Our duo has been together for 25 years now – what a journey it has been! In 2002, we won the Mauro Giuliani competition in Bari. The programme featured Italian composers, including the eminent Niccolò Paganini. Since then, we have never strayed from this classical Italian repertoire in concert, but our recording preferences have remained focused on more recent repertoires related to contemporary composers or music with traditional origins from the East, South America or Spain. In 201 2, with the recording of ‘Spanish Folk Songs’, led by Granados and De Falla, the romantic Spanish soul expressed itself for the first time. Curiously, it was not with the ardour of youth, but matured by a certain experience, that I found an interest in turning to virtuoso violin composers. Their music touches me in a completely different way than it did in the past. I see in it a message that is quite different from entertaining with elegant and beautifully crafted declamations or impressing with virtuosity. Rather, it is the possibility of interpretations without preconceived ideas and the sharing of the feelings of the moment with great freedom. In this, I see not a message from the (restricted?) world of violinists, but a depth of musical soul, of which the violin is only the instrument in the literal sense. The project originated from a desire to record Paganini's Sonata Concertante and Sarasate's Airs Bohémiens. Sarasate never wrote for the guitar, but Paganini, who was a violinist, violist, mandolinist and guitarist, is one of the few composers, if not the first, to have written for the violin and guitar duo, in particular the Sonata Concertante recorded here. In this work, there is a clear desire to put the two instruments on an equal footing, each playing the themes and accompaniments alternately, and we were fortunate to be able to work from the manuscripts. The Cantabile, meanwhile, is often played as a violin and guitar duet, but this is not the original instrumentation, which is for violin and piano. In the published version with guitar, there are many errors, and Olivier Pelmoine has retranscribed it from the original version. We therefore chose the duet as the basis for this project, with Sarasate's original piano accompaniments transcribed by Olivier for romantic guitar. Giving direction to this music in a guitar duet is obvious, considering the prominent place of the guitar in Spanish music in general, as well as its place in the life of Niccolò Paganini. To this end, we chose two particular instruments. For the violin, I made a pilgrimage to see the legendary Stradivarius violin known as ‘Le Sarasate’, on display at the music museum at the Philharmonie de Paris. This violin, made in 1724, remained in the Antonio Stradivari family before belonging to Niccolò Paganini between 1817 and 1840. His son Achille Paganini sold it to Pablo de Sarasate in 1866, who chose it to play in public. Pablo de Sarasate then donated it in 1909 to the collection of the Paris Conservatoire Museum in gratitude for the training he received there and his early career successes. As the violin was no longer playable, in 2023 the museum organised a violinmaking competition to reproduce a facsimile. Eva Schultz, from the Schweizer Geigenbauschule Brienz violin-making school, won the competition. I am therefore one of its very first performers, both delighted and honoured that this violin has been loaned to me by the Director of the Museum of Music, Marie-Pauline Martin, for the purpose of making our recording. This contribution has intrinsically enriched our project. The romantic guitar played in this recording is of unknown origin. Expertly dated to the second half of the nineteenth century, it was restored by Belgian luthier Mark Peirelinck. It excels with its intimate sound, perfect for salon music. With less projection than a modern guitar, its warm, rounded tone is unique. It requires adaptation on the part of the performer, as the guitarist's hand must take into account the lightness of the instrument. The right hand attack is specific in that it ‘rolls’ more on the string, while also adapting the touch for optimum sound articulation. Sara Chenal