Barnabas Kelemen, Natalie Clein, Katya Apekisheva

Hungarian virtuoso Barnabás Kelemen joins Natalie Clein in the two greatest duos of the 20th century: Kodály’s wildly expressive rhapsody, driven by an earthy energy and dance rhythms, was written in 1914. Ravel’s own duo, written four years later in 1918, bears the scars of his wartime experience, and the loss of so many friends.

Dedicated to Debussy, he described its tautly vital music as being ‘stripped down to the bare bones’. Haydn’s rollicking Gypsy Rondo trio prefaces the Ravel, while Bartók’s viscerally exciting Romanian Folk Dances form a natural prelude to the Kodály.