En direct, Vidéo: Rechercher des critiques de musique classique, opéra et ballet | Sonate pour violoncelle et piano no. 1 en mi mineur, Op.38

Il y a des concerts dont on sort en sachant qu’on ne les oubliera jamais. Des moments extrêmement forts, qu’on ne vit qu’une seule fois mais qui perdurent indéfiniment en nous par leur intensité et leur saveur à nulle autre pareille. Le concert du 10 mars à 21h30 au Centre de Musique de Chambre de Paris (Salle Cortot) était l’une de ces expériences hors du commun

It's all the Bs for Laura van der Heijden and Tom Poster for Music in the Round. 

After tumbling deliriously to the end, if they had played one of Brahms' Hungarian Dances as an encore, they would have had them the audience dancing in the aisles.

The unmistakable approach of the American cellist lent itself easily to both Stravinsky and a recent work by Steven Mackey. It also twisted Brahms a little beyond recognition.

One of the more attractive features of the Sommets Musicaux festival is the series of concerts in Gstaad chapel, each given by a young musician who has been spending the week attending classes, with a mentor – in this case, Mario Brunello – and each including a world première written by the festival’s composer in residence – this year, it’s the turn of Nicolas Bacri.

The talent was top-shelf at Alice Tully Hall on Sunday evening, kicking off 2013 for the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center with a cello sonata by Brahms, and trios by Dvořák and Haydn. Emerson String Quartet violinist Philip Setzer joined co-artistic directors of the Society David Finckel on (cello) and Wu Han (piano).

The Brahms cello sonatas in E minor and F major are two pillars of the cello repertoire and represent, rightly so, the first career peak for performers. Together they cover the full range of emotion, from dark, brooding introspection to the playful nature of the middle movements.

The Small Hall of the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam has had some very exciting chamber music programs this season. Tonight’s concert involved one of the most promising young cellists on the scene, Jakob Koranyi, and pianist Simon Crawford-Phillips. They played a diverse program featuring solo cello pieces by Ligeti and Esa-Pekka Salonen, and cello sonatas by Brahms and Shostakovich.

A recital at the Wigmore Hall is a big deal. To walk onto the stage is to follow in the footsteps of nearly all the great soloists and chamber musicians of the twentieth century, from Saint-Saëns to Vengerov, via Prokofiev and almost anyone else you can think of. A big deal indeed.