Cellist Jeein You joins the Classeek Ambassador Programme under the recommendation of Gautier Capuçon, bringing us a wide-ranging virtuosic recital programme with pianist Samuel Parent. Bookending the evening are arrangements and reimaginings of much-loved operas: Granados’s Goyescas and Bizet’s Carmen.

Goyescas was the last of Granados’s six operas, beginning life as a series of piano pieces inspired by the lavish paintings of Francisco Goya, a fellow Spaniard who had dominated the art scene a century earlier. These were later expanded into an opera, but the Intermezzo doesn’t feature in the original scores. It was added later – as many intermezzos are – to allow for staging changes between scenes. Despite this late edition, it has developed a life of its own beyond the opera halls, becoming a popular independent concert piece, performed in both orchestral and chamber arrangements. Evocative and dramatic, it is full of technical and musical challenges for both cellist and pianist, with Spanish influences heard throughout.

Moving from the sounds of Spain to the textures and sonorities of the Russian church, we are introduced to Rachmaninov’s Cello Sonata in G minor, one of his most famous pieces of chamber music. Neither instrument is dominant here, with the piano introducing themes which are then embellished and expanded upon in the cello line. Written in 1901, it was a particularly critical time for Rachmaninov as a composer. He had endured a nervous breakdown and subsequent mental health crisis in 1897 following the failure of his First Symphony. 1901 signalled his return to his creative powers. His now hugely popular Second Piano Concerto was premiered in November, around the same time he started work on this sonata. 

We are brought back to the opera hall to finish, with Buxton Orr’s brilliant rendering of Bizet’s much-loved Carmen. Devised as an encore piece for a recital in 1985 New York, Orr’s Fantasy exploits the cello’s capabilities with double stopping, plucked notes and fast passages, while also remaining loyal to the original keys and Bizet’s musical style. It’s far from a whistle-stop tour of the opera’s famous tunes – they are merely hinted at, instead offering us an entirely new virtuoso composition.

Programme notes by Freya Parr