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Duke Arts Presents

Steven Isserlis, Cello & Robert Levin, Fortepiano

Saturday, February 23, 2019 | 8:00 pm

Chamber Arts Series

Baldwin Auditorium


Steven Isserlis plays with great passion. His rich and muscular sound, combined with interpretive sensitivity, has made him one of world’s preeminent cellists. Pianist and conductor Robert Levin has held a post at Harvard for twenty-five years, where a prize for outstanding musicianship bears his name. As a performer, he is particularly known for his imaginative cadenzas. The two musicians first played Beethoven’s Cello Sonatas together in 2004, the beginning of an inspiring collaboration. “Isserlis’ playing always has spirit to spare. But the fortepiano ensures an even fresher sense of discovery to his cello odyssey,” The Guardian raves.

In Durham, Isserlis and Levin perform three Beethoven sonatas and a set of variations. They begin with the first of the five, Sonata No. 1 in F Major, which favors the fortepiano, with the cello sporadically flying into the high registers. They continue with the last of the five, No. 5 in D Major — concise, concentrated, and rich. They then interject a much lighter moment, the delightful set of variations Beethoven wrote on the birdcatcher Papageno’s aria from Mozart’s The Magic Flute. The program concludes with the grand third sonata, op. 69 in A Major, a fitting conclusion for such a grand duo of perfectly matched musicians.

Program

Beethoven: Cello Sonata No. 1 in F Major, op. 5, no. 1

Beethoven: Cello Sonata No. 5 in D Major, op. 102, no. 2

Beethoven: 12 Variations on “Ein Mädchen oder Weibchen” from The Magic Flute, op. 66

Beethoven: Cello Sonata No. 3 in A Major, op. 69



Steven Isserlis 'Schumann Cello Concerto Op. 129 Complete'

Robert Levin 'Free Fantasy Improvisation in the Style of Mozart'

Steven Isserlis 'Bach Cello Suite No.3: Sarabande'


“Isserlis’s and Levin’s is a shared experience of audacity and spirituality.”

Gramophone