Chopin: Cello Sonata in G minor, Op. 65

Pieter Wispelwey and his gut-string cello partner for a second time with Paolo Giacometti in a programme of Chopin and Mendelssohn. But there is a another great musical figure on this disc – the cellist and composer Karl Davidoff, who studied with Moscheles and Mendelssohn’s violinist and composer friend Ferdinand David. Davidoff’s brilliant arrangements of the Chopin Waltzes Op. 64 form a sparkling interlude between Mendelssohn’s brilliant 2nd sonata, and Chopin’s late and great sonata for cello and piano.

Two works from very different composers: Chopin’s works for cello were few and far between, but these two straddle his compositional life: the Introduction and Polonaise was written in 1829 when he was just 19, and the Cello Sonata of 1845-6 is his last work published during his lifetime: all latter works with opus numbers being published posthumously, against his wishes. By contrast, Saint-Saëns published a great many works for the cello, as well as works in almost every genre of the classical canon, with the Cello Sonata No.2 composed during his travels in Biskra, Algeria.

Jamie Walton and Daniel Grimwood are performers who have proven themselves, in both concert and recordings, to be formidable and enthralling interpreters of the classical canon. This release follows their previous duo disc of Rachmaninov and Grieg cello sonatas on Signum.

The latest release in this very well received series features the chamber works of Chopin. Broja has won many awards and has been acclaimed in the major concert halls of Eastern Europe. Bauer is also a prize winner and won a scholarship to study with William Pleeth.

“In the Rococo Variations [Brantelid] is magnetic throughout, characterising each variation compellingly, with rubato finely controlled. His spontaneity in the little cadenza-like links is most persuasive too and that leads to an impulsive account of the last variation and the coda, with flawless double stopping.” (Gramophone)

Frédéric Chopin had been living in Paris only a matter of months when he was commissioned by the publisher Schlesinger in 1831 to write a work based on themes from Meyerbeer’s opera Robert le Diable, which had premiered some weeks earlier. The result was the Grand Duo for cello and piano. For assistance with the cello part, Chopin turned to a new acquaintance, the cellist Auguste Franchomme, who subsequently became a close friend and for whom he composed the Sonata in G minor 14 years later. The G minor Trio dates from 1828-29 and was dedicated to Prince Antoni Radziwill, an arts patron and amateur cellist. Chopin composed it in Poland but the work remained unpublished until 1833, by which time the composer was already living in Paris.

Andreas Brantelid (b. 1987), one of Scandinavia’s leading cellists, is quickly establishing an international reputation. Winner of a 2008 Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship and a current member of the BBC’s New Generation Artist scheme, Brantelid was nominated for the European Concert Hall Organization’s "Rising Star" scheme in 2008-2009 and has performed in, among others, the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Musikverein Vienna, Palais des Beaux Arts Brussels and Philharmonie Cologne.

Brantelid, who made his solo debut with orchestra at the age of 14 with the Royal Danish Orchestra, Copenhagen in the Elgar Cello Concerto, has since appeared with all the major orchestras in Scandinavia. He is the first Scandinavian to win 1st Prize in the Eurovision Young Musicians Competition (2006) and in the Paulo International Cello Competition (2007) and was Danish Radio’s “Artist in Residence, 2007.”

Brantelid made his Wigmore Hall debut in 2008 with the Swedish pianist Bengt Forsberg, with whom he collaborates regularly. He also performs frequently at important festivals including Risør and Bergen in Norway, Kuhmo in Finland and the City of London and Cheltenham Festivals in the UK.

He has been invited to join the New York Lincoln Center’s 'Chamber Music Society Two' programme for three seasons from 2009/10, with his first appearance in December 2009. Also this season, he performs with the Gothenburg and Hamburg symphonies, BBC Philharmonic and the Vienna Chamber Orchestra. He makes his debut at Carnegie Hall, gives recitals in London, Paris and the world premiere of Niels Rosing-Schow’s Cello Concerto with the Danish National Radio Symphony Orchestra.

Pianist Marianna Shirinyan hails from Yerevan, Armenia, where she began her piano studies before moving to Hamburg to work with Mathias Weber. She has also studied chamber music with Thomas Brandis and Maria Egelhof and is currently at the Musikhochschule Lübeck studying with Konrad Elserm, having won several competitions along the way in Germany, Spain, Italy and Denmark, most recently the annual prize of the Danish Music Critics’ Association in 2009. Shirinyan is establishing herself on the international stage as a soloist and chamber musician, working with such artists as Christian Altenburger, Shmuel Ashkenasi, Boris Baraz, Thomas Brandis, Wolfgang Bötcher, Ana Chumachenko, Ivry Gitlis, Ida Haendel, Midori and Pavel Vernikov and closely involved with the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival as a coach for piano chamber music at its Orchestral Academy. Marianna Shirinyan has been a member of the Esbjerg Ensemble in Denmark since 2003.

Vilde Frang, the young Norwegian violinist and protégée of Anne Sophie Mutter, made her debut at the age of 10 with the Norwegian Radio Orchestra and was subsequently engaged by Mariss Jansons to perform with the Oslo Philharmonic. She has since performed extensively in Scandinavia, the UK, Germany, Switzerland and the Baltic countries and has appeared at international festivals in Verbier, Schleswig-Holstein, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Lucerne. Frang has performed in concert with Martha Argerich, Renaud and Gautier Capuçon, Gidon Kremer, Yuri Bashmet and Maxim Vengerov and has toured Europe and the United States with Anne-Sophie Mutter and Camerata Salzburg. The winner of a 2007 Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship and of the 2009 Norwegian Soloist award, Frang recently signed with EMI Classics. Her debut release, scheduled for January 2010, features the Sibelius Violin Concerto and three Humoresques and Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No. 1 with the WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln and conductor Thomas Søndergård.

“Chopin's compositional output did not include a great deal of chamber music, but what he did write included a number of pieces for cello. From this one could assume he had a special affinity for the instrument. In this recording, we have taken this a step further by choosing transcriptions of music originally written for solo piano - pieces with a strong melodic line which seem to transport themselves to the cello so beautifully.” Truls Mørk

Andre Navarra was born into a musical family in France and in 1933 became principal cellist of the Paris Opéra Orchestra, won first prize at the Vienna International Competition in 1937 before giving up his cello to join the army in 1939.

He resumed his career in 1949 and went on to make many famous recordings and is here presented performing the Valses and Sonate Op.65 by Chopin.

The French cellist André Navarra developed a successful international career after World War II.

He played with elegance and passion.

His mentor was Pablo Casals.