Sheku Kanneh-Mason, Cello
Isata Kanneh-Mason, Piano
Part of: Carnegie Hall Live on WQXR
Performers
Sheku Kanneh-Mason, Cello
Isata Kanneh-Mason, Piano
Program
BEETHOVEN Cello Sonata No. 4 in C Major, Op. 102, No. 1
SHOSTAKOVICH Cello Sonata in D Minor, Op. 40
BRIDGE Cello Sonata in D Minor
BRITTEN Cello Sonata in C Major, Op. 65
Encore:
TRAD. "Deep River" (arr. Coleridge-Taylor, Kanneh-Mason)
Event Duration
The printed program will last approximately two hours, including one 20-minute intermission.At a Glance
BEETHOVEN Cello Sonata No. 4 in C Major, Op. 102, No. 1
Unlike Beethoven’s 10 violin sonatas, all but one of which were written between 1797 and 1803, the five cello sonatas are spread out over nearly two decades. The boldly dramatic Op. 102 sonatas, written in 1815, push the language of Viennese Classicism toward its limits.
SHOSTAKOVICH Cello Sonata in D Minor, Op. 40
Shostakovich’s Cello Sonata in D Minor of 1934 is a study in sharp and often jarring contrasts, veering from one stylistic and emotional extreme to another. In harmonizing these diverse and often discordant elements, the young Russian composer created a highly personal musical language of extraordinary power and beauty.
BRIDGE Cello Sonata in D Minor, H. 125
Written under the shadow of the First World War, Bridge’s seldom heard Cello Sonata harks back to the lush Romantic idiom of his teacher, Charles Villiers Stanford, even as it points the way to the leaner, more dissonant modernism of his postwar works.
BRITTEN Cello Sonata in C Major, Op. 65
Written in the early 1960s, this suite-like, five-movement sonata was the first fruit of Britten’s long and rewarding collaboration with the great Russian cellist Mstislav Rostropovich. The work’s edgy lyricism reflects what the composer’s friend W. H. Auden famously labeled the “Age of Anxiety.” At the same time, the music bears the stamp of Rostropovich’s earthy, exuberant virtuosity.