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Beethoven: Cello Sonatas
Steven Isserlis (cello) & Robert Levin (fortepiano)
Awards:
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Presto Recording of the Week, 6th January 2014
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Gramophone Magazine, February 2014, Disc of the Month
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Gramophone Awards, 2014, Finalist - Chamber
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Winner 2014
This set contains of the finest Beethoven performances you are likely to hear. Steven Isserlis is on blazing form: every note lives, every movement is characterised with infectious relish; his...
Beethoven: Cello Sonatas
Steven Isserlis (cello) & Robert Levin (fortepiano)
Purchase product
Awards:
-
Presto Recording of the Week, 6th January 2014
-
Gramophone Magazine, February 2014, Disc of the Month
-
Gramophone Awards, 2014, Finalist - Chamber
-
Presto Recordings of the Year, Winner 2014
This set contains of the finest Beethoven performances you are likely to hear. Steven Isserlis is on blazing form: every note lives, every movement is characterised with infectious relish; his...
About
‘Isserlis’s playing always has spirit to spare. But the fortepiano ensures an even fresher sense of discovery to his cello odyssey’ (The Guardian)
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.
The five Cello Sonatas span Beethoven’s compositional epochs and comprise the most important cycle of cello sonatas in the entire repertoire. Isserlis writes that the composer ‘transforms himself from confident virtuoso to supreme master of classical form, and then beyond that to a mystic exploring strange new worlds of unearthly beauty—a wondrous transfiguration’.
Contents and tracklist
Spotlight on this release
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Beethoven Cello Sonatas from Isserlis and Levin
Playing on period instruments, the cellist and fortepianist get the year off to a tremendous start with spellbinding accounts of the complete cello sonatas, variations, and a transcription of the horn sonata.
Awards and reviews
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Presto Recording of the Week6th January 2014
-
Gramophone MagazineFebruary 2014Disc of the Month
-
Presto Recordings of the YearWinner 2014
January 2014
This set contains of the finest Beethoven performances you are likely to hear. Steven Isserlis is on blazing form: every note lives, every movement is characterised with infectious relish; his range is breathtaking. The ensemble with Robert Levin is dynamic, intimate, often electric.
6th January 2014
I don’t think you will ever hear a more spine-tingling performance of the adagio in the final sonata than this. Both performers take great care in the shaping of phrases, matching every articulation whilst being acutely aware of the relative importance of hidden themes and rhythmic figures.
10th January 2014
Isserlis commands attention first, if only for the extraordinary bass growl of his cello’s bottom register...Isserlis’s love of big, throbbing gestures is equally apparent further up his cello. But he never chews the scenery and the music’s drama fully deserves the duo’s strong emotions, firm accenting and virile leaps.
