Cello Sonatas

"The First Solo Sonata, premiered by Rostropovich in 1960, is altogether a stronger piece, the sustained intensity of the opening movement and the vibrancy of the Finale carried off with tremendous aplomb by Alexander Chaushian. In the two Duo Sonatas Yevgency Sudbin once again confirms his credentials as a superbly incisive musician, bringing a wealth of colour and variety of tone to Weinberg's somewhat austere piano parts." BBC Music Magazine, February 2008 ****

"Alexander Chaushian, barely out of his teens, is a fine cellist, and a worthy first recipient of the Young Concert Artists' Summis Auspiciis Prize, to be given to those 'with highest expectations.' In his case, though, the expectations are already being met." New York Times

'I remember how, sitting at the piano in the orchestra, my breath was taken away by every phrase, every musical idea, as if a thousand electrical charges were piercing me.' This is how Mieczys³aw Weinberg later described a pivotal moment in his life - a performance of Shostakovich's Fifth Symphony in 1940. At the time, Weinberg was 21 years old, and had recently arrived in Minsk in Belorussia as a refugee from the occupied Poland. Having begun his studies at the Warsaw Conservatory, he was able to continue them in the USSR, moving to Moscow in 1943, at the direct invitation of Shostakovich, who had been impressed with the score of Weinberg's First Symphony. Both composers worked across a wide range of genres and in a gamut of styles ranging from folk idioms (including, especially for Weinberg, Jewish ones) to twelve-note themes. Yet the influence went in both directions, and the musical relationship was a dialogue as much a mentor-disciple one. Like Shostakovich, Weinberg left an imposing body of symphonies and string quartets, as well as a number of sonatas. Three of these are recorded here, by young, award-winning cellist Alexander Chaushian, joined in the two accompanied sonatas by Yevgeny Sudbin at the piano.