About The Ingolfsson - Stoupel Duo

The Ingolfsson - Stoupel Duo was formed with the goal of presenting unique and dynamic duo programs that do not fit the mold of the traditional violin-piano recital. Based on the belief that the best sonata performances are musical conversations between two equal partners, we program "mixed" recitals that include both important duo repertoire and unaccompanied repertoire on each instrument. The members of this violin-piano duo are both soloists in their own right who are passionate about presenting the classic duo and unaccompanied repertoire alongside unusual, rarely performed or new works in the intimate setting of a recital. Founded in 2006, they have already performed in New York City, Philadelphia, Frankfurt, Berlin, Potsdam, Zürich, Rome and Krakow. Upcoming concerts during the 2007-2008 season include performances in Colorado, New Mexico, Washington D.C.'s National Gallery, Paris and Dresden.

The duo also offers the double concertos of Mendelssohn, Haydn and Alban Berg for orchestral engagements.

Review:

FRANKFURTER ALLGEMEINE ZEITUNG, Germany
January 16, 2008

Heavenly Devil’s Trills
Duo Ingolfsson/Stoupel

The violinist Judith Ingolfsson, who won the 1998 “International Violin Competition of Indianapolis,” performed in Frankfurt/Main at the highest level with her duo partner, pianist Vladimir Stoupel.

The Icelandic violinist and the Russian pianist rendered with distinct agogic Beethoven’s Violin Sonata no. 10 in G Major, op. 96 – at once brilliant, nimble, tendentiously soft, discreet, and with thoughtfully chosen tempos. As a duo, they showed themselves to be most advantageously attuned to each other. Their sensitive communication made an impeccably refined impression. Judith Ingolfsson displayed enormous solistic virtuosity in Giuseppe Tartini’s Sonata in g-minor “Il trillo del diavolo.” As she explained, this is her own version of the “Devil’s Trill Sonata,” which “incorporates” the continuo accompaniment through the addition of supplementary voices. This made this technically difficult composition even more complicated and led to an almost permanent two-part or polyphonic texture. Judith Ingolfsson, employing a modern violin bow, mastered all this with instinctive certainty, fluency, and ease.

In contrast to the agogics in the Beethoven and the strong rubato with which Stoupel played Robert Schumann’s Arabesque in C Major, op. 18 at the beginning of the concert, Stravinsky’s Divertimento for violin and piano, based on his ballet “The Fairy’s Kiss,” came across as vigorously kinetic, often boisterous and dance-like.