Pentatone Asu: CD-levy Vuosi: 2024, 15.11.2024 Kieli: und
Gramophone Magazine
December 2024
Recording of the Month
Alisa Weilerstein (cello), Inon Barnatan (piano)
Cello Sonata No. 1 In E Minor, Op. 38
Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 1 in G Major, Op. 78 (Arr. for Cello and Piano by Alisa Weilerstein & Inon Barnatan)
Cello Sonata No. 2 in F major, Op. 99
Alisa Weilerstein and Inon Barnatan present Brahms' two Cello Sonatas, alongside their arrangement of his Violin Sonata in G Major on the cello. This Brahms portrait is a logical next step after the duo’s acclaimed interpretation of Beethoven’s complete Cello Sonatas, released in 2022. While Beethoven’s sonatas reveal the gradual ascendancy of the cello as the proper solo instrument over the piano, Brahms opens a new chapter in the history of the cello sonata, realizing a glorious marriage of equals between the two instruments. This congenial relationship between cello and piano is further enhanced by Weilerstein and Barnatan, whose musical partnership (in addition to their thriving solo careers) has been a stable factor over the years.
Since signing an exclusive contract with PENTATONE, Alisa Weilerstein has released Transfigured Night (2018) as well as Bach’s Cello Suites (2020), while also featuring on Old Souls (2019) and Inon Barnatan’s Beethoven Piano Concertos Part 1 (2019), on which she performed the composer’s Triple Concerto. This album was part of Inon Barnatan’s complete Beethoven piano concertos recordings on PENTATONE, of which Part 2 appeared in 2020. 2021 saw the release of his solo album Time Traveler’s Suite, while Rachmaninoff Reflections appeared in 2023, followed by Darknesse Visible in 2024. Brahms Cello Sonatas is the second PENTATONE album by Weilerstein and Barnatan. Their interpretation of Beethoven’s complete Cello Sonatas appeared on the label in 2022.
"Now this is my kind of Brahms playing: open-hearted, elastic and generously phrased... The vivid and variegated colouring of Barnatan’s playing is largely responsible for this semblance of orchestral richness, although Weilerstein’s tonal palette is equally prismatic." - Gramophone Magazine, December 2024
