Jean Samuel Bez & Gina Kruger

Performers

Notes on the performers

The violinist Jean-Samuel Bez is a member of the Trio Spilliaert (Be) with whom he has produced the complete trios of the composer Désiré Pâque (2021, Cyprès). He has also formed a duet with the Canadian pianist Jean-Luc Therrien. Their first CD ”Fantaisies” (Klarthe) came out in 2022.

Familiar with non-classical musics, he would join in the tours of the Icelandic band Arstiðir. He gets intensely invested in the field of the contemporary creation and enjoys getting off the beaten path.

The laureate of numerous prizes and international competitions, he has had Igor Volochine, Véronique Bogaerts as masters, then Michael Frischenschlager at the Universität für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Vienna. Nowadays he gives more than 100 concerts a year throughout the world

Gina completed a post-graduate diploma at the Royal Academy of Music in 2002. She is currently tutoring at Morley College London, and is organist at St Mary’s Church, Tottenham.

Programme

Programme notes

Maurice Ravel

Violin Sonata No. 1 “Posthume”

The Violin and Piano Sonata No. 1 by Maurice Ravel, known also as Sonate posthume, is the composer’s earliest instance of a sonata for this combination of instruments. Though it was composed 30 years before the publication of his second violin sonata, it was not published until 38 years after his death.

Source: Wikipedia

Mel Bonis

Violin Sonata in F sharp minor, Op. 112

1. Moderato
2. Presto
3. Lento
4. Finale con moto

The 1914 Violin Sonata by Mel Bonis (1858–1937) is one of the hidden gems of the violin and piano repertoire. It’s an intoxicating work, full of sumptuous waves of emotion and romance. Audiences seem to respond to it in a visceral way, and it’s written beautifully for the violin: there are some tricky technical odds and ends, but it allows you to soar, fly and whisper with the instrument.

Source: Elena Urioste

Maurice Ravel

Violin Sonata No. 2

1. Allegretto
2. Blues. Moderato
3. Perpetuum mobile. Allegro

Maurice Ravel’s Violin and Piano Sonata No. 2 for violin and piano was composed from 1923 to 1927; it was inspired by forms of American music such as jazz and blues.

This work was the only violin and piano sonata published during Ravel’s lifetime; the existence of the Violin Sonata No. 1 (Ravel) only came to be known long after Ravel’s death. For that reason this sonata was, and still often is called Ravel’s “Violin and Piano Sonata” without numbering.

Source: Wikipedia