Franck/Rachmaninov: Cello Sonatas

'Steven Isserlis and Stephen Hough give a serene and eloquent performance' (Gramophone)

'an unalloyed joy … The joy they take in each other's playing is infectious, and if this doesn't win a few more awards I'll eat my CD player' (Mail on Sunday)

'The lightness of touch gives the music time to breathe without any unnecessary lingering, and the clarity of balance - and Hough's fine control of texture - ensures the communication of a wealth of detail that's often lost' (Irish Times)

'Steven Isserlis gives a deeply felt and warmly affectionate reading, abetted by Stephen Hough's sensitive pianism' (ClassicsToday.com)

Playing together for the first time for Hyperion, Hough and Isserlis are stunningly matched in this large-scale passionate romantic programme. The sonatas stand at the centre of the meaty repertoire established by Brahms - whose two cello sonatas Steven Isserlis has recorded for us in an awardwinning disc accompanied by Peter Evans (CDA66159) - and characterised by grand sweeping gestures, lush melody, and heartfelt emotions that sear from pathos to frenzy. The Franck is, of course, an alternative version the composer wished for his violin sonata, a transition that many feel to be the work's happiest incarnation. These performances are distinguished by the inspired combination of the renowned energy and panache of Isserlis with the fastidious translucency of Hough's playing, in music often despatched with more gush than gusto. Isserlis also provides a programme note very much in his own style; he examines the inspiration behind both works, coming as they do from deeply religious composers who were also the voices of greatly sensual radiance, while including reminiscences of his grandfather playing the piano part for the dedicatee of the Rachmaninov and of his grandmother learning the piano part in her 80s, to accompany her grandson! The disc is completed by what in the context may seem miniatures but which amply show how these great composers had a language of intimacy as much as expansiveness.