Top Of The Range Chamber Music Making

A well put together chamber music programme from Steven Isserlis on cello and Stephen Hough on piano, revolving around Brahms's Cello Sonatas Nos 1 and 2 but also featuring shorter pieces by Dvorak and his son in law Josef Suk. The two Brahms cello sonatas were written some twenty-five years apart but if the first is the work of a young man, the second is written by an older composer still displaying the passion of a young man. The first sonata has backward glances towards the classical style while retaining a romantic outlook. The second is a large scale symphonic chamber piece with some challenging writing for both performer and listener and despite ( or maybe in retrospect because of ) some mixed contemporary reactions, it now stands as a highpoint in late nineteenth century chamber music. Brahms famously supported Dvorak but he also showed favour to Suk. The Suk Ballade and Serenade featured here are his only works for cello and piano and have typically Czech flavoured charm. The two Dvorak works on the disk are Waldesruhe, arranged from what was originally a piano duet and Rondo in G minor which is a light tearted scampering piece. Both Czech works make sensible accompaniments on the disk to the Brahms. This disk won a BBC Radio 3 disk of the year accolade in 2006.