Brahms: The 2 Cello Sonatas Raphaël Perraud & Geoffroy Couteau

• Johannes Brahms (1833 - 1897): Cello Sonata No. 1 in E Minor, Op. 38:
• 1 Cello Sonata No. 1 in E Minor, Op. 38: I. Allegro non troppo 14:04
• 2 Cello Sonata No. 1 in E Minor, Op. 38: II. Allegretto quasi menuetto 05:22
• 3 Cello Sonata No. 1 in E Minor, Op. 38: III. Allegro – Più presto 06:21
• Cello Sonata No. 2 in F Major, Op. 99:
• 4 Cello Sonata No. 2 in F Major, Op. 99: I. Allegro vivace 08:51
• 5 Cello Sonata No. 2 in F Major, Op. 99: II. Adagio affettuoso 05:58
• 6 Cello Sonata No. 2 in F Major, Op. 99: III. Allegro passionato 07:05
• 7 Cello Sonata No. 2 in F Major, Op. 99: IV. Allegro molto 04:14
• Total Runtime 51:55

Info for Brahms: The 2 Cello Sonatas

"The two sonatas for cello and piano constitute works of great significance in Brahms’s output. Powerfully lyrical, a realm of pure interiority, they provide a glimpse of his youthful period as well as his high maturity. These summits of chamber music, with their protean humanity, call for complementarity and osmosis on the part of their interpreters. Raphaël Perraud and Geoffroy Couteau establish a skilfully matured balance. Gentleness and impetuosity, melancholy and frenzy, meditation and elation are combined in inflections of eloquent spontaneity. The fantastical aspect of this epic combat between cello and piano never ceases to gain in profundity and lyricism in the course of their performances."

Geoffroy Couteau, piano
Raphael Perraud, cello

Raphael Perraud
Stemming from musicians’ family, Raphaël Perraud begins the study of the cello at the age of five to the Academy of Valencia(Valence). He enters at the age of 16 the Higher National Conservatory for Music of Paris in the class of Jean-Marie Gamard. He emerges three years later with a first prize of cello and a first prize of chamber music.

He follows then a cycle of improvement to the Higher National Conservatory for Music of Lyon in the class of Yvan Chiffoleau and follows Master’s degrees classes with Janos Starker, Roland Pidoux, Siegfried Palm.

Prize-winner of several international competitions, he takes away(gains) in 1994 the international competition(help) "Prague Spring" as well as three special prices(prizes): the price(prize) of interpretation(performance) of the work Contemporary, the price(prize) of the foundation "Prague Spring" as well as the gift(donation) of a cello. The same year, he(it) is recruited by Marek Janowski at the post of the second solo cello of the philharmonic orchestra of Radio France.

He was the assistant of Jean-Marie Gamard to the Higher National Conservatory for Music of Paris.

Since then, he(it) already occurred in soloist with the Orchestre National de France, the Symphony orchestra of Mulhouse, the Chamber orchestra of Toulouse, the Philharmonic orchestra of the Radio of Prague, the Philharmonic orchestra of Pardubice, the Josef Suk chamber orchestra, the Philharmonic orchestra of Brno with whom he(it) interpreted the concertos of Haydn, Dvoràk, St Saëns, Strauss, Brahms, Schostakovitch, Lalo.

Excellent chamber-music player, he(it) participates in numerous festivals beside, Nicolas Dautricourt, Lise Bertaud, Svetlin Roussef, Deborah Nemtanu, Régis Pasquier, Eric Lesage, Elena Rozanova, Daishin Kashimoto, Georges Pludermacher...

Member(Limb) of the Quartet Renoir during five years, he(it) went (South-East Asia, Canada, Spain) and obtained the price(prize) of the Ministry of Culture in 2003 in the international competition(help) of string quartet of Bordeaux. We were so able to hear(understand) him(it) in numerous prestigious rooms: Théâtre des Champs Elysées, Théâtre du Châtelet, Room Chopin Pleyel, the Shadowing(Spinning) in Mulhouse, Big theater of Bordeaux, Rudolfinum of Prague, Opera of Shanghai.

Among his(her,its) recordings, we can quote Claude Debussy’s sonata with Laurent Wagshal in the piano, as well as three stanzas on the name of Sacher d’ Henri Dutilleux registered(recorded) in the presence of Master(Teacher) within the framework of the festival " autumn sonatas ". He(it) plans to register(record) both Gabriel Fauré’s sonatas.

In 2005, under the presidency(chair) of Kurt Masur, him(it) in summer named(appointed) cello great soloist of the Orchestre National de France.

In 2017 release of the album "Harpeggione" ( Skarbo), recorded with harpist Nicolas Tulliez. In January 2019, Raphaël Perraud will perform the Lalo cello concerto with the Orchestre National de France conducted by Thomas Søndergård.

Geoffroy Couteau
is a profound and sincere artist. He has been acclaimed repeatedly for his dense, rich playing, his wholeheartedness, and his risk-taking. For him, performance is the fulfillment of musical work, the fruition of a rich and complex process. It is assuredly the reason for this unique mode of expression and this unusual presence. He was awarded first prize in the International Johannes Brahms competition in 2005. His first recording, of Brahms’s final works, earned him a number of honors: “ffff” from Telerama, 4 stars from Le Monde de la Musique, 5 tuning forks, etc. Since its release, he has been playing in prestigious venues such as the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, the Forbidden City Concert Hall in Beijing, The National Museum of Fine Arts in Rio de Janeiro, the Auditorium of the Musée d’Orsay, the Maison de la Radio, the Théâtre de l’Athénée, the Théâtre Mogador, the Salle Gaveau, The Amphitheater at the Bastille Opera House, etc. He was guest soloist with the Bangkok Symphony Orchestra in Thailand for Chopin’s First Concerto, and he has been invited to play in various festivals such as the “Piano aux Jacobins” Festival in Toulouse, the Chopin Festival in Bagatelle, the Chopin Festival in Nohant, the Lilles Piano Festival, the New Soloist Festival at the Serres d’Auteuil, the Epau Festival, the “French May” in Hong-Kong, etc. He is a frequent guest on several radio programs on France Musique, and on television programs like Mezzo and Direct 8. He was unanimously accepted to begin a course of studies at the Higher National Music Conservatory in Paris in the class of Michel Béroff, Denis Pascal, and Eric Le Sage. In 2002, he received the conservatory’s diploma of advanced formation with highest honors, fist in his class by a unanimous vote, and with the special Daniel Magne award. That same year he began the advanced proficiency course in piano under the direction of Michel Béroff, Marie-Françoise Bucquet, and Nicholas Angelich. He also studied chamber music with Jean Mouillère and Christian Ivaldi, and was awarded highest honors. He has participated in a number of master classes from renowned musicians such as Dmitri Bashkirov, Christoph Eschenbach, and Leon Fleisher. He has, moreover, been awarded grants from the Cziffra Foundation, the Concertante Foundation, the Mécénat Musical Société Générale, the Série Déclic– Culture France, and the Nadia et Lili Boulanger Foundation.