Britten, Schubert, Debussy - Cello Sonatas

The Guardian 80

Rostropovich/Britten
(Testament)

Benjamin Britten first met Mstislav Rostropovich in 1960, when the Russian cellist came to London for the UK premiere of the concerto that Shostakovich had written for him. Rostropovich immediately asked Britten to compose something for him, too, and they settled on a cello sonata, on the condition that the Russian would come to Aldeburgh, in Suffolk, to give its premiere at the next festival. Britten finished the work by the following January, and Rostropovich travelled to Suffolk to give four concerts during the 1961 festival, one of which was a recital in the Jubilee Hall in Aldeburgh with Britten at the piano, and the premiere of the new Cello Sonata as its centrepiece. The BBC’s tape of that concert is included in full on these discs, and though Rostropovich and Britten went on to make studio recordings of all the pieces they played that night, there’s a special sense of occasion in each bar of these performances.

Related: Britten and Rostropovich: history in the making