Beethoven: The Sonatas for Piano and Cello
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LUDWIG van BEETHOVEN
Beethoven: The Sonatas for Piano and Cello
Alessio Bax (piano), Paul Watkins (cello)
[ Signum / 2 CD ]
Release Date: Friday 1 May 2026
This item is only available to us via Special Order. We should be able to get it to you in 3 - 6 weeks from when you order it.
This two-album Signum Classics release presents Ludwig van Beethoven's five cello sonatas, performed by cellist Paul Watkins and pianist Alessio Bax. The works were composed over a wide period and illustrate Beethoven's early, middle and late styles, from the Op. 5 sonatas written during his 1796 Berlin visit, through the A Major Sonata Op. 69 from the period of the Fifth and Sixth Symphonies, to the Op. 102 sonatas marking the beginning of his final creative phase. Recorded in December 2024 at Cedars Hall, Wells, the set reflects close collaboration between cello and piano and Beethoven's evolving formal and expressive concerns.
"'When I first heard Alessio Bax play the Moonlight Sonata, a work whose extraordinary popularity can sometimes make it seem clichéd, the freshness and clarity of his interpretation gave it new meaning for me. After that performance, I knew that I wanted to record the Beethoven cello sonatas with him.'
So writes Paul Watkins in the foreword to his and Bax's recording of all five Beethoven cello sonatas, and his words bear quoting because the constant hallmarks of these warmly lucid readings are indeed their freshness and clarity. Readers already familiar with Bax's Beethoven might already be anticipating what a boon his fine-toned flowing technical finesse and capacity for expressive detail might be in the two early-career Op 5 Sonatas, composed during Beethoven's 1796 residency at the Berlin court of cello-loving Friedrich Wilhelm II of Prussia, and conceived as much to display Beethoven's talents as a virtuoso pianist as to give the star cellists of the Berlin court something to chew on. And so it has proved. Listen in No 1's Allegro to the precisely articulated, glistening nuance of his rippling comments at 7'53", then his light spring and clarity when taking up and embellishing the theme from 8'40", and the brightly songful delicacy with which he locks in to harmonise Watkins's melody at 9'39"." Gramophone Editor's Choice
Tracks:
CD 1
Cello Sonata No. 1 in F Major, Op. 5, No. 1
[1] I. Adagio sostenuto
[2] II. Allegro
[3] III. Rondo: Allegro vivace
Cello Sonata No. 2 in G Minor, Op. 5, No. 2
[4] I. Adagio sostenuto e espressivo -
[5] II. Allegro molto più tosto presto
[6] III. Rondo: Allegro
CD 2
Cello Sonata No. 3 in A Major, Op. 69
[1] I. Allegri ma non tanto
[2] II. Scherzo. Allegro molto
[3] III. Adagio cantabile - Allegro vivace
Cello Sonata No. 4 in C Major, Op. 102, No. 1
[4] I. Andante - Allegro vivace
[5] II. Adagio - Allegro vivace
[6] III. Allegro vivace
Cello Sonata No. 5 in D Major, Op. 102, No. 2
[7] I. Allegro con brio
[8] II. Adagio con molto sentimento d'affetto
[9] III. Allegro
