22 VIRTUS Michel Dalberto points out a social context that is often overlooked: ‘composers were the first performers of their own works. Mozart, Beethoven and so many others were praised above all for their improvisational skills. Even more prosaically, when princely patrons became scarce, the public had to be attracted to a performance for which an admission fee needed to be paid. Accommodating everlarger audiences in ever-larger halls required ever-more powerful instruments. The nineteenth century brought about the promised revolutions including in the realm of instrument making. It is precisely the early spirit of virtuosity that interests me, and which is the subject of this particular album. To tell the truth, the idea of such a recital came to me following a conversation with my Japanese agent. We were talking about the public's attraction to the most spectacular virtuosity. I was also thinking about a book that had impressed me when it was published thirty years ago: Petit Traité des grandes vertus (A small treatise on great virtues) by the philosopher André Comte-Sponville. It inspired me to write this eulogy on the sources of virtuosity.’
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