MANILA, Philippines - Following their successful Casals Encores disc, Alban Gerhardt and Cecile Licad are reunited for Fauré’s music for cello and piano. The two cello sonatas are among the masterpieces of the cello repertoire, looking back to the 19th century but also with an edginess that may well reflect the time in which they were written — during and immediately after the First World War.
Alongside the sonatas are some of Fauréís most seductive bon-bons, including the famous Sicilienne and Élégie, and the so-called Papillon (so-named at his publisher’s insistence, much to Fauré’s annoyance who hated fluffy titles).
British music critic Andrew Clements wrote that Gerhardt’s account of Fauré’s two cello sonatas, both late works, repay careful listening. “Like the works themselves, his playing and that of the pianist Cecile Licad is full of subtleties, the half-tones and inflections that make the chamber music of Fauré’s final decade so elusive and fragile. Nothing here is forced or made to conform; whether itís the urgent outpourings of the first movement of the D minor Sonata Op 109 or the utterly different slow movement of the G minor Op 117, the pacing seems perfectly natural, the coloring distinctive.”
Another British music critic, Jeoffrey Norris, wrote: “A gorgeous performance of the well-known Élégie comes as the first of the five ‘encores’ on this magnificent disc devoted for the most part to Fauréís two cello sonatas, the D minor, composed in 1917, and the G minor from 1921. The passion and sorrowful rapture that Alban Gerhardt and Cecile Licad bring to the Élégie are complemented by the yearning ardor of a Romance, the virtuoso flutter and bustle of Papillon, the lyrical sweep of the Sérénade and the delicate lilt of the Sicilienne, which is also familiar in orchestral guise.”
Of the Licad-Gerhardt team-up in Casals Encores CD, the critic noted: “They make a particularly fine duo here, working emotionally in unison, sensing the music’s contours with like mind, breathing as one.”
Also available once again are limited copies of Licad’s Chopin, Ravel and Gottschalk recordings.
Meanwhile, Licad is all set for her first team-up with Macuja and Lea Salonga as well as the Filharmonika orchestra under the baton of Gerard Salonga tomorrow, 8 p.m. at the CCP main theater. Limited orchestra center and left seats priced at P7,000 each including parterre boxes at P5,000 are still available.
Call 748-4152 or 0906-5104270 for free delivery of ordered CDs and concert tickets.