John-Henry Crawford & Victor Santiago Asuncion - Dialogo (2021) [Hi-Res]

American cellist John Henry Crawford was named "Young Artist of the Year" by the Classical Recording Foundation in 2019, and his debut album demonstrates exceptional insight and nuance in a varied and fascinating program, performed with pianist Victor Asuncion. Playing a rare 200-year-old cello smuggled out of Austria by his grandfather, Robert Popper, John Henry Crawford performs Sonatas by Brahms and Shostakovich alongside Ligeti’s Solo Sonata.

Brahms insisted that the piano was the cello’s equal in his Cello Sonatas and the F major Sonata gives Victor Asuncion plenty of opportunities to shine. Ligeti’s Solo Sonata has had a turbulent journey from romantic gesture to Soviet censorship to staple of the repertoire, and Shostakovich’s D minor Sonata grew out of a troubled time in his life, but in both cases the cello is given an array of lyrical, passionate and technically demanding material, performed here with great flair.