BaL 13.04.19 - Brahms: Cello Sonata No.1 in E minor, Op.38

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

09.30
Building a Library: Katy Hamilton listens to and compares recordings of Brahms’ Cello Sonata No.1 in E minor, Op.38.
Brahms composed his first cello sonata between 1862 and 1865, and it was to mark a turning point in his compositional style, away from the exuberant youthfulness of his previous sonata works and towards a more mature character with echoes of the great Austro-German lineage that lay before him. In it Brahms pays homage to Bach, most notably in the fugal finale, which emerges from a theme that echoes the mirror fugues of Contrapunctus numbers 16 and 17 of the Art of Fugue. The first movement is a classic sonata form while the second movement, an Allegretto and Trio, is reminiscent of Mozart. The cello sonata was premiered in Leipzig on 14th January 1871.


Available versions:-


Jonathan Aasgaard, Martin Roscoe
Zuill Bailey, Awadagin Pratt
Alexander Baillie, John Thwaites
James Barralet, Simon Callaghan
Alfia Bekova, Eleonora Bekova *
Roderic von Bennigsen, Idil Biret
Erling Blöndal Bengtsson, Nina Kavtaradze
Julius Berger, Oliver Kern
Claudio Bohórquez, Péter Nagy
Denis Brott, Glen Montgomery *
Laura Buruiana, Matei Varga
Anner Bylsma, Lambert Orkis
Pablo Casals, Mieczyslaw Horszowski
Ettore Causa (viola), Boris Berman
Natalie Clein, Charles Owen *
Antony Cooke, Armin Watkins
Marc Coppey, Peter Laul
Henri Demarquette, Michel Dalberto
Duo Leonore
Jacqueline du Pré, Daniel Barenboim
Yegor Dyachkov, Jean Saulnier *
Guy Fallot, Rita Possa *
Andrea Favalessa, Simone Pionieri *
Emanuel Feuermann, Theo van der Pas
Fischer Duo *
Pierre Fournier, Wilhelm Backhaus
Pierre Fournier, Rudolf Firkusny *
Pierre Fournier, Jean Fonda *
Ryoichi Fujimori, Kyoko Takemoto *
Sol Gabetta, Hélène Grimaud
Gaillard, Louis Schwizgebel-Wang *
Anne Gastinel, François-Frederic Guy
Igor Gavrysh, Leonid Block
Karine Georgian, Pavel Gililov
Alban Gerhardt, Markus Groh *
David Geringas, Tatjana Schatz *
Reiner Ginzel, Annette Weisbrod
Yoan Goïlav (double bass), Heinz Börlin *
Niek de Groot (double bass), Catherine Klipfel
Natalia Gutman
Julia Hagen, Annika Treutler
Lynn Harrell, Vladimir Ashkenazy
Beatrice Harrison, Gerald Moore *
Marie-Elisabeth Hecker, Martin Helmchen
Ryutaro Hei (double bass), Yu Kosuge
Christoph Henkel, Elisabeth Westenholz
Claudius Herrmann, Saiko Sasaki
Ludwig Hoelscher, Hans Richter-Haase *
Godfried Hoogeveen, Frédéric Meinders
Peter Hörr, Cora Irsen
Yuji Ishikawa, Yumiko Ohira *
Steven Isserlis, Stephen Hough
Antonio Janigro[/SIZE]
Adam Javorkai, Clara Biermasz
Victor Julien-Laferrière, Adam Laloum
Rintaro Kaneko, Chiharu Sudo *
Michal Kañka, Ivan Klánskÿ (SACD)
Natalia Khoma, Adrian Oetiker
Friedrich Kleinhapl, Andreas Woyke
Maria Kliegel, Kristin Merscher
Alexander Kniazev, Andrei Korobeinikov
Jakob Koranyi, Peter Friis Johansson
Rustam Komachkov, Irina Koulikova
Harriet Krijgh, Magda Amara
Bartholomew Lafollette, Caroline Palmer
Yo-Yo Ma, Emanuel Ax
Enrico Mainardi, Carlo Zecchi
Mischa Maisky, Pavel Gililov *
Antonio Meneses, Maria João Pires
Alain Meunier, Anne Le Bozec
Robin Michael,, Daniel Tong
Mario Montore, Alessio Pianelli *
Truls Mørk, Hélène Grimaud
Truls Mørk, Juhani Lagerspet
Johannes Moser, Paul Rivinius
Murasaki Duo
André Navarra
Zara Nelsova, Artur Balsam
Zara Nelsova, Grant Johannesen
Kacper Nowak, Christia Hudziy
Esther Nyffenegger, Gérard Wyss
Volkan Orhon (double bass), Rose Chancler Feinbloom
Franco Maggio Ormezowski, Daniel Levy *
Jan Palenicek, Jitka Cechova
Leslie Parnas, Maria Bergmann
Miklós Perényi, Zoltán Kocsis
Bruno Philippe, Tanguy de Williencourt
Gregor Piatigorsky, Arthur Rubinstein
Paul Pulford, Boyd McDonald
Jean-Guihen Queyras, Alexandre Tharaud
Young Song, Aviram Reichert *
Leonard Rose, Leonid Hambro
Leonard Rose, Jean-Bernard Pommier *
Leonard Rose, Nadia Reisenberg
Mstislav Rostropovich & Sviatoslav Richter
Mstislav Rostropovich, Rudolf Serkin
Heinrich Schiff, Gerhard Oppitz *
Heinrich Schiff, Christian Zacharias
Gabriel Schwabe, Nicholas Rimmer
Natalia Shakhovskaya, A Amentaeva
Nabil Shehata (double bass), Karim Shehata
Adam Stadnicki, Galya Kolarova
Claude Starck, Christophe Eschenbach
Janos Starker, György Sebok
Hanna Spielbüchler, Andreas Weber *
János Starker, György Sebök
Herre-Jan Stegenga, Philippe Entremont
Stéphane Tétreault, Marie-Ève Scarfone
Tanja Tetzlaff, Gunilla Süssmann
Torleif Thedéen, Roland Pöntinen (SACD)
Brian Thornton, Spencer Myer
Paul Tortelier
Bion Tsang, Anton Nel *
Quirine Viersen, Silke Avenhaus
Kate Bennett Wadsworth, Yi-heng Yang
Raphael Wallfisch, John York
Paul Watkins, Ian Brown
Barbara Westphal (viola), Christian Ruvolo
John Whitfield, James Winn *
Tilmann Wick, Pascal Devoyon (SACD)
Sonia Wieder-Atherton, Imogen Cooper *
Pieter Wispelwey, Paolo Giacometti
Pieter Wispelwey, Paul Komen *
Pieter Wispelwey, Dejan Lazic *


* = download only

[pastoralguy]

Wow! That's a lot of Brahms. A wonderful piece, reflected by the number of 'cellists and pianists who have recorded it.

The only 'bad' recording I've ever heard is the Fournier/Fonda version where, frankly, the great 'cellist sounds too frail to play this music. Extremely sad since his Bach Suites are never far from my CD player.

[Pulcinella]

The BBC MM CD version (the only recording I have of this work; vol 20, no 2) features Steven Isserlis and Stephen Hough, in a Wigmore Hall recital, recorded live on 22 October 2005.
I see that their Hyperion recording

https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/7940943--brahms-cello-sonatas

was released on 31 October 2005, so I would imagine that the performances are very similar.

[verismissimo]

I was introduced to this adorable sonata (and op 99) by the Janos Starker recording with Abba Bogin on an LP with dodgy surfaces from Saga. It was recorded in the early 1960s and I acquired it later in that decade. I've since bought Starker with Sebok from 1979 (on CD), but that doesn't have the same magic for me.

Just nostalgia?

[BBMmk2]

The BBC MM CD version (the only recording I have of this work; vol 20, no 2) features Steven Isserlis and Stephen Hough, in a Wigmore Hall recital, recorded live on 22 October 2005.
I see that their Hyperion recording

https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/7940943--brahms-cello-sonatas

was released on 31 October 2005, so I would imagine that the performances are very similar.

That looks tempting Pulcie! I really like what Hyperion do. So I’ll be listening, carefully! Oh

[LeMartinPecheur]

Wot, no Du Pre?

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Wot, no Du Pre?

On Alpie's list? Seventeenth down.


(The usual thanks and respect to Alpie for providing the marvellous list )

[CallMePaul]

I'm surprised that this is being discussed now, given that it is less than 4 years since the second sonata was discussed and most recordings couple the two sonatas. I have the Isserlis/ Hough version (the Hyperion recording not the BBC Music one) and am quite happy with this. Generally in Brahms I tend to go for a more "classical" approach rather than the romantic one favoured by cellists such as Jackie DuPré, but realise that not everyone here agrees with me. There is always room, especially with a composer such as Brahms, for more than one approach.

[LeMartinPecheur]

On Alpie's list? Seventeenth down.


(The usual thanks and respect to Alpie for providing the marvellous list )

Ah, I'd confined myself to alphabetical order and had just sought to answer my own shocked question at the Riverpeople
https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=brahms+...ref=nb_sb_noss Plenty of ways still to buy!

I have it on LP but - yikes! - my only other disc seems to be the Clein.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Ah, I'd confined myself to alphabetical order and had just sought to answer my own shocked question at the Riverpeople
https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=brahms+...ref=nb_sb_noss Plenty of ways still to buy!

I have it on LP but - yikes! - my only other disc seems to be the Clein.

I wasn’t sure where to put her alphabetically. The surname has two words, like Vaughan Williams. I just guessed.

[LeMartinPecheur]

I wasn’t sure where to put her alphabetically. The surname has two words, like Vaughan Williams. I just guessed.

EA: she seems to be under C which did have me fooled - not difficult!

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

EA: she seems to be under C which did have me fooled - not difficult!

Now corrected.

[MickyD]

I flagged up the Wispelwey/Komen version just recently on another thread. I think it may be the only period performance available, and the Channel Classics recording is very nice indeed. Pity it's now only download only, though I see that it can still be had on a certain marketplace site.

[vinteuil]

I flagged up the Wispelwey/Komen version just recently on another thread. I think it may be the only period performance available, and the Channel Classics recording is very nice indeed. Pity it's now only download only, though I see that it can still be had on a certain marketplace site.

... thanks for the hint, Micky - I am sniffing out a used copy....


.

[Bryn]

... thanks for the hint, Micky - I am sniffing out a used copy....


.

Unfortunately, the one supposedly available (used) via the Amazon marketplace, transmutes into the Du Pre/Barenboim when one proceeds towards ordering it.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/offer-listing/B01A61C64K/ref=tmm_acd_new_olp_0?ie=UTF8&condition=new&qid=1554570375&sr=8-1