Sentimental Work: Renaud Capuçon

Brahms is the central composer in my life. I love his Violin Concerto and all the chamber music, which I’ve played many times, but the piece that first got me interested in him was the First Violin Sonata. I first heard it on a recording when I was very young; I can remember that it felt like listening to poetry from the very first note to the end. When I was twelve years old I persuaded my teacher Veda Reynolds to let me learn the first movement. She told me how difficult it was, but a week later I played it for her, and asked ‘If I wanted to perform it this summer, what would it need?’ She looked at me with big eyes and said: ‘Time.’ Whenever I’ve played it in the past three decades, I’ve remembered what she said, and I think it always gets a little better because I’ve developed a little bit more – and I think I’m finally beginning to understand what’s happening in the piece!

‘The First Sonata has always been at the centre of my musical life’: Renaud Capuçon

At that age, most young players want to learn the Third Sonata as it’s much more of a virtuosic showpiece. For me, though, it was the lyrical theme of the first movement that captivated me, like listening to a lied – as so often in Brahms, it has incredibly simple melodies that instantly make you feel better. Unlike the Third, it never allows you to show off. If you try, you’ll be found out immediately. That said, you can always hear the soul of the player shine through: you can tell the way they produce the sound, how they’re reacting, and how they’re following the lines of the piece. There are only a few works, such as Beethoven’s Violin Concerto, that have this quality. It shows that we’re there to serve the composer, not to put our own ego front and centre. And if it were possible, I’d make it illegal to play it that way!…