Jir� Barta, Hamish Milne - Moscheles & Hummel: Cello Sonatas

Johann Nepomuk Hummel and Ignaz Moscheles were frequently bracketed together in their day as the two piano virtuosos by whom�before the brilliant star of Liszt rose on the horizon�other performers might be measured.Moscheles wrote his rich and virtuosic cello sonata in 1850/1, treating the piano and cello as equals. In movement three, subtitled �in Bohemian manner�, he reflects on his childhood in Prague with a rhythmic, folk-like melody that follows the form of a dumka. The sonata is dedicated to his friend and musical admirer Robert Schumann, who wrote thanking Moscheles saying: �You have given me joy and done me honour with the dedication of your sonata. More than thirty years ago in Carlsbad, when I was quite unknown to you, I refused to part with a concert ticket for a long time because you had touched it, so I kept it as if it were a relic. Little did I dream that I would be honoured in this way by so famous a master. Please accept my deepest gratitude!�Moscheles was also something of a pioneer and was keen to awaken an interest in composers such as Bach, Handel and Scarlatti who he felt were being unduly neglected. In 1864 he published a set of so-called �Melodisch-contrapunktische Studien�, making use of ten preludes from Bach�s Well-tempered Clavier and adding a cello obbligato.Hummel�s graceful Cello Sonata in A major is romantic, spacious and immediately attractive. It glides along with the cello expressively �singing� over a rippling piano accompaniment; and the contrasting extrovert final pages of the third movement provide an exuberant ending.This is Jir� Barta�s first recording on Hyperion.