Boëllmann & Godard: Cello Sonatas

CDA66888

Recording details: August 1995
St George's, Brandon Hill, United Kingdom
Produced by Andrew Keener
Engineered by Arne Akselberg
Release date: April 1996
Total duration: 72 minutes 46 seconds

'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)

Boëllmann & Godard: Cello Sonatas

Mats Lidström (cello), Bengt Forsberg (piano)

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LISTEN TO ALL EXTRACTS

	MP3	FLAC	ALAC
	£3.85	£3.85	£3.85	Sonata for cello and piano in D minor Op 104 [30'28] Benjamin Godard (1849-1895)
1	£1.45	£1.45	£1.45	Moderato [11'39]
2	£1.00	£1.00	£1.00	Adagio non troppo [7'51]
3	£1.40	£1.40	£1.40	Vivace ma non troppo – Andante – Vivace – Moderato [10'58]
	£1.30	£1.30	£1.30	Two Pieces for cello and piano Op 61 [10'21] Benjamin Godard (1849-1895)
4	£0.90	£0.90	£0.90	Aubade [7'13]
5	£0.40	£0.40	£0.40	Scherzo [3'08]
	£0.90	£0.90	£0.90	Two Pieces for cello and piano Op 31 [7'28] Léon Boëllmann (1862-1897)
6	£0.45	£0.45	£0.45	Valse lente [3'45]
7	£0.45	£0.45	£0.45	Menuet [3'43]
	£3.10	£3.10	£3.10	Sonata for cello and piano in A minor Op 40 [24'29] Léon Boëllmann (1862-1897)
8	£1.20	£1.20	£1.20	Maestoso – Allegro con fuoco [9'31]
9	£1.10	£1.10	£1.10	Andante [8'43]
10	£0.80	£0.80	£0.80	Allegro molto – Poco animato [6'15]

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.

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