George Onslow: Sonates pour violoncelle et piano, Op. 16

Featuring

Emmanuel Jacques
Maude Gratton
George Onslow

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Instruments

Emmanuel Jacques plays a cello made by Jacques Boquay in Paris in 1726 and a bow by Alexandre Aumont, a copy of one by F.X. Tourte.

Recording & Production

This recording was made at La Ferme de Villefavard in Limousin, a venue known for its exceptional acoustics designed by international acoustician Albert Yaying Xu.

Compositional Technique

Onslow's sonatas break from the French tradition where the piano was supreme, instead championing equal roles for instruments, similar to Beethoven.

Critical Reception

The German press, specifically the Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung, described Onslow as having a 'richly inventive mind' and a 'varied and original idiom'.

Critical Reception

Hector Berlioz, a French Romantic composer, praised Onslow's ability to handle contrasting styles, admiring the 'calm beauty of several of his adagios and the effervescent vigour of most of his finales'.

Composition History

George Onslow's Three Sonatas for Cello and Piano, Op. 16, published in 1820, were the first sonatas of their kind in France.

Composer Biography

George Onslow, a cellist himself, dedicated his Sonatas Nos. 1 and 2 to Charles Baudiot and Louis Norblin, both professors at the Paris Conservatoire.