Mendelssohn, Grieg & Hough: Cello Sonatas — review

Mendelssohn, Grieg & Hough

Cello Sonatas

Steven Isserlis

(Hyperion)

With its euphoric fusion of sentiment and energy Mendelssohn’s Cello Sonata No 2 in D major might have been made for this duo.

Steven Isserlis, cellist, supplies the rush of emotion and Stephen Hough, pianist, the glittering, fleet-footed accompaniment. They are no less uplifting in Grieg’s Cello Sonata in A minor (the key of the Piano Concerto, itself recalled from time to time), though Grieg feels heavy-handed after the Mendelssohn.

In between comes Hough’s own Sonata for cello and piano left hand, “Les Adieux”, edgy and melancholy, until its final, haunting fade away into the distance.