AN DIE MUSIK

In Richard Strauss’s early Cello Sonata Op. 6, we hear flickers of his distinct musical personality sprouting amid cracks in a traditional Germanic facade. Not many works from Richard Strauss’s teenage years still get performed, but this one has become part of the repertoire. Piano and cello are woven tight here, in this case moving from the lyrical verve and heavy Brahmsian chords of the opening to a four-part fugue. Mendelssohn’s easy lyricism can be heard in the Romance-like Larghetto while the same composer’s elfin lightness peers through Strauss’s final Allegro vivo. The idea of thematic unity and fluidity, already demonstrated by Schumann, is also present. The genre of the Romance– lyrical with a touch of the sentimental was a favourite of Clara Schumann. So much of what Clara and her husband Robert wrote seems imbued with the idea of partnership; of one entity dependent on another. The equality of the string-piano partnership in her Romances Op. 22 is no exception, even when rendered this arrangement for cello by Torleif Thedéen.

A certain darkness lingers behind the Andante’s restlessness with key and its hints of gypsy music, while even the overtly chipper Allegretto employs a main theme whose octave leaps are some- how lined with pathos. The third Romance, marked ‘Leidenschaftlich schnell’ (‘passionately quick’) is the longest and most intense of the three, the twisting cello melody of the opening returning later in a spiky, staccato form. Always, the music is suggestive of many more moods than immediately meet the ear- the inner life, perhaps, of a woman torn between expectation and impulse. Robert Schumann’s Sonata Op. 105 also puts the two instruments on a balanced footing, ensuring material is equally shared and offered between them. Again, we hear Torleif Thedéen’s own arrangement of the piece for cello and piano here. Apparent in this sonata is the sort of thematic unity that seems to have influenced Strauss — Robert’s idea of recalling tunes and motifs from earlier movements to aid unification and comprehension. Strauss would also, doubtless, have been fascinated by Robert’s unceasing oscillation between major and minor modes, itself lending the music an exploratory feel that allows for melodic evolution. Themes can appear to crop up again and again in different guises. Around and in between these three sizable multi-movement works, Torleif Thedéen and Marianna Shirinyan have chosen to weave smaller works for cello and violin, also in arrangements by Torleif.

Armenian Marianna Shirinyan is known for her vibrant and virtuoso musicianship and is consequently in demand, both as soloist and as chamber musician. She has been a soloist with orchestras such as the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Oslo, Helsinki and Copenhagen Philharmonic Orchestras, and the Potsdamer Kammerakademie and enjoyed collaboration with conductors Andrey Boreyko, Zoltan Kocsis, Antonello Manacorda, Krzysztof Urbanski to name a few. She has long term collaborations with artists such as Torleif Thedéen, Daniel Rowland, Henning Kraggerud, Maja Bogdanovic, Natalie Clein and Lars Anders Tomter. In addition to her thriving performance career as a soloist and chamber musician, she is deeply committed to music education, sharing her passion and knowledge as a professor and mentor. Marianna Shirinyan has curated several chamber music festivals across Scandinavia. Marianna is a Steinway artist.

Swedish cellist Torleif Thedéen is not only a distinguished instrumentalist in the Nordic countries but enjoys an international profile as a recitalist, concerto soloist, recording artist and pedagogue. In a career spanning four decades, Torleif has performed with some of the world’s greatest orchestras, among them the Czech Philharmonic, Netherlands Philharmonic, London Philharmonic, DSO Berlin, Vienna Symphony Orchestra, The Hallé Orchestra, Moscow Philharmonic, City of Birmingham SO, Dresden Philharmonic, Royal Philharmonic and BBC Philharmonic and has worked with conductors including Esa-Pekka Salonen, Paavo Berglund, Neeme Järvi, Paavo Järvi, Franz Welser-Möst, Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Osmo Vänskä, Mario Venzago and Leif Segerstam. As a chamber musician, Torleif has appeared at the world’s main stages with a.o. Janine Jansen, Marianna Shirinyan, Julian Rachlin, Itamar Golan, Maxim Rysanov, Leif Ove Andsnes, Marc-André Hamelin, Lars Anders Tomter, Henning Kraggerud, Roland Pöntinen and Martin Fröst. Torleif is Visiting Professor of cello at the Royal College of Music in London and Professor at the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo. Torleif’s recordings have attracted numerous accolades. He was awarded the Edison Prize in 2018 for his recording of Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time with Martin Fröst, Lucas Debargue and Janine Jansen. His recording of the Shostakovich Cello Concertos won a Cannes Classical Award and his account of the Bach Cello Suites was ‘Recording of the Month’ in BBC Music Magazine. He plays the 1783 Guadagnini cello on loan from the Norwegian Dextra foundation, previously owned by M. Rostropovich.