 Premier enregistrement du violoncelliste Bryan Cheng (19 ans) et de sa sœur pianiste Silvie (25 ans), qui font fureur au Canada - leur pays d'adoption -, ont déjà remporté de nombreux prix et mènent aussi, en dehors du Cheng 2 Duo, chacun une brillante carrière. La sonate de Debussy est la pièce maîtresse de ce disque. Les deux prodiges en donnent une interprétation très claire, très construite, très poétique. Si la partie agitato du 1er mouvement n'est pas aussi impérieuse et dense que dans la version légendaire de Britten/Rostropovitch, elle est néanmoins fort bien menée. Le deuxième mouvement (Sérénade) est proprement sublime. Les deux interprètes en font ressortir et en magnifient la modernité par une lecture analytique étonnante, décapante et subtile. Finale enlevé, incisif, dans lequel le violoncelle déploie une palette sonore d'une grande richesse. On peut s'étonner de la place faite dans ce CD à des transcriptions, alors que le répertoire pour violoncelle et piano est si riche au XIX et XXe siècles. Mais après tout, la transcription de la sonate de Franck date du vivant du compositeur et fut approuvée par lui. Et le remplacement de la voix humaine par le violoncelle dans "Après un rêve" - mélodie de Fauré - fait, par ricochet, sentir combien les deux autres œuvres écrites pour violoncelle et piano (l'Élégie op. 24 et la Sicilienne op.78 - réduction faite par Fauré lui-même d'un mouvement de sa suite orchestrale Pélléas et Mélisande, op. 80) sont par leur texture même proche de la mélodie chantée. Un premier disque extrêmement prometteur. (Bertrand Abraham) A young duo introduces itself. The interpretations of Cheng2 Duo are steeped in a rare balance of unfiltered youthful joy and enthusiasm in their playing on one hand, and mature, historically informed, and profound interpretations on the other, commanding attention from the very first note. Bryan and Silvie Cheng are brother and sister; he is a cellist, she a pianist, and together they are the Cheng² Duo (pronounced Cheng Squared Duo), now presenting their debut CD with audite. These two Canadian artists are children of Chinese immigrants: she was born in Tokyo, he in Ottawa; today, he lives in Berlin, she in New York – cosmopolitans, therefore, with a diverse cultural background. Both are young, barely or around twenty years of age: audite’s youngest artists to date, which also reflects the label’s strong commitment to its performers. This debut CD marks the beginning of an audite recording series featuring Cheng² Duo. A further recording of Spanish works for cello and piano is already being planned. This first disc makes the panorama of French chamber music written between the 1860s and the 1910s come alive in all its diversity: from multiple-movement works whose composers mainly drew on Beethoven and the German romantic composers, through to character pieces which formed part of the repertoire performed in sophisticated salons. Principal trends, some of which were devoted to one another by way of trenchant polemics, are represented by works of César Franck, Camille Saint-Saëns and his student Gabriel Fauré, as well as Claude Debussy. This release features two additional tracks, excerpts of Louis Francoeur’s Sonata in E major in arrangements by Jean-Delphin Alard and Arnold Trowell, which are available as download. The performers have not only proved an instant success as Cheng2 Duo – stepping in at short notice at Carnegie Hall and impressing both the audience and the promoter to the extent that they were immediately re-invited – but have also won renowned awards as soloists, each in their own right.
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