Ravinia 2019, Issue 4, Week 8

of the Union of Soviet Composers, “ended very badly” for Shostakovich, who was forced to en- dure official censure. Shostakovich created his Cello Sonata in D mi- nor, op. 40, immediately after Lady Macbeth ’s initial triumph. Composition proceeded rapid- ly: beginning on August 15, he completed the first movement in two days and finished the entire sonata by September 19. Cellist Viktor Kubatsky joined the composer for the world premiere on December 25, 1934, at Malyi Hall in the Leningrad Conservatory. This four-movement sonata communicates in an easily accessible style. Melancholy tinges the sweeping melodic lines of the Allegro non trop- po . The scherzo-like second movement displays a wryness—identifiably Shostakovich—in the weaving cello ostinatos and the piano’s treble octaves. Cello glissandos offer contrast in the middle section. An intense, unrelenting despair dominates the elegiac Largo , a melancholy that Shostakovich drives away with the lighthearted finale. –Program notes © 2019 Todd E. Sullivan GAUTIER CAPUÇON, cello Born in Chambéry in eastern France, Gautier Capuçon has been playing the cello since the age of 5. Following studies with Philippe Muller and Annie Cochet-Zakine at the Paris Conservato- ry and with Heinrich Schiff in Vienna, he has developed numerous long-standing artistic rela- tionships. Capuçon is regularly invited to guest with the world’s leading orchestras, including the Berlin, Vienna, Los Angeles, and New York Philharmonics and the Chicago, London, and San Francisco Symphonies, and he has also col- laborated with contemporary composers Lera Auerbach, Karol Beffa, Esteban Benzecry, Nico- la Campogrande, Qigang Chen, Jerome Ducros, Henry Dutilleux, Thierry Escaich, Philippe Ma- noury, Bruno Mantovani, Krzysztof Penderecki, Wolfgang Rihm, and Jörg Widmann, among others. As a chamber musician, he regularly tours festivals and concert halls with such part- ners as Nicholas Angelich, Martha Argerich, Daniel Barenboim, Lisa Batiashvili, Frank Bra- ley, Renaud Capuçon, Jérome Ducros, Katia and Marielle Labèque, Menahem Pressler, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, and the Artemis and Ébène Quar- tets. In addition to being an artist in residence with the Orquesta de Valencia, this past season has seen Capuçon premiere Dubugnon’s Eros Athanatos alongside Thibaudet—a concerto for cello and piano written for the duo—with the West Australia, Antwerp, and WDR Symphony Orchestras and Radio France Philharmonic. He also embarked on a piano trio tour with Thi- baudet and Lisa Batiashvili across Europe and performed recitals with Frank Braley, Gabrie- la Montero, Thibaudet, and Yuja Wang at such venues as Carnegie Hall, Walt Disney Hall, Fes- tival d’Aix-en-Provence, and Vienna’s Musikv- erein. Capuçon records exclusively for the Erato label and has earned multiple awards with his discography. His latest album, released in Jan- uary, is devoted to Schumann, featuring the Cello Concerto with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe and chamber works with Argerich. He has also recorded Shostakovich’s concertos with the Mariinsky Orchestra, Beethoven’s complete sonatas with Braley, and Schubert’s quintet with the Ébène Quartet. Gautier Capuçon is making his Ravinia debut. JEAN-YVES THIBAUDET, piano Born in Lyon, France, Jean-Yves Thibaudet gave his first public performance just two years af- ter beginning piano studies at age 5. At age 12 he entered the Paris Conservatory, studying with Aldo Ciccolini and Lucette Descaves, a friend and collaborator to Ravel. Three years later Thibaudet won the conservatory’s top per- forming prize and went on to earn several top competition honors, including the Young Con- cert Artists Auditions in New York at age 18. In 2001 he was made a Knight of France’s Order of Arts and Letters—in 2012 he was promoted to the grade of Officer—and France’s Ministry of Culture awarded Thibaudet a lifetime achieve- ment award in 2007. He was inducted into the Hollywood Bowl Hall of Fame in 2010. A pre- mier interpreter of Bernstein’s “Age of Anxiety” Symphony for orchestra and piano, Thibaudet recently released an acclaimed recording with Marin Alsop and the Baltimore Symphony Or- chestra, with whom he performed it at the BBC Proms this past season; he also essayed the work with the Los Angeles and Brussels Philharmon- ics and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra for the composer’s centennial . Thibaudet became the Colburn School’s first resident artist in 2018 and is collaborating with its music academy on mer- it scholarships for the next three years. He has also renewed long-standing music partnerships in recital tours over the past year, including a duo with Midori and trios with Lisa Batiashvili and Gautier Capuçon as well as brothers Renaud and Gautier Capuçon. With Gautier, he’s also toured the premiere of Richard Dubugnon’s Eros Athanatos for cello, piano, and orchestra, and with Carnegie Hall’s National Youth Orchestra he toured Taiwan, China, and South Korea. Thi- baudet has appeared on more than 50 record- ings, and his personal discography has earned the German Record Critics’ Prize, France’s Dia- pason d’Or and Choc du Monde de la Musique, a Gramophone Award, and the Edison Prize, as well as two Grammy Award nominations. To- night Jean-Yves Thibaudet continues his sixth season at Ravinia, where he first performed in 1991. Dmitri Shostakovich RAVINIA MAGAZINE | JULY 22 – JULY 28, 2019 92