Franz Joseph Strauss:
Fantaisie from Schubert Sehnsuchtswalzer, Op. 2

Robert Schumann:
Adagio & Allegro in Ab Major, Op. 70

Ludwig van Beethoven:
Sonate in F Major, Op. 17

Richard Strauss:
Introduction Theme & Var. in Eb Major, AV52

Camille Saint-Saëns:
Romance in E to Henri Chaussier, Op. 67

Gioachino Rossini:
Prelude, Theme & Variations

On this CD Hervé Joulain and Silke Avenhaus offer a romantic journey through the 19th century. If there are instruments that have left their mark on Romantic music, they are not to be found elsewhere than in the horn and piano. The horn with the invention of the valves in the 19th century offering chromaticism thus helping the horn to sing like any other instrument, and the modern piano, which appeared at the end of Beethoven’s life, with its double escapement keyboard that allows rapid note repetition and therefore more virtuoso playing. This precisely made it possible to express all the feelings that Romantic music demands of them.

The modernity of the piano is obvious from the earliest piece of this CD, Sonate op. 17 of Beethoven which seems to have been written exclusively for this new piano and whose horn part only answers the call. The second move reverses the roles and the expressiveness of the horn is solicited in this sort of slow march which, in this duet between Hervé Joulain and Silke Avenhaus, prefigures what this romantic journey will look like. The piano announces, supports, anticipates, responds, blends in or stands out and, above all, remains the inseparable partner of this common expression of desire. What could possibly be more romantic…? ESSENTIALS! Brings together the quintessence of the composers who, during the 19th century, contributed to the novelties of the horn and piano, as the discovery or rediscovery of each masterpiece of this album attests too.