In the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries many British\ncomposers produced superb works for cello and piano, but few of\nthese actually made their way into the general repertoire. Here we\nhave four very different works by four very distinct musical\npersonalities, performed by the cellist Paul Watkins, an exclusive\nChandos artist, accompanied by his brother, Huw Watkins.

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The sonata by Frederick Delius is the most widely known of the\nfour pieces. Composed in a single, concise movement, it opens with\na tune that sounds at one moment bold, and at the next wistful. The\nmusic progresses in the almost endless melodic flow so\ncharacteristic of Delius, before dissolving into a dream-like\nstate, and finally, rising to a triumphant, full-hearted\nclimax.

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By the beginning of the 1900s, Sir Hubert Parry, as Director of\nthe Royal College of Music, and patron of many musical\ninstitutions, was probably the most influential figure in British\nmusic. His Cello Sonata is a work of high romanticism, tempered by\nfirm structural control and the organic development of themes – as\nbefits a composer who had aspired (although unsuccessfully) to\nstudy with Brahms. The melodic language could in fact be described\nas Brahmsian, although Parry does not stringently imitate Brahms’s\nstyle, and in terms of structure, Parry’s strongly lyrical sonata\nowes little to the work which might have seemed a natural model –\nBrahms’s Sonata in E minor.

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Sir Granville Bantock took much of his inspiration from distant\nand exotic shores. The term ‘Hamabdil’ refers to a hymn\ntraditionally sung after the blessings said at the conclusion of\nthe Jewish Sabbath. Bantock’s evocative elaboration of this\ntraditional tune is austere and dignified, and originated in an\nentr’acte which was part of the incidental music that he had\nwritten for Arnold Bennett’s play Judith, premiered in London in\n1919.

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Out of the four composers on this disc, only John Foulds was a\nprofessional cellist. His sonata is a big and bold work,\nromantically expressive and emotionally charged, with a complex\nstructure in place, and virtuoso writing for both instruments. In\nfact, in this true duo-sonata, it is the pianist, not the cellist,\nwho often has the harder task to perform.

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