Brahms Cello Sonata E minor - Finale

Anna Larsen (11) and Ekaterina Zhuk (15) from Moscow Central Conservatory play this cello finale at St Mark's Summer Music Camp. This is a very difficult fugue to put together, and the cellist learned the entire piece in less than a week! We've also found it's challenging to get balance right on this piece. Here, we should have opened the lid. What also makes this performance impressive, this is probably the only time you'll ever see this piece played where both artists have their part memorized. The recap from 5:15 onwards is most electrifying.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Anna Larsen
• Brahms Cello Sonata
• E minor
• Katerina Zhuk

[zhukastik]

I haven't found the name of the cellist in the description. Fortunately I know her - Ekaterina Zhuk, 15yo cellist from Russia :)

[LarsenPiano]

@zhukastik Yes! It's strange, I put the name in the description after getting her permission to put her name, but it didn't update. I hope it's correct now. You have the same last name? If you are related, I'll please say congratulations, she is most amazing. I wish she and Anna could play many more pieces together.

[LarsenPiano]

@zhukastik Hmmm, it's still not updating. I'll check it again tomorrow, and hope it's fixed. Sometimes the updates take a while to implement. Thanks for pointing this out.

[plvsbpb]

Anna! This is so interesting- Look at Contrapunctus 13 from Bach's Art of the Fugue- it's practically identical. Anyways, I'm very impressed with your progression, and amazing job for such a short time!

[LarsenPiano]

@plvsbpb Thanks for pointing that Bach out! They only had 3 rehearsals.  It would be much better with a little more time.

[pianist1972]

Brava to both performers...my sense is that it's a touch fast, especially at the coda, which doesn't have room to go much faster, and is marked that way. It's actually in the contrasting sections with the noodling cello figure that felt especially fast. Cello intonation started to suffer a bit as well as it went, esp. getting into thumb position. It's important for pianists to know where the spots are that need a bit of time for the cellist. Brahms takes living with.

[pianist1972]

Brava to both performers...my sense is that it's a touch fast. It's important to hear the counterpoint in the piece, and that's where acoustic plays into the mix. It's actually in the contrasting sections with the noodling cello figure that felt especially fast. Cello intonation started to suffer a bit as well as it went, esp. getitng into thumb position. It's important for pianists to know where the spots are that need a bit of time for the cellist.

[LarsenPiano]

@hamiltonrrw Hi Bill, I didn't forget. Sometimes we've found people don't want their names posted, so I learned to check first. If it's annonymous, no one would ever be able to find it by searching the name. But it's all cleared now and we had her permission, and we have her name with it, as it should be!

[ModelDX1]

Awesome every time.

[Yudhi1950]

Brava, Brave. Thank you again, Anna.

[chobeethaninov]

Bravo! This sounds like a fun piece! It's always nice to hear you play chamber music, Anna. You are an absolute natural at it.