Wallfisch/York - Johannes Brahms: Cello Sonatas

More than twenty years separate the two cello sonatas. While the first, in E minor is generally rather sombre, often very low-lying on the cello and serious in its Bachian working-out, the second, in F major is full of turbulent, confident, even heroic qualities. It presents both players at full throttle, strutting proudly through one noble melody after another, and then � in the radically remote and radiant key of F sharp major � has one of Brahms� most glorious slow movements and a dark scherzo which paraphrases the opening theme from his 3rd symphony�s finale. These two sonatas for cello and piano have achieved a legendary position � wonderful and powerful expressions of 19th century romanticism. Raphael Wallfisch is one of the most celebrated cellists performing on the international stage. He was born in London into a family of distinguished musicians, his mother the cellist Anita Lasker-Wallfisch and his father the pianist Peter Wallfisch.