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Beethoven: Cello Sonatas

Alisa Weilerstein (cello), Inon Barnatan (piano)

Beethoven: Cello Sonatas
Alisa Weilerstein’s sound has a generous warmth, and Barnatan’s has a delicate malleability, so these players complement each other nicely.

Beethoven: Cello Sonatas

Alisa Weilerstein (cello), Inon Barnatan (piano)

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This release includes a digital booklet

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Alisa Weilerstein’s sound has a generous warmth, and Barnatan’s has a delicate malleability, so these players complement each other nicely.

About

Cellist Alisa Weilerstein and pianist Inon Barnatan present a complete recording of Beethoven’s Cello Sonatas. Composed over a span of nearly twenty years, these works not only contain some of the most appealing and lyrical music Beethoven wrote, but also allow the listener to trace his exceptional artistic development. The Third Sonata, moreover, is a watershed in sonata writing, arguably presenting the cello and piano as fully equal partners for the first time in music history.

The richness of these works fully comes to life in the interpretation of Weilerstein and Barnatan, who have – besides glorious solo careers – also proven to be one of the most congenial chamber music tandems of our times. Their wonderful musical partnership and profound friendship shines through in each of these sonatas.

Since signing an exclusive contract with PENTATONE, Alisa Weilerstein has released Transfigured Night (2018) as well as Bach’s Cello Suites (2020), while also featuring on Old Souls (2019) and Inon Barnatan’s Beethoven Piano Concertos Part 1 (2019), on which she performed the composer’s Triple Concerto. This album was part of Inon Barnatan’s complete Beethoven piano concertos recordings on PENTATONE, of which Part 2 appeared in 2020. 2021 saw the release of his solo album Time Traveler’s Suite.

Contents and tracklist

I. Adagio sostenuto - II. Allegro
Track length17:29
This track is only available as an album download.
III. Rondo. Allegro vivace
Track length6:45
I. Adagio sostenuto ed espressivo
Track length5:48
II. Allegro molto più tosto presto
Track length7:34
III. Rondo. Allegro
Track length9:02
I. Allegro ma non tanto
Track length13:26
II. Scherzo. Allegro molto
Track length5:22
III. Adagio cantabile - Allegro vivace
Track length8:40
I. Andante - Allegro vivace
Track length7:47
II. Adagio - Allegro vivace
Track length7:38
I. Allegro con brio
Track length6:53
II. Adagio con molto sentimento d'affetto
Track length9:24
III. Allegro
Track length4:34

Awards and reviews

July 2022

Alisa Weilerstein’s sound has a generous warmth, and Barnatan’s has a delicate malleability, so these players complement each other nicely.

July 2022

if you’re after a recording that’ll blow open the windows of this music and scour away your preconceptions – well, look no further than Weilerstein and Barnatan.

14th May 2022

The test piece for anyone sampling these excellent sets is the best known sonata, No 3 in A major Op 69, in which piano and cello find full equality. A peerless technician, Weilerstein embraces both the expansive lyricism and fragile intensity of this work, the singing melodies contrasted with explosive “middle period” drama.
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