonata No. 1 in A Minor, Op. 105

1. Mit leidenschaftlichem Ausdruck

2. Allegretto

3. Lebhaft

Ludwig van Beethoven

Violin Sonata No. 9 in A major „Kreutzer”, op. 47

4. Adagio sostenuto – Presto

5. Andante con variazioni

6. Finale Presto

César Franck

Violin Sonata in A major, Fwv 8

7. Allegretto ben moderato

8. Allegro

9. Recitativo – Fantasia. Ben moderato – Molto lento – A tempo moderato

10. Allegretto poco mosso