Award-winning recital partners American cellist Madelyn Kowalski and Colombian pianist Maurizio Arroyo Reyes perform a recital of French and Czech music written during conflict. They begin with one of Debussy’s last three sonatas, written in 1915 and originally subtitled ‘Pierrot is angry at the moon’. Twenty-five years later during the Second World War, Poulenc sketched out his cello sonata with completely different textures, lighter in feel with theatrical flair. The duo’s final work, Martinu’s Variations on a Theme of Rossini, was written in 1942 and dedicated to the esteemed Russian cellist of the time Gregor Piatigorsky.
This recital was recorded in January 2021 at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.
Debussy: Sonata No 1 for cello and piano in D min
Poulenc: Sonata for cello and piano
Martinu: Variations on a Theme of Rossini H.290
Madelyn Kowalski, cello
Maurizio Arroyo Reyes, piano
Presented by Kate Molleson
Produced by Laura Metcalfe