Jan Páleníček - Jitka Čechová

LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN (1770–1827) composed only half as many sonatas for cello and piano as he wrote for violin – but while in his violin sonatas he was keeping to tradition, in the cello sonatas he was stepping into unknown territory, but in his own masterly way. The five Beethoven masterpieces of this kind showed that the solo cello was the equal of the violin. The composer succeeded in exploiting its particular advantages of tone colour, and its cantabile and virtuoso possibilities. In these sonatas too, the piano part goes far beyond that of mere accompaniment.

The two sonatas classified together under the opus number 5 were written in 1796. Both have the same formal plan – a sonata allegro is preceded by an extensive slow introduction of a fantasia character, making the customary middle slow movement redundant. The melancholy introduction to the Sonata in G minor with its fateful dotted rhythm and melody harmoniously divided between the two partners dies away in pauses to be followed by the allegro, its three-time bar racing ahead unstoppably, Here it is mainly the piano that is the driving force, its triplets running across the entire range of the keyboard. The finale is a merry rondo, which in its final section recalls another rondo in the same key – the theme from the composer's much later Piano Concerto no. 4.

It was to be more than ten years before Beethoven returned to the cello sonata. At the turn of the years 1807–1808, when he did so, he was at the end of the phase in his life and composing career that we today call his middle period, and embarking on the path to the final stage of his creative development. The Sonata in A major op. 69 differs in form from its predecessors but like them lacks the traditional slow movement. The first movement comes as surprise, starting as it does with a solo melody on the cello that is then taken over by the piano. These cantabile fragments are succeeded by places full of virtuosity and fierce energy. Altogether this movement forms a perfectly balanced whole full of arresting melodic ideas treated with freedom. The five-part scherzo in A minor half entertains and half irritates with its bizarre symcopations. The extremely intimate, tranquil dialogue of the adagio opens after a mere eighteen bars into a ravishing finale full of fast passages. .

Cellists can thank BOHUSLAV MARTINŮ (1890–1959) for several jewels in their repertoire. His two concertos, three sonatas and a number of smaller pieces are among the best written for this instrument in the first half of the 20^th century.  While the Variations on a Theme by Rossini are – in line with their inspiration -  above all playful and full of witty technical, melodic and rhythmic finesse, the Variations on a Slovak Folksong, composed in the last year of  Martinů's life, are veiled in melancholy and homesickness.