Beethoven ‘Cello sonatas Op 5 no 1 and Op 102 no2
I saw this concert, presumably given by two students or recent graduates from a music college, being advertised on my phone just as my train drew into London from Birmingham. It was a quick dash on the Piccadilly line and a worthwhile 50 minutes or so to experience it.
The acoustics of the church are not ideal for this combination of instruments – sometimes the cello got lost in the general rumble of the piano, but the general gist was clear enough. The two works are 20 years apart and from very different parts of Beethoven’s career. I don’t think I’ve heard the Op5 piece before and enjoyed it very much – the rumbustious first movement , the sense of constant surprise and the vivacious rondo. The fact that it’s only in two movements is an example of Beethoven testing the forms he inherited even at a relatively young age – 27. From what I could tell the performers gave a lively account of it.
The Op 102 piece is full of dynamic extremes – maybe something to do with Beethoven’s increasing deafness. There is an unworldly and beautiful slow movement I hadn’t recalled from occasional previous listening, which is a real point of stillness. The final movement begins a little like one of the Bach cello suites. Altogether an enjoyable and unexpected event!
A note of thanks in passing to the wonderful Choral Scholars of St Martins in the Fields. Later in the afternoon I went to Choral Evensong at St Martins and heard them sing the Evensong parts of Howells’ Collegium Regale settings wonderfully……also a lovely anthem ‘And I saw a new heaven’ by someone called Edgar Leslie Bainton (14 February 1880 – 8 December 1956, a British-born, latterly Australian-resident composer), a new name to me
John's musical journey 