Beethoven Cello Harrel Ashkenazy

Many listeners who know Beethoven's symphonies, concertos, piano sonatas, or quartets are unfamiliar with his five sonatas for cello and piano. But this genre finds Beethoven at the top of his form. Even though Beethoven composed only five of these works, he wrote them during each of his major styles, from the early works of opus 5, to the great middle-period work, opus 69, and to the final two sonatas of opus 102, similar in style to the late piano sonatas and quartets. Only the symphonies, string quartets, piano sonatas, and the five cello sonatas show Beethoven in all three of his "manners" of composition. The cello sonatas show Beethoven at his best in each period.

In this new chamber recording, Steven Isserlis together with his regular collaborator, fortepianist Robert Levin, presents a magisterial and long-awaited compendium of Beethoven’s complete works for cello and piano, including Beethoven’s arrangement of his Op 17 Horn Sonata. The use of the fortepiano opens up a wealth of sonic possibilities for these works.

Filling only two CDs, the complete works for cello and piano are quintessential and vintage Beethoven. Timora Rosler and Klara Wurtz have played together for more than 15 years, having won several chamber music prizes. They performed the Beethoven cycle several times in concert over the years, and their interpretation has ripened to such an extent that the time came to record it. Every note is alive and vibrant, played with gusto and feeling, alternating melancholy and joy, sadness and sheer fun. Recorded January 19-23, 2013, at Sala congressi del Parco naturalistico di Onara in Padua, Italy.

With numerous available recordings of Beethoven's music for cello and piano available, one might wonder what British cellist Steven Isserlis has to add on this Hyperion release, which includes not only the five Beethoven cello sonatas but three entertaining early sets of variations and a transcription, by Beethoven himself, of the Horn Sonata in F major, Op. 17. The answer lies in Isserlis' decision to record the works with a fortepiano, in this case an instrument built by American-Czech maker Paul McNulty and based on a Viennese Walter model of 1805.

Cellist Alisa Weilerstein and pianist Inon Barnatan present a complete recording of Beethoven’s cello sonatas. Composed over a span of nearly twenty years, these works not only contain some of the most appealing and lyrical music Beethoven wrote, but also allow the listener to trace his exceptional artistic development. The third sonata, moreover, is a watershed in sonata writing, arguably presenting the cello and piano as fully equal partners for the first time in music history. The richness of these works fully comes to life in the interpretation of Weilerstein and Barnatan, who have – besides glorious solo careers – also proven to be one of the most congenial chamber music tandems of our times. Their wonderful musical partnership and profound friendship shines through in each of these sonatas.

Pablo Casals was once the greatest living cellist. His technique was formidable, his tone was magisterial, and his interpretations were sovereign. In the '20s and '30s, Casals was a charismatic virtuoso on the same level as Kreisler and Horowitz. Those days were over by the time he recorded Beethoven's works for cello and piano with the superb Rudolf Serkin in 1954. His formidable technique had irrevocably decayed: in the fast passages and movements, Casals could barely keep up and he dropped notes like a tree drops leaves in a late autumn rain. His magisterial tone has deteriorated: in the slow passages and movements, Casals groaned and growled like boughs and branches in a hard autumn wind.

On Friday, June 4, Yo-Yo Ma and long-time friend and musical partner Emanuel Ax will release Hope Amid Tears, a new recording of Beethoven’s complete works for cello and piano, on Sony Classical. Available now for preorder, Hope Amid Tears presents Beethoven’s five sonatas for cello and piano in the order in which they were composed, tracing an important arc in Beethoven’s development and approach as a composer. Joining them are Beethoven’s three sets of variations for cello and piano.