Schubert: Sonata in A minor 'Arpeggione', D821

Tabea Zimmermann and Kirill Gerstein return to the studio to record the follow-up to their highly praised first duo album. The new disc includes spellbinding performances of three late works by significant 19th century composers: Brahms mature Sonata in F minor, Schubert‘s melancholic Arpeggione sonata, and Franck‘s splendid Sonata in A major, all masterly performed on viola. This new disc explores three works by major 19th-Century figures, each written during the composers’ final years. All three works on the new recording were originally composed for an instrument other than viola.

One of Brahms’ final chamber works, the dramatic Sonata in F minor, was intended for clarinet, though Brahms himself adapted the work to the range and technical possibilities of the viola. Also near the end of his life was Franz Schubert when he wrote his superb 'Arpeggione' sonata. The work was commissioned by a friend of the composer’s, who requested a sonata for a new kind of instrument: the arpeggione, a hybrid between the cello and the guitar. Written just four years before his death, César Franck’s A major sonata is also beloved by cellists but has been rarely heard from violists.

Tabea Zimmermann is one of the leading contemporary viola players worldwide. Awarded the Echo Klassik as Instrumentalist of the Year in 2010, Zimmermann has recently been Artist in Residence at the Cologne and Luxemburg Philharmony, as well as the Kunstfest Weimar, Bozar Festival Brussels and the Elbphilharmonie Konzerte in Hamburg. Of her recent disc of Bach and Reger solo suites, Gramophone wrote: “here is playing full of warmth, of depth, of meditation and of full maturity … gorgeous.”

Russian pianist Kirill Gerstein has quickly proven to be one of today’s most intriguing young musicians. Recipient of the 2010 Gilmore Artist Award, Gerstein’s solo release on myrios classics, featuring music by Schumann and Liszt, was played, according to The New York Times, “with exquisite technique, refined musicianship and engrossing imagination”, and was shortlisted by the NY Times’ Holiday Gift Guide as one of the 25 best classical recordings of 2010. This SACD release from myrios classics is available from harmonia mundi UK on January 14, 2013, as is the back catalogue.

Chandos signed Karen Geoghegan as an exclusive artist in 2007 following her appearance on BBC TV’s Classical Star programme. This is her fifth recording with the label, and the expressive maturity and sensitivity of her playing have quickly cemented her status as a rising star, Gramophone writing: ‘Name five internationally famous bassoon soloists. Archie Camden, Gwydion Brooke and, er, that’s it. Except I think we shall soon be adding the name of Karen Geoghegan to the roll call.’

On this disc, she is accompanied by Philip Edward Fisher in works by some of the greatest composers of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries: Schubert, Schumann, Spohr, Rachmaninoff, and Elgar. Yet, with a single exception, namely the Sonata in E flat by Gustav Schreck, none of the works recorded here were originally composed for the bassoon.

One of Rachmaninoff’s best-loved short pieces, the Vocalise was written for wordless voice and piano. Demonstrating the capacities of the voice as a pure instrument, this work is a prime example of the power of melody without the need for words. In this arrangement, the bassoon takes on the role of ‘wordless voice’, which shows off the instrument’s great lyrical qualities to perfection, as does Elgar’s Salut d’amour.

Schumann’s Fantasiestücke was originally composed for clarinet and piano, its three pieces played without a break, with each subsequent piece taking up and developing melodic ideas from the preceding one. The Sonata in A minor, D 821 by Schubert, which remained unpublished and unperformed for decades after his death, is an emotionally complex work, its moods moving from deep melancholy to excited ebullience.

Both of the works featured here illustrate Schubert’s mastery of melodic and harmonic possibilities. “Vermeulen must be the ideal Schubert player… an astonishing range of dynamics form a powerful fortissimo to an especially beautiful pianissimo, and it has a wonderful clarity of articulation.” Early Music Review

In his second disc for BIS, Maxim Rysanov here is joined by the Swedish Chamber Orchestra under the conductor Muhai Tang.

Described as 'a prince among violists', Maxim Rysanov was in 2010 chosen to perform at the Last Night of the Proms. On that illustrious occasion he played his own adaptation of Tchaikovsky's Rococo Variations.

The string section of the Swedish Chamber Orchestra of that orchestra also join him in another work usually performed on the cello – and usually with the original piano accompaniment: Schubert's Sonata in A minor

The programme is rounded off with the one completely original composition on this disc, namely the autumnal Romance in F major by Max Bruch.

On his previous disc for BIS, Rysanov also turned to the cello repertoire, performing three of Bach's suites for solo cello. That recording was selected for a special recommendation in The Strad and chosen as Classical CD of the Week in the Daily Telegraph.

These two artists have collaborated in recordings of Mozart (GRAM98789) and Schubert (GRAM98828) on this label.

Schubert’s evergreen Arpeggione Sonata is coupled with new arrangements by Pieter Wispewey of the great Fantasy in C or 1827 and the Duo in A of 1817. The latter two were written for the violin, and the sonata for the now extinct arpeggione.- a hybrid guitar/cello instrument.

The much anticipated second album from Pieter Wispelwey for Onyx.. His debut recording for the label of the Walton Cello Concerto (4042) was received with critical acclaim.