I am off for home....back in a bit.
Beethoven wrote five sonatas for cello and piano, and on Friday night we’re going to hear the second sonata, which is an early piece. Lou wrote the piano part for himself, and the cello doesn’t get quite the spotlight that it gets in the last three sonatas. Beethoven wasn’t quite sure enough of his style to write a slow movement for cello – that would come later – so he wrote a slow introduction instead for this two movement piece.
This video is of Richter and Rostropovich from about 50 years ago from Soviet television. They were two of the greatest musical giants of the 20th Century. Listen to what they do with this piece.