'Cellists should rejoice, and so should those who know Benjamin Godard only from the Jocelyn Berceuse and Léon Boëllmann from the Suite Gothique. First-rate digital sound' (Gramophone)
'This is wonderful. Unfamiliar yet instantly captivating repertoire leaves you wondering why you'd never heard this music before, especially when performed with the compelling advocacy and stunning bravura brought by Mats Lidström and Bengt Forsberg ... This is a release of the highest distinction and significance, faultlessly played and atmospherically recorded ... Very highly recommended' (Fanfare, USA)
'This disc is chock-full of music I have never heard before. Without exception it is attractive, imaginative, and beautifully played ... Lidström and Forsberg put us in their debt with this disc' (American Record Guide)
'An interesting and compellingly played disc of offbeat repertoire. Strongly recommended' (The Penguin Guide to Compact Discs)
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Moderato
[11'39]
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Adagio non troppo
[7'51]
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Aubade
[7'13]
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Scherzo
[3'08]
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Valse lente
[3'45]
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Menuet
[3'43]
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Maestoso – Allegro con fuoco
[9'31]
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Andante
[8'43]
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Allegro molto – Poco animato
[6'15]
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The two cello sonatas on this recording are described by their performer, Mats Lidström, as belonging to the class of truly grand sonatas, along with the F major Sonata by Brahms. They come from late nineteenth-century Paris, and that tradition of French chamber-music composition which is marked out by an excellence of musical training and a seriousness of intent. The melodic charm of Godard's Sonata is most strongly reminiscent of comparable compositions by Schumann; the Sonata by the tragically short-lived Boëllmann is marked out rather by virtuosic demands and an extraordinary range of almost Wagnerian harmonic sideslips. |
