Unknown chamber music
Pan-Verlag has made works by the cello virtuoso Johann Benjamin Gross from the early Romantic period available.
Johann Benjamin Gross (1809-1848) was principal cellist at the Leipzig Gewandhaus and played in the imperial orchestra in St. Petersburg from 1837. Until recently, the works of this contemporary of Mendelssohn and Schumann were almost completely forgotten. The writing virtuoso dedicated the majority of his compositions to his own instrument, but he also wrote several string quartets, as he was the chamber music partner of the famous Belgian violinist Henri Vieuxtemps in Russia.
Pan-Verlag has published several works by Gross for the first time. Three editions in particular should be mentioned here:
- The three-movement Sonata in C major for two cellos moves within the 1st and 5th registers, whereby the composer skillfully exploits the tonal possibilities of the limited range. Thanks to the easy technical demands, the work is well suited for teaching purposes. One small drawback to this first edition: it contains two individual parts, but no score.
- The Capriccio op. 6 (Pan 1602) on a theme from Étienne-Nicolas Méhul's opera Joseph in Egypt for violoncello and bass is an effective virtuoso piece whose variation form corresponds to the zeitgeist of early Romanticism. While the solo part demands brilliant bowing technique and secure (thumb) position playing, the bass part is assigned a purely accompanying function.
- The Sonata in B minor op. 7 for cello and piano (Pan 1603) is stylistically close to Mendelssohn and represents a significant enrichment of the duo repertoire from the first half of the 19th century. Together with songs and the String Quartet in F minor op. 37.3, it has been recorded on the Laborie Records label (performers: Quatuor Mosaïques; Michael Dahmen, baritone; Yoko Kaneko, piano; Christophe Coin, violoncello).
Johann Benjamin Gross: Sonata in C major for 2 violoncellos, edited by Folckert Lüken-Isberner, PAN 1600, € 10.00, Pan, Kassel
id.: Capriccio op. 6 for violoncello and bass, PAN 1602, € 16.00
id.: Sonata in B minor op. 7 for violoncello and piano, PAN 1603, € 19.00
