Schubert:
- Arpeggione, and more.
This collection of works for cello and piano is a tribute to two towering musicians of the 20th century, Mstislav Rostropovich and Benjamin Britten, who recorded all four of these works.
Britten:
- Sonata for cello and piano in C major, Op. 65
Debussy:
- Cello Sonata
Schubert:
- Sonata in A minor ‘Arpeggione’, D821
Schumann:
- Stücke im Volkston (5), Op. 102
Performed by Gautier Capuçon (cello) and Frank Braley (piano)
Franz Schubert wrote the Arpeggione Sonata in 1824, when he was already desperately ill and suffering from crushing bouts of depression.
“It is a work that has always profoundly touched and moved me,” says Capuçon, “There is such greatness of feeling in it, even though Schubert was in the depths of despair. As Beethoven is reputed to have said: ‘Truly, in Schubert there dwells a divine spark!’
Debussy’s Cello Sonata was also written at dark time, in 1915, the second year of the First World War, when the composer was ill with the cancer that was to kill him in 1918; yet it is a work of both elegance and fantasy from this great French composer.
Schumann’s Fünf Stücke im Volkston (Five Pieces in the Popular Style) were written in 1849, a productive time for the composer, even though he, too, was suffering from ill health – signs of the mental disturbances that were to lead to a suicide attempt five years later.
Here are Gautier Capuçon and Frank Braley performing the lovely “Après un rêve”, by Gabriel Fauré (Op.7 No.1)
http://youtu.be/fxWvFTB12GY
And next, here is the beautiful work by Robert Schumann titled “Fantasiestücke” Op 73, as played by Gautier Capucon and Martha Argerich:
Finally here is Beethoven’s “Seven variations on Bei Mannern, welche liebe fuhlen”, performed by Gautier Capucon, Cello, with Gianluca Marciano, Piano:
Tags: Gautier Capucon, Schumann, Schubert, Debussy, Britten