Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849)
Sonate pour violoncelle en sol mineur, op. 65
Polonaise, op. 3 "Brillante"

César Franck (1822-1890)
Sonate pour violon en la majeur (version pour piano et violoncelle)

Benedict Kloeckner, violoncelle
Anna Fedorova, piano

Two full blooded romantic Cello Sonatas, each with its own peculiar history and relationship to the instrument. Frédéric Chopin almost exclusively wrote for the piano. His last published work however was the Cello Sonata Op. 65, written for his close friend and cellist Auguste Franchomme. Coincidentally legend has it (as orally testified by Pablo Casals) that Cesar Franck composed his famous Violin Sonata for “violin or cello”, and that a version for cello existed in Franck’s hand, written for…Auguste Franchomme. Be that correct or not, the sonata sounds equally original, forceful and lyrical for cello as for violin. This new recording presents the collaboration between two highly gifted young soloists: Benedict Kloeckner and Anna Fedorova, who deliver a both passionate and intimate performance of these great works. They already successfully recorded Rachmaninoff’s Cello Sonata, issued on Piano Classics PCL0081.