Brahms, J. / Strauss, R. / Herzogenberg, H.: Cello Sonatas (Brahms and His Contemporaries, Vol. 2)

Featuring

Johannes Moser
Paul Rivinius
Richard Strauss
Heinrich Peter Freiherr von Herzogenberg
Johannes Brahms

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Album & Artwork

This album, "Brahms and his Contemporaries Vol. II", is part of a three-part series exploring compositional developments and influences in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Composer Biography

Heinrich von Herzogenberg, born in 1843, was a composer from old French nobility who studied law and composition in Vienna and later became a professor of composition in Berlin.

Composer's Artistic Vision

The album's concept uses Johannes Brahms' cello sonatas as a starting point to explore the rich musical landscape of his era, rather than portraying him as a sole "fixed star."

Performer Biography

Johannes Moser, the cellist on this recording, gained international recognition after winning the 12th Tchaikovsky Competition in 2002, where he also received a special prize for his interpretation of the Rococo Variations.

Interpretation

Pianist Paul Rivinius and cellist Johannes Moser used a slender vibrato and largely avoided the piano pedal to achieve maximum transparency in the multi-layered parts of the Brahms sonata.

Interpretation

For the Brahms sonata, cellist Johannes Moser and pianist Paul Rivinius aimed for a flowing, relentless character, inspired by Baroque forms and Brahms's appreciation for Bach, avoiding overly significant tempi.

Composer Biography

Richard Strauss, born in 1864, came from a bourgeois family of musicians in Munich and was expected to achieve a comparable stature in the 20th century as Brahms did in the 19th.