How do you mostly listen to music?
Most of the time in my head! And sometimes at home, especially on vinyl records. I love the vinyl sound. The revival in recent years is really exciting.
What was the first ever record or CD you bought?
My first ever CD was Gidon Kremer and Valery Afanassiev playing the three Brahms violin sonatas and the Busoni sonata. What an inspiring record.
What was the last piece of music you bought?
Lindberg’s Violin Concerto.
What’s your musical guilty pleasure?
Watching and listening (and singing along to) The Sound of Music with my five-year-old son, Elliott. These are the kind of little moments that stay with you forever.
If you found yourself with six months free to learn a new instrument, what would you choose?
I would go back to university to study literature. Does that count?
Is applauding between movements acceptable?
Absolutely. It’s always really encouraging and satisfying because it confirms that we have new music lovers in the audience.
What’s been your most memorable live music experience as an audience member?
A Schumann fantasie by Murray Perahia in Budapest in the 90s, and in 1995 Mahler’s Symphony No 3 in Berlin with Claudio Abbado and the Berlin Philharmonic. Two evenings of musical magic I will always treasure.
We’re giving you a time machine: what period or moment in musical history would you travel to and why?
I would love to go back and live at the end of the 19th century in Vienna, an incredible time for music and the arts.
Which conductor or performer of yesteryear do you most wish you could have worked with?
There are a few: Bruno Walter, Julius Katchen, Clara Haskil, the wonderful Jacqueline du Pré and the legendary Pablo Casals.
Which non-classical musician would you love to work with?
That’s very easy, Woody Allen. Because he is a total genius.
Imagine you’re a festival director in London with unlimited resources. What would you programme or commission for your opening event?
Mahler’s Symphony No 2. It’s an inspiring work, colossal, dramatic and visceral – it has everything.
What do you sing in the shower?
I don’t sing in the shower. I need peace from time to time so the shower is the only moment without music in my life.
It’s late, you’ve had a few beers, you’re in a karaoke bar. What do you choose to sing?
It would have to be the classic song by the Belgian singer Jacques Brel Ne Me Quitte Pas, what else? It’s just so intimate and simple yet so powerful.
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Renaud Capuçon’s new album of works by Lalo, Sarasate and Bruch, on Erato, is available from Amazon and Presto Classical.
