Georges ONSLOW (1784-1853)
Cello sonata in F, Op. 16 No. 1 [22:03]
Cello sonata in C minor, Op. 16 No. 2 [31:06]
Cello sonata in A, Op. 16 No. 3 [17:20]
Maria Kliegel (cello); Nina Tichman (piano)
rec. 28-30 November and 1 December 2011, Deutschlandfunk Kammermusicksaal, Cologne, Germany
NAXOS 8.572830 [70:29]
Georges Onslow was born into scandal, as the essay to this CD explains with
glee. His father had been booted from the U.K. Parliament for a gay affair,
fled to France, and there married a rich heiress and proved his ability to
procreate. Young Georges came of age in the shadow of Beethoven, publishing
these cello sonatas in 1821, when Beethoven’s five sonatas were more
or less the only examples of works which put these instruments on an equal
footing.
So there’s a really fantastic air to the Onslow cello sonatas: they’re
at the start of a new repertoire, with only Beethoven as a guide, and they
capture a moment at the dawn of romanticism which also includes the likes
of Schubert, young Mendelssohn, and Cherubini. The first, in F, is a charmer
with good tunes given to the two instruments in equal measure. I find myself
especially attracted to the andante. The third is even more compact, with
a slow movement that’s a mere introduction to the finale. This is a
work with a very light tone, even some humor, until the finale, which begins
with an unexpected minor-key turn - think of Schubert’s last piano sonata.
In between comes the second sonata, an epic work in C minor that spans 31
minutes. It opens with the cello declaring the obligatory troubled main theme,
and its ‘menuetto’ is, like many romantic minuets, a dramatic
scherzo in disguise. There is a very graceful secondary theme, however, and
a trio the delicacy and romanticism of which took me by surprise. Will the
troubled finale’s coda, with its growling low cello notes, come around
in the end to a cheery C major conclusion? Well, actually, no, it won’t.
Maria Kliegel’s playing seems to have become fairly controversial of
late: her tone is big and fluid with lots of ripples of vibrato. These are
very romantic accounts of the sonatas. Nina Tichman is an excellent pianist
and consistently a pleasure to hear; the recorded sound is faultless and balances
the two parties very well. All told, this is a first class production which
sheds light on music I am very glad to have in my collection.
Brian Reinhart
Onslow’s cello sonatas were more or less the first after Beethoven’s,
but they are Onslow’s own, and a great pleasure to hear.
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