British Cello Works, Vol. 2

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This enterprising programme of British cello sonatas encompasses a mixed bag of styles from the tonal writing of Armstrong Gibbs, which hints at Fauré, to the ethereal, impressionistic style... — The Strad, May 2023 More…

Release Date: 3rd Feb 2023
Catalogue No: SRCD-412
Label: Lyrita
Length: 64 minutes

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Smyth: Sonata for Cello and Piano in A minor, Op. 5

Work length19:32

$5.00

$6.50

$8.75

Lionel Handy (cello), Jennifer Hughes (piano)

I. Allegro moderato

Track length7:13

$2.00

$2.60

$3.50

II. Adagio non troppo

Track length7:03

$2.00

$2.60

$3.50

III. Allegro vivace e grazioso

Track length5:16

$1.00

$1.30

$1.75

Excerpt, Delius: Cello Sonata

Work length13:17

$3.00

$3.85

$5.25

Lionel Handy (cello), Jennifer Hughes (piano)

Gibbs, C A: Cello Sonata in E minor, Op. 132

Work length12:26

$3.00

$3.90

$5.25

Lionel Handy (cello), Jennifer Hughes (piano)

I. Allegro moderato

Track length5:14

$1.00

$1.30

$1.75

II. Lento, molto cantabile "Resting"

Track length3:23

$1.00

$1.30

$1.75

III. Broadly

Track length3:49

$1.00

$1.30

$1.75

Britten: Sonata for cello and piano in C major, Op. 65

Work length19:39

$5.00

$6.50

$8.75

Lionel Handy (cello), Jennifer Hughes (piano)

I. Dialogo. Allegro

Track length6:44

$1.00

$1.30

$1.75

II. Scherzo pizzicato. Allegretto

Track length2:23

$1.00

$1.30

$1.75

III. Elegia. Lento

Track length5:43

$1.00

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$1.75

IV. Marcia. Energico

Track length2:13

$1.00

$1.30

$1.75

V. Moto Perpetuo. Presto

Track length2:36

$1.00

$1.30

$1.75

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"A follow up to the British Cello Works project. This release features the works of Ethel Smyth, Frederick Delius, Armstrong Gibbs, and Benjamin Britten performed by Cellist Lionel Handy and Pianist Jennifer Walsh (née Hughes). In her A minor Sonata, Op.5 Ethel Smyth favours expressivity over virtuosity, emphasising the cello’s warm and lyrical tone. The piano enjoys a key role in all three movements and is often invited to present the chief subject matter rather than merely playing a supporting role accompanying the cello line. The Cello Sonata is one of Delius’s most satisfying chamber works and is distinguished by the expressive power both instruments enter at the same time, the cello unfolding a songlike, long-limbed line, while the piano presents the main idea. A second key theme, introduced by the cello over the piano’s rippling, arpeggiated chords, is more forthright and sharply defined. An unattributed review of Gibbs’s Cello Sonata in E published in The Musical Times in 1953, found it to be ‘an ideal piece of work for cellists who want something contemporary on which to develop their technique, for its difficulties are of the sort which repays practice’. Thanks to this recording of the work more than seventy years after its completion, contemporary listeners now have an opportunity to appreciate its melodic strength, understated formal artistry and grateful writing for both instruments. Britten’s Cello Sonata is a challenging, bravura piece that benefits immeasurably from the natural affinity between composer and cellist Mstislav Rostropovich. The relationship would inspire Britten to produce four more major works for Rostropovich who wrote of the work, ‘This is a sonata full of surprises, innovations for any cellist, gifts for the musician flowing freely from the horn of plenty. We meet not merely a novelty in finger-work but, what is most important, a new kind of expressive and profound dramatic composition’."

Reviews

May 2023

This enterprising programme of British cello sonatas encompasses a mixed bag of styles from the tonal writing of Armstrong Gibbs, which hints at Fauré, to the ethereal, impressionistic style of Delius, with its melismatic melodic lines and luscious harmonies.

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