CHOPINFRANCK

Cello Sonatas

Benedict Kloeckner celloAnna Fedorova piano

Chopin composed only four instrumental works that were not specifically for piano, either solo or in a concerto setting, and all feature the cello (together with the violin in the Trio Op 8). He composed what was to become the Polonaise Brillante Op 3 while staying at the country residence of Prince Antoni Radziwiłł, whose daughter Wanda was his pupil at the time. Radziwiłł was an amateur cellist (he later received the dedication of the Trio) and so it is probable that the original “alla polacca” section was intended for him in partnership with Wanda (who must have been a very accomplished pianist to judge by the technical difficulties of the piano part). Chopin privately dismissed the piece as “nothing but, dazzle, for the salon, for the ladies” but the following year, he added a long meditative introduction in which the cello predominates and published the extended work with a dedication to the Austrian cellist Joseph Merkel. A few years later in Paris, Liszt introduced Chopin, to the cellist Auguste Franchomme, and the two men formed a lifelong friendship. They collaborated on the composition of the Grand Duo Concertant sur “Robert le Diable” de Meyerbeer – a work they performed frequently together - and Franchomme undertook a revision of the cello part of the Polonaise. He was the dedicatee of Chopin’s last published work, the Sonata in G minor Op 65, which their close relationship may indeed have inspired. Chopin began work in 1845 and completed it two years later during a difficult period in his life when his relationship with George Sand was foundering and ill health was affecting him mentally as well as physically. Its composition generated a Beethovenian number of preparatory sketches and Chopin did not find the creative process easy, remarking: “sometimes I am pleased with it, sometimes not. I throw it into a corner then pick it up again”. Chopin and Franchomme performed the work on 16 February 1848 at what

FRÉDÉRIC CHOPIN Cello Sonata in G minor Op.65

1. Allegro moderato 15’002. Scherzo 4’493. Largo 3’354. Finale, allegro 5’57

CÉSAR FRANCK5. Andantino quietoso, Op.6 5’49

Violin Sonata in A major in the version for cello and piano

6. Allegro ben moderato 6’227. Allegro 8’188. Ben moderato 7’289. Allegretto poco mosso 6’07

10. FRÉDÉRIC CHOPIN Polonaise Brillante, Op.3 Lento-Allegro con spirito 9’06

Total time: 73’02Recording: 26/27 January, 11 April 2015; Schloss Ettlingen, Germany.A co-production with SüdwestrundfunkProducer: Roland KistnerEngineer: Siggi MehneExecutive Producer SWR2: Dr. Kerstin UnseldCover photo: Marco Borggrevep & c 2017 Piano ClassicsPiano Classics is a trade name of Brilliant Classics B.V.

was to be Chopin’s final public appearance in Paris but in a truncated form with the first movement omitted (on the advice of friends who found it “unclear”). The work was not at first well received, partly on account of its supposed structural deficiencies, and there is no doubt that the first movement, in blurring the boundaries between exposition and development, confounds standard preconceptions of sonata form. But criticism of its “immense wildness” and “painful effort” risked missing the point - that this may have been precisely the effect Chopin was intending to convey (the striking reminiscence of the opening bars to those of the bleak Gute Nacht from Schubert’s Winterreise possibly shining a light on his state of mind at the time). The sonata was obviously close to Chopin’s heart, since according to one account of his final days, he asked Franchomme who was present at his deathbed, to play from it shortly before he died, making this perhaps the last piece of his own music he heard.

Franchomme’s name is also associated (albeit almost certainly apocryphally) with the cello version of César Franck’s Sonata in A major and the question of whether the work is a violin sonata adapted for cello or a work composed with both instruments in mind. The violin version dates from 1886 and a copy was presented to Franck’s friend Eugène Ysaÿe, to whom it was dedicated, on the occasion of his wedding on 26th September. There is however an oral tradition deriving from Ysaÿe and transmitted via Pablo Casals that Franck himself intended the work to be for violin or cello and Ysaÿe’s son Antoine muddies the waters further by claiming that a version for cello existed in Franck’s handwriting which had been written for a “M. Franchomme”. Franck certainly knew Auguste Franchomme – they

had performed together in the 1830s – but since Auguste died in 1884, any such cello version would have preceded the violin sonata by at least two years and its priority been deliberately concealed by Franck – an unlikely eventuality. Its creation history is in fact much simpler if less romantically coincidental. After the sonata’s public premiere in December 1887, the cellist Jules Delsart, Franck’s friend and colleague at the Paris Conservatoire, sought permission to arrange the violin part for his own instrument and in 1888 an edition was published specifying “pour Piano et Violon ou Violoncelle” with the cello arrangement attributed to him. The extent to which Delsart consulted Franck over this is unknown - it is a more or less exact transposition of the violin part with a few adaptations to cater for the cello’s different range - but Franck’s approval of it can be assumed from the fact that he presented an autographed copy of the score to a friend. Where the Chopin sonata tentatively explored the idea of thematic unity, its opening bars containing a three note semitonal motif that recurs through the work, Franck’s is, in the words of Vincent d’Indy, “the first and purest model of a sonata employing cyclic themes”. The opening statements of each instrument - in particular the major third motif voiced by the cello - comprise the foundations upon which much of the subsequent thematic material is built. And while Chopin constantly rings the changes in allowing each instrument to lead, with frequent passages of counterpoint, Franck has them engage in a constantly alternating dialogue, rarely playing the same music together – the second subject of the first movement is in fact never played by the cello – until the finale when they share the melody in canon at the octave. While devotees of violin and cello have long argued over whether the A major sonata is better suited to their respective instruments,

even the most partisan of violinists must surely admit that at certain points in the work – for example the opening statement and certain passages in the third movement – the music finds a perfect partner in the cello’s rich tones. The Andantino Quietoso Op 6 is an early work from 1843, originally for piano and violin, which Franck composed for performance with his younger brother Joseph.

David Moncur

“Remarkable, really remarkable, perfect playing! Absolute control of technique, intonation and color”Daniel Barenboim February 2016

Germany’s most promising cellist Benedict Kloeckner (1989) plays concerts with renowned orchestras including the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, NDR Radio Symphony, German Radio, German State and Leipzig Radio Symphony Orchestras, the Kremerata Baltica, the Slovakian Radio Orchestra and Amsterdam, Berlin, Prag and Arcos New York chamber orchestras, under the baton of conductors including Howard Griffiths, Ingo Metzmacher, Michael Sanderling, Heinrich Schiff, Clemens Schuldt and Karl Heinz Steffens. He performs all over Europe, USA and South America at such venues as Carnegie Hall New York, Berlin’s Philharmonie and Konzerthaus, the Festspielhaus Baden Baden, Tonhalle Zürich, Laeizhalle Hamburg, “Mozarteum” Salzburg, Musikverein Wien, Gewandhaus Leipzig, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Rudolfinum Prague, Athenäum Bukarest, John F. Kennedy Center Washington, Symphony Hall Chicago, Barbican Centre London and Seoul Arts Center. He enjoys playing chamber music with partners such as Emanuel Ax, Anne Sophie Mutter und Sir András Schiff, and is regularly invited to renowned music festivals: Verbier, Schleswig-Holstein, Beethovenfest Bonn, Ludwigsburg, Schwetzingen, Gstaad and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern to name but a few.

He is the winner of mayor international competition such as the European Broadcasting Union Award (Bratislava), the Grand Prix Emanuel Feuermann (Berlin), Animato International Soloist Competition (Zürich),

BENEDICT KLOECKNER

A keen interpreter of contemporary music, Benedict Kloeckner performed Wolfgang Rihm’s cello concerto “Temptation” in Munich and presents the composer’s Duo Concerto in Autumn 2016. He recorded, for Genuin in co-operation with the SWR, the complete works for cello and piano by Howard Blake, for whom he has been dedicated of numerous works. His six previously published album recordings, including Robert Schumann’s Cello concerto, have been highly praised by the international press, nominated for the prize of the German Record Critics and emerged in collaboration with artists such as Gidon Kremer, the conductors Heinrich Schiff and Michael Sanderling and the pianists José Gallardo and Anna Fedorova and the composer and pianist Howard Blake.

Since September 2014 Benedict Kloeckner is the founder and artistic director of “Internationale Musikfestival Koblenz”, presenting highest level chamber music concerts with artists like Anna Fedorova, Vilde Frang, Tianwa Yang and orchestras such as the Munich oder Georgian chamber orchestra.

Benedict Kloeckner received his artistic training from Martin Ostertag at the Musikhochschule Karlsruhe and as a young soloist for Kronberg Academy Master with Frans Helmerson and Gary Hoffman, graciously financed by the Angela Winkler Scholarship. Benedict is also very grateful to Steven Isserlis, Gidon Kremer, Michael Sanderling and Sir András Schiff for the musical insight and support they have offered for his artistic development.

Benedict Kloeckner plays an Italian Cello made by Francesco Rugeri 1680, kindly on loan from the Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben

the “Nicolas Firmenich Prize” (Verbier Festival, Switzerland) and First Prize at the “Manhattan International Music Competition New York”. He was also awarded the “European Culture Prize” by the “European Culture Foundation”.

Anna graduated from the Lysenko School of Music in Kyiv (studio of Borys Fe-dorov), Accademia Pianistica in Imola, Italy (studio of Leonid Margarius), and received her master degree and artist diploma at the Royal College of Music in London under the guidance of Norma Fisher. She has been also regularly receiving artistic guidance from Andras Schiff, Steven Isserlis and Menahem Pressler.

Anna Fedorova is one of the world’s premier young pianists. From an early age, she demonstrated an innate musical maturity and astounding technical abilities. Her live recording of Rachmaninoff’s 2nd Concerto has more than 9 million hits on Youtube and is highly acclaimed by critics and world known musicians. She regularly performs at the world’s most prestigious concert halls such as the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, the New York Carnegie Hall, the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City, the Zurich Tonhalle, the Warsaw Philharmonic, Bunka Kaikan in Tokyo, Cadogan Hall in London and many others.

Anna’s latest engagements include appearances at Annecy Music festival in France, Menuhin Festival in Gstaad (Switzerland), Ravinia Festival in USA as well as performances with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra, Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra and others. She was Artist in Residence of the Edesche Concert Hall in Ede, Netherlands in the 2015-16 season. Upcoming highlights in-clude performances with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in London Cadogan Hall, the Orchestra Lamoureaux at Theatre des Champs Elysees in Paris, and the Kyoto Symphony orchestra, among others.

Starting from May 2017 Anna is going to be the artistic director of “International Chamber Music Festival Ede” presenting the highest level of chamber music with such artists as Benedict Kloeckner, Kirill Troussov, Eldbjorg Hemsing, Thomas Carroll and others

ANNA FEDOROVA