BEETHOVEN: Complete Works for Cello & Piano – Steven Isserlis, Robert Levin (2 CDs) Hyperion

Cello Sonata in F major Op 5 No 1[24’01]
CD1
1
Movement 1a: Adagio sostenuto –[2’47]
2
Movement 1b: Allegro[14’11]
3
Movement 2: Allegro vivace[7’03]
Cello Sonata in G minor Op 5 No 2[28’47]
4
Adagio sostenuto ed espressivo[5’19]
5
Allegro molto più tosto presto[14’12]
6
Rondo: Allegro[9’16]
Cello Sonata in A major Op 69[26’57]
7
Allegro, ma non tanto[12’35]
8
Scherzo: Allegro molto[5’24]
9
Adagio cantabile –[1’30]
10
Allegro vivace[7’28]
Cello Sonata in C major Op 102 No 1[15’47]
CD2
11
Andante –[2’53]
12
Allegro vivace[5’11]
13
Adagio – Tempo d’andante –[3’15]
14
Allegro vivace[4’28]
Cello Sonata in D major Op 102 No 2[19’29]
15
Allegro con brio[6’43]
16
Adagio con molto sentimento d’affetto[8’12]
17
Allegro – Allegro fugato[4’34]
18
Variations in G major on ‘See the conqu’ring hero comes’ from Handel’s Judas Maccabaeus WoO45[11’24]
19
Variations in F major on ‘Ein Mädchen oder Weibchen’ from Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte Op 66[9’17]
20
Variations in E flat major on ‘Bei Männern, welche Liebe fühlen’ from Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte WoO46[8’54]
Horn Sonata in F major Op 17[14’14]
21
Allegro moderato[7’50]
22
Poco adagio, quasi andante[1’19]
23
Rondo: Allegro moderato[5’05]

‘Isserlis’s playing always has spirit to spare. But the fortepiano ensures an even fresher sense of discovery to his cello odyssey’ (The Guardian)

In this new chamber recording, Steven Isserlis together with his regular collaborator, fortepianist Robert Levin, presents a magisterial and long-awaited compendium of Beethoven’s complete works for cello and piano, including Beethoven’s arrangement of his Op 17 Horn Sonata. The use of the fortepiano opens up a wealth of sonic possibilities for these works.

The five Cello Sonatas span Beethoven’s compositional epochs and comprise the most important cycle of cello sonatas in the entire repertoire. Isserlis writes that the composer ‘transforms himself from confident virtuoso to supreme master of classical form, and then beyond that to a mystic exploring strange new worlds of unearthly beauty—a wondrous transfiguration’.