Friedrich Kiel Zentgraf, Ullrich Complete Works For Violoncello And Piano Vol. 1 (1997)

Violin virtuoso and composer Heinrich Wilhelm Ernst was well known to audiences and musicians in the middle of the 19th century. At first he was a slavish follower of Paganini, whom he followed from place to place; often, by listening to the Italian master, he was able to reproduce his new works before they had been published or disseminated. But there is a kind of elegant artistry in some of his music that displays his own personality, and Joseph Joachim, the violinist most closely associated with the Beethoven/Brahms line of musical thinking, called Ernst the greatest violinist he had ever heard.

Heinrich Wilhelm Ernst (1812–65) was one of the leading musicians of his day, a friend of Berlioz, Chopin, Liszt and Mendelssohn, and for Joseph Joachim ‘the greatest violinist I ever heard’. But the popular encore pieces by which Ernst is remembered today represent only a fraction of his output. This second CD – in a series of six presenting his complete violin works for the first time – combines brilliant display and expressive melody: the Otello Fantasy and Rossini Variations show Ernst developing Paganini’s inheritance, and the Boléro, Two Romances and Pensées fugitives show why he was such a favourite in Parisian salons.

A majority of well-known composers have written at least a few chamber compositions in their entire lifetime. The most famous would have to be Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, and probably Prokofiev. Some, including Respighi and Vaughan Williams, are overlooked or even rejected in today's society. Whether it's because of lack of originality or excessive complexities, these sorts of compositions are always left in the dark. Take Rachmaninov's Cello Sonata, for instance. This 35-minute work doesn't receive the complete recognition it deserves. It's overshadowed by the composer's piano concertos and symphonies, all of which are respectfully first-rate works in their own right.

Following his 2012 Chandos release of the numbered rhapsodies and sonatas of Béla Bartók, James Ehnes presents a second volume that presents the masterful Sonata for Solo Violin, BB 124, along with less significant works for violin and piano. The sonata was written in 1944 on a commission from Yehudi Menuhin, and as Bartók's last composition for the instrument, it reflects his accumulated knowledge of string writing and the organic development of ideas over his lifetime. Indeed, listeners familiar with the indispensable six string quartets and the Music for strings, percussion, and celesta may well recognize certain expressions, motives, forms, and techniques, as if this solo work in all its compression and austerity was actually a distillation or final working out of those works' essential material.

Many of Liszt’s works were transcribed for other instruments; both by the composer himself and other musicians. These hauntingly beautiful pieces for cello and piano were originally written for piano solo or the voice. They are from the final period of his life and are the product of his old age and his quest for spirituality. Far from the virtuoso brilliance of his earlier works, their intense and romantic melodies express melancholy and desolation, the sparse textures and harmonic instability daringly looking forward to the twentieth century.

Max Reger made significant contributions to practically every musical genre – this box set focus is on his chamber music and cello sonatas. This tonal and formal combination fascinated Reger over the course of a quarter of a century. Since the individual CDs are no longer available, for the Reger Year 2016 CPO is now releasing the complete recording of this enthralling group of works in a box set at a special low price, along with his complete cello sonatas and a new booklet containing all the introductory texts and updated biographies of the equally fascinating musicians, including Ulf Wallin and Roland Pöntinen.