Viktoria Mullova & Katia Labeque – Recital

The first collaboration on record of long-time recital partners Viktoria Mullova and Katia Labèque. Ranging from the Schubert Fantasy of 1827 to Stravinsky s 1933 Suite Italienne, this fascinating programme spans a tremendously exciting 100 years, in which music changed radically, rapidly and irreversibly.

These works demonstrate the massive alterations wrought in those years; the contrast between the Romanticism of Schubert and Clara Schumann, and the innovation of Ravel and Stravinsky. Yet Stravinsky’s use of Baroque music and Ravel’s appropriation of jazz show that the 20th century embraced diverse influences, including those of the past. Viktoria Mullova and Katia Labèque have played this recital together many times, and, as is clear from this recording, relish each composer’s distinctive approach to writing for violin and piano. 5 stars “[A] marvellous new disc from Viktoria Mullova and Katia Labeque. They have been performing together regularly for years, and this disc has the feel of a genuine recital, a true partnership. The hushed opening of Schubert’s Fantasie is magical, with the early mist gradually clearing for a journey full of genial joie de vivre. Mullova’s slides in Ravel’s Sonata, captured in fine sound, have the fluidity and freedom that can only be achieved when understanding between violinist and pianist runs deep, while the pacing of the Perpetuum mobile is masterly…Clara Schumann’s Romanze is a sublime postlude to an imaginative and enjoyable disc” -BBC Music Magazine, JAN 2007