Brahms Cello Sonata ¥128 Purchase
Although Brahms has numbered only two cello sonatas, these two are enough to show his mastery of cello qualities, and his use of timbre ranges from low and gloomy to frank and enthusiastic.
In fact, Brahms composed a total of three cello sonatas, and before this one, there was a work composed before the age of 18, but then this early work was scattered, so this one became the first number. The Cello Sonata No. 1 in E minor, OP. 38, was composed in the summer of 1862, but the final movement was not completed until 1865.
Brahms called the piece "a sonata for cello and piano", because the role of the piano here is not just an accompaniment, but an intimate companion of the cello.
The piece begins with a deep longing for Romanticism, and then moves on to an elegant second movement and a frenetic fugue finale, where cello and piano collide with each other with a very complex counterpoint. Brahms is thought to have paid homage to Bach with this piece, as it references the artistic theme of Bach's The Art of Fugue.
Cello Sonata No. 2 in F major, OP.99, composed in 1886, 21 years after the composer completed his first cello sonata, Brahms, who was 50 years old, had already completed his last major work, Symphony No. 4, and entered the peak of his life.
Compared to Cello Sonata No. 1, this piece presents a very different feel from its predecessor, with a more complex emotional connotation with a direct opening movement and a subtle adagio. Brahms himself was a cellist in his youth and an excellent pianist, so he made the piano and cello fully exuberant.
Yu Hua once said: "The performance of Rostropovich and Serkin is like the fall of dusk, everything begins to immerse itself in tranquility, life has come to the border of dreams, like a song, even death is warm." "Listening to this recording, recorded in 1982, it is as if you could see two masters sitting on a grassy slope at sunset, smiling together and enjoying each other's performances.
Serkin has always been skeptical of recording, so he has not made many recordings other than his early chamber music recordings with Busch and others. It wasn't until the advent of digital recording technology that Serkin, who was nearing the end of his career, began to systematically enter the studio to record.
His relationship with DG began in 1981 and lasted until his death in 1991, leaving behind three very important recordings at DG: Mozart's Piano Concerto with Abbado, Beethoven's last three piano sonatas recorded in the 1980s, and Brahms's Cello Sonatas with Rostropovich.
The album won a three-star review from the Penguin Record Guide and a Grammy award for "Best Chamber Music". Serkin's pleasing and delicate piano and Rostropovich's song-like cello balance Brahms's complex emotions with a beautiful and restrained interpretation, recreating the lyricism and heroism of the two cello sonatas.
This precious version is indisputably the first in the homophony catalogue. With an attitude of respecting the original work and a keen musical understanding, the performer played elegantly, steadily, and magnificently, without any sense of pretentiousness, and directly described the essence of Brahms's music. The cello's statement is smooth and beautiful, and between the ups and downs of the melody, there are thousands of emotions, like the composer's recreated gods.
The piano part of the sonata, which has always been mistaken for the accompaniment role, rises under Serkin's hands, and together with the cello are like two pillars of the sky, supporting the colorful musical world.
Although Serkin was approaching his old age at that time, his performance still exuded infinite youthful vitality. His sound was clear and agile, and he amazed the pianists who came after him.
There are many highlights of this version, such as the fugue section of the third movement of the Cello Sonata in E minor, in which the cello and piano are separated and combined in a complex counterpoint melody with unparalleled lines, each showing their superhuman playing talent, which is never tired of listening; In the Adagio movement of the second movement of the Cello Sonata in F major, the soulful and beautiful chant of the cello is set off by the light and clear background of the piano, bringing the listener into a beautiful artistic conception......