Solo Cello Sonatas

- A new recording with Sonatas for Solo Violoncello by Pieter Wispelwey, whose first recording for Globe of the three Suites for Solo Violoncello by Benjamin Britten was (and still is) such an immense success. The Britten CD was awarded a "Diapason d'or" in France. Michael Jameson wrote about this CD in Gramophone of August 1992: "... I know of no other player who reveals the subliminal architecture and conceptual mastery of these taxing and intellectually demanding works with such clarity".

- Next to Britten's Sonatas, the over 36 minutes lasting Solo Sonata by Kodaly is one of the most important works for the cello written during this century. The two other works on this CD are rlatively unknown, but also master pieces in their own right. Rudolf Escher started his sonata during World War II and finished the piece in 1948, and George Crumb, nowadays known as the "alchemist" of music, wrote his sonata during his study years in Berlin. Both works are among the major contributions to the contemporary repertory for solo cello.

- This CD is undoubtedly one of the major contributions to the catulogue, and we are certain that reviewers and public will be even more ecstatic about this CD than they already were about GLO 5074.

Pieter Wispelwey received his early training from Dicky Boeke and Anner Bijlsma in Amsterdam, and continued his studies with Paul Katz in the USA and William Pleeth In England. His repertoire ranges from J.S. Bach to Carter, Kagel and Schnlttke. He regularly plays the complete solo cello suites by Bach and Britten and the complete sonatas by Beethoven and Brahms in his many recitals, the latter with Paul Komen, and in the USA with Lois Shapiro, as his piano partner. He also performs frequently as a soloist with orchestras and has recently played concertos by Dvorak, Tchaikovsky, Shostakovich, Elgar, Haydn, Dutilleux and Schnittke. Pieter Wispelwey gave his debut performance in the recital hall of the Amsterdam Concertgebouw in 1986 with a Beethoven recital. In 1985, he won the Elisabeth Evers Prize, an award given biennially to the most promising young Dutch musician. More recently the prestigious Netherlands Music Prize has been awarded to him. For GLOBE he also recorded the three Suites for Solo Cello by Benjamin Britten (GLO 5074).