Over the last few decades, the cello’s expressiveness allowed it to be promoted to the role of a lead string instrument, which has certainly inspired composers. Quite frequently it resulted from their admiration for cellists’ artistry, and such motivation is surely in evidence in works recorded on this CD. Witold Szalonek’s Sonata and Jerzy Bauer’s Passacaglia are dedicated to Kazimierz Michalik, the distinguished Polish cellist. Ivan Monighetti’s play was supposed to be an inspiration for Krzysztof Meyer’s Sonata, and apparently Izabela Buchowska became the muse for Bartosz Smorągiewicz. Two sonatas make the programme frame of this CD. Nearly 50 years passed between 1958 and 2003, the two works were also composed on different stages of life of their creators. The opening Sonata – energetic, almost expansive, which Szalonek composed as a 31-year-old man, and the closing one – more reflexive, even dramatic sometimes – was written by the 60-year-old Meyer.