String Sextet No. 2, Op. 36 by Johannes BRAHMS

Renaud Capuçon — violin
Aki Saulière — viola
Gérard Caussé — viola
Béatrice Muthelet — viola
Gautier Capuçon — cello
Clemens Hagen — cello

At the 2010 Bel-Air Chamber Music Festival, Renaud and Gautier Capuçon, accompanied by Aki Saulière, Gérard Caussé and Béatrice Muthelet on viola and Clemens Hagen on cello, perform Brahms' Sextet No. 2, Op. 36.

Founded by Renaud Capuçon, the Festival de Bel Air brings together the great names in classical music in a convivial atmosphere every year, while also giving young musicians a chance. Both artistic director and performer, Renaud Capuçon shares his passion for chamber music with guest musicians and audiences alike.

For this ‘Métamorphoses’ concert, they perform Brahms's String Sextet No. 2 in G major, Op. 36, which, along with the String Sextet No. 1 he composed a few years earlier, are benchmarks in the sextet repertoire. But beyond the originality of the work lie other secrets... One of the composer's two loves is revealed in the sequence of notes la-sol-la-si-mi - which in German is A-G-A-H-E - none other than the figure of Agathe von Siebold, with whom Brahms had a passionate love affair and was once engaged.