After establishing a new genre with his Sonatas for Piano and Cello, op.5, Beethoven returned to it a decade later, working on his Sonata in A major, op.69, in parallel with his Fifth and Sixth symphonies. With its unexpected shifts of harmony and mood, this is a work filled with virtuoso flourishes and experimental surprise, elements shared in the defiance of convention and lyrical brilliance of the two Sonatas, op.102. Beethoven considered Handel to be ‘the greatest composer that ever lived’, demonstrating pianistic dexterity in the Variations, WoO45 on the popular melody ‘See the conqu’ring hero comes’. The first volume in this series is available on Naxos 8574529.

Beethoven was very accommodating in making sure that his music for cello and piano fitted neatly onto two discs, and with the attractive variety in these sonatas and variations this has been a fruitful and popular field for this kind of duo. With no shortage of choice this would seem a tricky part of the market to enter, but Gabriel Schwabe and Nicholas Rimmer are now well established and widely admired Naxos artists with each new release attracting good sales figures. This second volume will certainly be snapped up by those who acquired Vol.1 (8574529) on its release in September 2024.

Schwabe and Rimmer’s Naxos recordings include Cello Sonatas and Songs by Brahms (8573489), with Schwabe’s ‘beautifully smooth and sweet tone’ admired in Fanfare. Schwabe has also recorded an album of sonatas with pianist Roland Pöntinen, Russian Ballads (8574377), on which MusicWeb International commented that ‘this disc is delightful, and the well-chosen pieces certainly show the cello in all its majesty’.