A programme that is both fascinating for the audience and challenging for the soloists, who must perform works of various stylistic genres with very different soundscapes, summoning up their emotions as well as their virtuosity.
The programme’s opening piece is a composition –rarely performed these days– by Spanish cellist Gaspar Cassadó, inspired by the baroque style of Frescobaldi. It is followed by the central work of the first part, Brahms’ Second sonata for cello and piano, a crowning compositional achievement for the cello, in four parts – four different worlds of a mature, complex and impetuous work.
In the second part, two favourite romantic works by Schumann and Chopin, with the Polonaise giving the leading role to the pianist, together with two compositions by Hungarian artists: Kodaly’s masterly miniature and the virtuosic Rhapsody by Popper (a teacher of Janos Starker, who in turn was a teacher of Yannis Tsitselikis), with the characteristic accompaniment in the style of the cimbalom – the Hungarian equivalent of the Greek santouri.