Klengel

The tragedy of du Pré’s brief career is still fresh in the public memory and can be summarised here. She was born in Oxford on 26 January 1945 into a middle-class family in which music was important: her mother was a fine pianist and a gifted teacher. The French-sounding name came from her father’s Channel Islands ancestry. Just before her fifth birthday, when she was already showing musical promise, she heard the sound of a cello on the radio and the course of her life was set.

One may be surprised to hear in this recording the Sonata Op. 108 in D minor for cello and not for violin as Brahms conceived it. But, purists be damned, transcription in the 19th century was common practice, if only to facilitate the dissemination of works at a time when sound recording was not yet available! Indeed, didn’t Brahms himself transcribe his two Clarinet Sonatas Op. 120 for viola? In the present recording, Marie- Claude Bantigny has chosen simply to play the violin part an octave lower, without modifying the piano part in any way (unlike Paul Klengel in Op. 78), which allows the score to be heard practically in its original conception, like the same Lied that would be sung by a soprano or a bass baritone.

On the tenth CD I would like to give you the opportunity of becoming familiar with the styles of interpretation of Bethoven employed by the earlier Gewandhaus-Quartett line-ups.
One of the oldest recordings in existence of this ensemble dates from the year 1916. The Gewandhasu-Quartett of that time performed Beethoven's String Quartet in C sharp major, op. 131 in the line-up of Edgar Wallgandt and Karl Wolschke (violins), Carl Herrmann (viola) and the unforgotten Julius Klengel (violoncello).

Violists like to complain of the paucity of romantic music for their instrument, yet these two discs refute that contention. In addition to the famous two Brahms Sonatas, the discs feature unfamiliar, thoroughly Romantic works, by six of the composer's "friends." All are clearly influenced by Brahms and Schumann; indeed, the absence of the latter's "Märchenbilder" (Fairy Tale Pictures) is conspicuous and inexplicable. In a substantial set of Variations by Joseph Joachim, a lovely theme is transformed and developed in inventively contrasting ways, including a somber contrapuntal piece and a Hungarian semi-improvisation.

Although the profound soul-stirring that sits at the very core of the Sapphische Ode only partially translates to a solo cello, Brahms’s skill as the mellowest of melodists and Mischa Maisky’s warming sound palette still manage to convey some of its poetic essence. My main problem here is not with the transcriptions – most of them work rather well – or, indeed, with Maisky’s tone, but with a manner of phrasing that is too ‘clean’ for what should be a soaring top line.

Rebecca Rust, cello, and Friedrich Edelmann, bassoon, have played together in duos, trios and larger chamber music groups for over 30 years. From their home base in Germany, this huband-and-wife team performs in America, Europe and Japan including radio and TV productions. Praised by Carlo Maria Giulini for her exceptional musicality, the American cellist Rebecca Rust, a native of California, received her first piano lessons with her mother at the age of five and began cello lessons with Margaret Rowell. Rowell said: Rebecca Rust is one of the most talented cellists that I have had the pleasure of teaching. Blessed with a beautiful ear and facility, she has used these gifts as tools to dig deep into the music itself, thereby giving her listeners a profound musical experience. Rebecca Rust is a brilliant cellist. Friedrich Edelmann grew up in Kaiserslautern, Germany. He studied with Alfred Rinderspacher, Klaus Thunemann, and Milan Turkovic. In 1977 he became the Principal Bassoonist of the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra. They are joined on this recording by pianist Scott Faigen.