French composer Gabriel Faure is somewhat of an unsung hero among classical composers, and today he occupies a curious kind of middle ground in classical music. While he is widely known, often played, and undoubtedly one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Fauré's fame never reached the height of other great composers as Beethoven and Mozart.

Shaham and Eguchi together have been playing the music of Fauré for nearly 10 years. "Akira and I, we have Fauré Fever. It's very contagious," Shaham explains in conversation with host Fred Child. When it comes to his violin music, many fiddlers place Fauré on a high pedestal. "Violinists, we all love Fauré! I remember Josef Gingold, the great [violin] teacher in Indiana, that the Fauré A major Violin Sonata is his favorite piece of the entire violin repertoire." Shaham first heard the sonata as a teenager in a performance by Itzhak Perlman, and immediately fell in love with it. "It tells a great story. It does what great music should. It goes through a journey, and I guess emotionally, it goes through a whole range, a whole spectrum of feelings."

For the past seven years, Shaham and Eguchi have been wanting to do a comprehensive Fauré project. This year, they finally are doing just that in recitals all over the country covering the complete works for violin and piano by Gabriel Fauré. They hope to release a CD of this music in the Fall, 2003.