MENDELSSOHN

摘要

I was very impressed last year with Paul Watkins in Britten's Cello Symphony [CHAN 10658]. Here, with his (six years younger) pianist brother - a nimble-fingered Mendelssohnian - he plays some very different music. The two Sonatas frame the only Song without Words specifically written for cello and piano and the Variations concertantes, composed when aged 19. None of the music has great depth, but what charm - not least in the Scherzo (with pizzicati) from the Second Sonata. With half an ear on Beethoven's Op.69 perhaps? The recordings were produced at Potton Hall and make out a good case for high-res (Avie's similar programme with Meneses/ Wyss, also done at this venue, is limited to MP3). I particularly liked the balance over headphones: piano to the left and slightly behind the cellist.