Zoltán Kodály’s violin-cello Duo, composed in 1914, is one of the outstanding works of 20th-century chamber music. Born in an era that was transformative both historically and personally, this work deeply intertwines a bold search for formal innovation with a commitment to the Central European—and primarily Hungarian—folk music tradition.

The two instruments are presented as equals: the dense, often contrapuntal texture and the high degree of virtuosity frequently create the illusion of a larger ensemble. Double stops, pizzicatos, distinctive rhythms, and extended playing techniques create an exceptionally rich sonic world, while the intensity of the musical discourse remains taut and elemental throughout.

Maurice Ravel: Sonata for Violin and Cello, M.73 (1922)
The American musicologist John Henken—former director of artistic planning and publications for the Los Angeles Philharmonic (LA Phil)—writes in his review of Ravel’s Sonata for Violin and Cello: „Ravel apparently knew Kodály’s 1914 Duo for violin and cello (and at its premiere in April 1922, Ravel’s Sonata was also labelled Duo) and there are clear intimations of Kodály and Bartók and Hungarian folk music in the pungent dissonances and virtuosic verve of Ravel’s music.”

In 1921–1922 – while working on his stage piece L’Enfant et les Sortilèges – Ravel composed his Duo for violin and cello, which he later renamed the Sonata. This composition represented a long process of work, revision, and experimentation for him, marking – as he writes in his Autobiographical Sketches – a turning point in his career: ‘Simplified to the extreme. A renunciation of the magic of harmony; in contrast, the ever-increasing importance of melody.’

Virginie Robilliard – violin
Péter Szabó – cello