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It was at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels, in 2008, that Mariane Marchal and Maxime Desert began writing their shared musical story. She is a pianist, he is a violist, and it was around Shostakovich’s Sonata for Viola and Piano that they took their first steps as a duo. Their passion for chamber music led them to explore various ensemble formats together, from piano quartets to quintets.
Following their studies and marriage, their musical paths diverged: Maxime, as a member of the Quatuor Tana, embarked on a series of international tours, while Mariane divided her time between artistic projects and teaching. Despite the intensity of their separate careers, music remained central to their daily lives, and the duo naturally reformed when Maxime left the quartet in 2019. The lockdown period offered them a renewed musical pause, during which the idea of a duo recording gradually took shape.
This first album soon became an obvious step, built around Shostakovich’s Sonata, the cornerstone of their collaboration. But beyond the music lies a story of friendship that deeply moved and inspired them — the bond between Shostakovich and Fyodor Druzhinin, the work’s dedicatee. This friendship is the project’s guiding thread, opening with Arvo Pärt’s Fratres and enriched by two contemporary pieces commissioned by the Ars Musica Festival: DSCH by Jean-Paul Dessy, a tribute to Shostakovich, and Cette Colline by Anne Martin, dedicated to Druzhinin.
Driven by a shared sensibility and a mutual passion for repertoire that bridges the great classics and contemporary creation, Mariane Marchal and Maxime Desert continue their work as a duo today, exploring the full range of expression between viola and piano, and building bridges between eras and aesthetics.
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