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French pianist Geoffroy Couteau moves with sovereign ease from one mood to another in these works, bringing out their vividly contrasting colours and emotions in perfect unison with his attentive partners.
The clarinet sonatas mark the end of Brahms’s output of chamber music and perhaps its peak; their gentleness and tenderness combine gracefully with the twilight glow that emanates from these pieces, showing a disarming simplicity close to Mozart. The Horn Trio, on the other hand, expresses the ardour and energy of a composer in his early thirties and at the height of his artistic powers.
Brahms has always fascinated Geoffroy Couteau. After winning First Prize at the International Johannes Brahms Competition in 2005, he went on to record the composer’s complete solo piano works for La Dolce Volta. The specialist press unanimously acknowledged this extraordinary discographical venture by categorising it among the finest recordings of the year 2016.
Geoffroy Couteau has appeared in some of the world’s most prestigious venues, including the Main Auditorium of the Forbidden City Concert Hall in Beijing, the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, the Cidade das Artes in Rio de Janeiro, the Auditorium of the Musée d’Orsay, the Philharmonie de Paris, the Maison de Radio France, the Salle Gaveau and the Grand Théâtre de Bordeaux.
He is a regular guest at such festivals as Piano aux Jacobins, Menton, Saintes, Radio France-Montpellier, Lille Piano Festival, L’Esprit du Piano in Bordeaux, the Printemps des Arts de Monte-Carlo, Piano en Valois, the Chopin festivals of Nohant and Bagatelle, the Festival Messiaen au Pays de la Meije, and the Eygalières Festival.
Geoffroy Couteau had a dazzlingly successful career at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris, where he studied with Michel Béroff.
He is now artist in residence at L’Arsenal de Metz, a fertile collaboration that showcases his musical qualities.
Nicolas Baldeyrou is one of the most talented clarinettists of his generation. Successively principal clarinet of the European Union Youth Orchestra, where he played under Bernard Haitink, Carlo Maria Giulini and Sir Colin Davis, Claudio Abbado’s Mahler Chamber Orchestra, and the Orchestre National de France conducted by Kurt Masur, he now dedicates himself to a triple career as soloist, teacher and orchestral musician – in 2011 he was appointed principal clarinet with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France (principal conductor Myung-Whun Chung, now Mikko Franck). He has also taught at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et Danse de Lyon since 2006.
Nicolas Baldeyrou is actively involved in the music of his time. Moreover, his passion for exploring new repertories and his concern for authenticity in his interpretations have naturally led him to take an interest in historical clarinets.
Since 2004, he has also been a tester for the wind instrument manufacturer Buffet-Crampon, thereby contributing to the development of the instrument and the influence of the French school throughout the world.
Hailed by The Strad as an ‘exceptionally sensitive and poetic’ musician, the French violinist Amaury Coeytaux has won universal praise for his profound interpretations filled with artistic grace and sensibility. An established soloist and chamber musician, he has carved out a unique niche as one of the most multi-talented and versatile artists across the globe.
Alongside his career as a soloist, Amaury Coeytaux was leader of the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France from 2012 to 2017, having occupied the same post with the Orchestre d’Auvergne from 2008 to 2012. The dual role of concertmaster and soloist has led him to direct many concerts from the leader’s desk, and he continues to combine conducting and performing in his current engagements.
In 2016 he joined the Quatuor Modigliani as first violin. The quartet’s established career on the international scene has led to invitations to perform in some of the foremost concert venues around the world. He performs on a 1773 Guadagnini violin.
After studying at the Conservatoire de Rayonnement Régional in Limoges and winning the Prix d’Honneur of the Royaume de la Musique competition (1993), Antoine Dreyfuss entered André Cazalet’s class at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique (CNSM) de Paris in 1994. He was awarded a Premier Prix by unanimous decision of the jury in 1998, alongside a Premier Prix in chamber music in the class of Jens McManama.
In the same year, he became principal horn of the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France. He also pursues a career in chamber music as a member of the Turbulences brass quintet and the Sextuor Alfred de Vigny (natural horn sextet), having previously played in the Ensemble à Vent Paris-Bastille. He appears regularly in France and abroad, in such venues as the Berlin Philharmonie, the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Wigmore Hall, the Auditorium du Louvre and the Villa Medici. Having taught at the CNSM de Lyon from 2013 to 2018, he now devotes himself exclusively to his vocation as a performer. He takes a keen interest in contemporary music and has participated in numerous premiere performances, notably with the ensembles L’Itinéraire and Court-Circuit. He is also a passionate exponent of period instruments, playing with La Chambre Philharmonique (Emmanuel Krivine), the Orchestre des Champs-Élysées (Philippe Herreweghe) and Les Dissonances (David Grimal).
