

And when you play and conduct, as on my ‘live’ recording of Vivaldi and Saint-Georges, it is especially rewarding. I wouldn’t say conducting gives you more sensations than when you play an instrument, but it gives you different sensations. “It’s such a bracing experience to be working with other musicians, with you at the centre of the music. “It feels like an entirely natural development for me,” he enthuses. Capuçon recently “caught the conducting bug” with performances of Mendelssohn’s “Scottish” and Prokofiev’s “Classical” symphonies, and now there’s simply no stopping him. It also provided a perfect opportunity to direct from the violin. The Four Seasons is Baroque rock ’n’ roll, but in a good way!” Then I had the opportunity to perform it with the Lausanne Chamber Orchestra, and I literally fell in love with this incredible, phenomenal music. “I played it a couple of times in my mid-twenties,” he tells Apple Music, “but then it seemed to be everywhere-on the Paris Métro, on the phone. That’s why it’s taken a little while to get around to Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons. He waits until the time is right, and then gives it “110 per cent”. For French violin supremo Renaud Capuçon, every recording is a special event.
