Brahms - Cello Sonata No.1 in E minor, Op.38 (C.rc.: Pierre Fournier, Wilhelm Backhaus / Remastered)

Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) The Cello Sonatas / Remastered.
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00:00 Cello Sonata No. 1 in E minor, Op. 38 - I. Allegro non troppo (Remastered 2022)
09:49 Cello Sonata No. 1 in E minor, Op. 38 - II. Allegretto quasi menuetto & trio (Remastered 2022)
15:01 Cello Sonata No. 1 in E minor, Op. 38 - III. Allegro (Remastered 2022)

Cello: Pierre Fournier
Piano: Wilhelm Backhaus
Recorded in 1955
New mastering in 2022 by AB for CMRR
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The Cello Sonata un E minor Op. 38 was the first duo sonata that Brahms released for publication. He had written three movements in 1862, during a hectic spate of engagements as a pianist, but the work was not completed until 1865, by which time he had discarded an Adagio and added a vigorous fugal finale. The unusually low tessitura of the cello writing imparts a sombre beauty to the opening Allegro non troppo, whose melancholy cantilena unfolds against a background of halting piano chords; though the second theme is rhythmically more robust, the mood of noble gravity remains unaltered throughout the whole movement. A wistful minuet follows, its asymmetric phrasing and Phrygian cadences very much Brahms's own, despite the almost Classical economy of texture. In the magnificent finale, the past is more specifically invoked by a theme strikingly reminiscent of the subject of Contrapunctus Xlll in Bach's Art of Fugue. The combination of fugal exposition within sonata form hardly breaks new ground; nevertheless, Brahms creates a structure of remarkable thematic integrity in which the second, more sustained theme is drawn directly from the original fugal countersubject.

These masterful performances — timeless in their aesthetic for all their seventy years of seniority — invite a new examination of our notions regarding musical 'style'. Pierre Fournier's aristocratic 'classical' interpretative manner provides an eloquent common ground in bringing forth the radiant spirituality that illuminate Johannes Brahms. The characterful presence of Wilhelm Backhaus in the Brahms Sonata further distils the essential sobriety of these spartan but eloquent interpretations. Here the music is presented with a minimum of fuss and flourish: Brahms the Classicist is to the fore by way of tempos that adhere to the golden mean (there is, on the one hand, a purposeful avoidance of portentous deliberation in the 'slow' movements and, on the other, of rash precipitation in the 'fast' ones); the use of rubato is similarly discreet and of the most conservative nature; and Backhaus favours a dry-point engraver's sonority that mostly eschews the use of sustaining pedal and instead focuses attention on the purely architectonic aspects of the writing. But the paradoxical result of all this apparent self-effacement is to make the piercing sincerity and expressiveness of these true collaborations all the more affecting.

Brahms - The Violin Sonatas (rf.rc.: Frieda Bauer, Grigori Zhislin):    • Brahms : Sonata No.1 Op. 78 in G "Reg...  

Johannes Brahms PLAYLIST (reference recordings):    • Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)