Cello Sonata No 1 in D major Op 18
Cello Sonata No 2 in G major Op 39

Remembered today principally as one of the greatest of all nineteenth-century piano virtuosos, Rubinstein was also a celebrated composer in his day who produced a large number of works with an enviable ease and fluency. His two Cello Sonatas are recorded here by Czech cellist Jirí Bárta and Romantic specialist Hamish Milne on a thoroughly enjoyable new disc.

Rubinstein was only in his early twenties when he composed the Cello Sonata No 1 in D major Op 18 in 1852, but it is a fairly substantial work which not unnaturally requires a pianist of heroic stature as well as a first-rate cellist. If Rubinstein’s idiom is more reminiscent of Mendelssohn than Russian folk-melody, he still contrives to sound a personal note with touches of Slavic ardour. The Cello Sonata No 2 in G major Op 39 was composed in 1857, though Rubinstein revised it some years later. This is a larger, more ambitious conception than the D major sonata, with a true scherzo and slow movement as well as sonata-form first movement and finale. In fact, though the sonata-form outlines of the first movement are clear, the movement has fantasia-like aspects, developing episodes that concentrate on one motif or another, and with cadenza-like effusions for the two instruments at different times. The cello’s opening theme is generously long-spanned, almost Brahmsian.

The repertoire of nineteenth-century cello music is rich, but not so extensive that these two sonatas by Rubinstein should continue to be so neglected. They are both delightful works, and the second sonata especially deserves a regular place in recital programmes.



'These two lavishly inventive and free-flowing cello sonatas reveal how sorely underestimated Rubinstein's legacy has been. They are more than equivalent to the cello sonatas of Chopin, Mendelssohn and Rachmaninov … In Jírí Bárta's hands it speaks to us across the centuries with a radiant ardour' (BBC Music Magazine)

'Barta and Milne produce glorious readings of both works, each seeming to relish the sonorities he is producing, Barta spinning effortless arches of sound and Milne managing to combine warmth and detail. The Hyperion recording is sensitive and truthful … Warmly recommended' (International Record Review)

'Performances of rare precision, fluency, and Romantic warmth' (Fanfare, USA)

'[Rubenstein's] two cello sonatas are undeniably beautiful and are played with much expertise by these fine players' (American Record Guide, USA)

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Recording details: January 2008; Potton Hall, Dunwich, Suffolk, United Kingdom; Produced by Andrew Keener; Engineered by Simon Eadon; Release date: April 2009;