Beethoven: Cello Sonatas Op. 5
Label: ACCENT Catalog: ACC24237 Format: CD Rainer Zipperling, cello; Boyan Vodenitcharov, fortepianoLudwig van Beethoven With the Deux Grandes Sonates pour Le Clavecin ou Piano-Forte / avec un Violoncelle obligé, it is as if Beethoven had created a new genre, in which, unlike what is initially suggested in the title of the printed edition, the cello is established for the fi rst time as a full equal partner with the keyboard instrument. In the consistent equality of the two instruments and in their unprecedented and already near-symphonic quality, the two op.5 sonatas represent a quantum leap in the development of classical chamber music for solo strings and piano. This appears all the more astonishing as Beethoven worked here without any immediate models, and, until the so-called Kreutzer Sonata op.47 in 1802, created nothing more like it in this fi eld. The novel complete equality of the two instruments may be explained to some extent by the circumstances of his concerts at the Berlin Court, where Beethoven wished not only to give the fi rst cellist of the Prussian Court Orchestra, Jean-Louis Duport (the brother of Jean-Pierre), an opportunity for virtuoso self-promotion, but of course to show himself in the best pianistic light as well. Price: $27.98 |