Sonates pour violoncelle

Description

Three sonatas for cello and piano are on the program of this delightfully put-together disc by two friends and exceptional soloists: Stephen (Hough) and Steven (Isserlis). If Grieg’s Sonata looks back to earlier works: the First Piano Concerto (also in A minor) and Sigurd Jorsalfar; it bears witness to a melodic richness that provides the opportunity for a fine exchange between the two instrumentalists and enjoys such a distinctive lyricism that Percy Grainger, a young disciple of Grieg, described it as “...the rising ecstasy of a fervent nostalgia.” The title of the Sonata “Les Adieux” refers to two works from the past, Beethoven’s Opus 81 and the “Farewell” from Opus 44 by the Czech composer J. L. Dussek. Ostensibly melancholic, it was composed by Stephen Hough for a pianist friend who was losing the use of his right hand. Simplicity of themes, purity of form (meditative Adagio Sereno) and sophisticated developments (Im Legendenton), familiar traits of Hough the composer. A universe entirely different from Mendelssohn’s second sonata. The latter, at the height of his art, displays a joviality (Allegro assai), a thematic and rhythmic freedom (chorale and Hebrew melody in the Adagio) and an outpouring of instrumental colors that the performers illustrate with the kind of jubilation made possible by a virtuosity that is anything but superficial. One cannot help but share their pleasure. (Jérôme Angouillant)