Sergey Rachmaninov (1873-1943)
Sonata for cello & piano in G minor, Op. 19 (1901)
Nikolai Lugansky, piano
Gautier Capuçon, cello
September 2020
I. Lento – Allegro moderato [0:00]II. Allegro scherzando [12:55]III. Andante [19:30]IV. Allegro mosso [25:48]
“Written in 1901, the year after the perennially beloved Second Piano Concerto, the Cello Sonata reflects, perhaps, the state of Rachmaninov’s heart and mind. Having suffered a nervous breakdown after the catastrophic failure of his First Symphony in 1897, Rachmaninov had fought his way back to mental and creative health. Surely it is not fanciful to hear an echo of this in the struggles of the first movement, with its conflict between semitones and whole tones; in the dark night of the Scherzo; and then in the blazing joy of the Finale? No bearded Russian priest with his Easter cry ‘Christ is Risen’ can ever have sounded more triumphant than the cello does as it announces the glorious second theme of this movement. The whole sonata, imbued as it is with the classical discipline that is so vital a feature of all Rachmaninov’s music, encompasses a vast range of romantic emotion—a journey of the soul.”
– Steven Isserlis, 2003