María Dueñas, Wiener Symphoniker, Manfred Honeck - Beethoven and Beyond (2023)

Anyone who aspires to a professional career as a violinist must eventually reckon with Beethoven's Violin Concerto. This exacting instrumental jewel demands not only technical mastery, but also an extraordinary sense of lyricism and emotion from those who seek to make it their own. It is not surprising that, over the centuries, famous virtuosos have never stopped reimagining and recording this masterpiece in order to pass it on to posterity: Fritz Kreisler, Isaac Stern, Itzhak Perlman, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Isabelle Faust… Now, it is in their footsteps - rather intimidatingly, let's admit - that a new, irresistibly charismatic voice has now arrived.

Only 20 years old, María Dueñas possesses the talent and radiance of a long-standing virtuoso. She grew up in Granada and studied in Dresden and Vienna with Boris Kuschnir. Her first major success came in 2021, when she won first prize in the prestigious Yehudi Menuhin Competition. That same year, she attracted the attention of Deutsche Grammophon, with whom she soon signed a contract. It was with this label that she presented her first album, Beethoven and Beyond.

"Beethoven's Violin Concerto has been with me at the most important moments of my life," says María, for whom it seems only natural to dedicate the first chapter of her discography to this work. She had the chance to record her œuvre with Manfred Honeck and the Vienna Symphony at the beginning of 2023, during a concert held in a hall with a rich history: the Vienna Music Hall - a 'home' debut, as it were. But how to stand out from the crowd? "With the Beethoven concerto, you can't show off your virtuosity, only yourself. And only sound can reveal it.”

It was precisely this sound that convinced us! But that's not all: to really add her own touch to the work, María composed her own cadenzas. The album also includes cadenzas by five other famous virtuosos (Louis Spohr, Eugène Ysaÿe, Camille Saint-Saëns, Henryk Wieniawski and Fritz Kreisler) as well as works for violin and orchestra by each of these composers. María takes up the Concerto with a unique sincerity and authenticity and manages to shed a new light on Beethoven, that of her own time. Let us be the first to warn you; instead of Beethoven and Beyond, there will soon be María Dueñas and Beyond. No doubt about it, this is a Qobuzissime!

TRACKLIST

1. María Dueñas - I. Allegro ma non troppo (Cadenza: Dueñas)
2. María Dueñas - II. Larghetto (Cadenza: Dueñas)
3. María Dueñas - III. Rondo. Allegro (Cadenza: Dueñas)
4. María Dueñas - II. Adagio
5. María Dueñas - Ysaÿe: Berceuse, Op. 20
6. María Dueñas - Saint-Saëns: Havanaise, Op. 83, R. 202
7. María Dueñas - Wieniawski: Légende, Op. 17
8. María Dueñas - No. 2, Liebesleid (Transcr. for Violin and Orchestra)
9. María Dueñas - Spohr: Cadenza (to Beethoven: Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 61: I. Allegro ma non troppo)
10. María Dueñas - Ysaÿe: Cadenza (to Beethoven: Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 61: I. Allegro ma non troppo)
11. María Dueñas - Saint-Saëns: Cadenza (to Beethoven: Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 61: I. Allegro ma non troppo)
12. María Dueñas - Wieniawski: Cadenza (to Beethoven: Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 61: I. Allegro ma non troppo)
13. María Dueñas - Kreisler: Cadenza (to Beethoven: Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 61: I. Allegro ma non troppo)