Andreas Brantelio & Francesco Piemontesi

BEETHOVEN, BRAHMS, DEBUSSY, HINDEMITH

EMI is on its knees before him, ECHO named him a Rising Star and BBC a New Generation Artist: the 24-year-old Andreas Brantelid has all the credentials to become a great cellist. As a soloist, this young Dane has proven to have astonishing technical control and musical insight. He can fully utilize these two assets in a program around some highlights from chamber music literature. The cello sonatas of Beethoven and Brahms are among the most famous Romantic works for the instrument. Beethoven's 5th sonata caused quite a stir among critics and audiences in 1815. The tension he builds up in this work and the ultimate fusion between piano and cello were unheard of at the time. The equal treatment of melody and keyboard instruments is also found in Brahms, who wrote his first cello sonata more than fifty years later. This tribute to Bach was extremely popular from the moment it was created. Together with the excellent pianist Rancesco Piemontesi, third finalist at the Queen Elisabeth Competition in 2007, Brantelid introduces us to some pearls from the cello literature of the 20th century.