Endler Hall Launch Concerts

Luis Magalhães, pianist and partner in TwoPianists Records, has teamed up with Peter Martens, cellist and Artistic Director of the Stellenbosch University Camerata, in a ground breaking recording captured on a beautifully packaged two CD set of all Beethoven’s Cello Sonatas. These sonatas for cello and piano (or as the title page of the first two sonatas suggests: for piano and cello) will be performed in two recitals at 16:00 and 20:00 on 20 November in the Endler Hall, Stellenbosch.

This unique interpretation is the result of a collaboration with Beethoven specialist, Dr. Stewart Young in which the artists have striven to create a fresh and vibrant new rendition of these works. On-going research has revealed that Beethoven had very specific ideals with regard to interpretation, maintaining that the character and mood of his works is inextricably linked to performance at the ‘right tempo’. In his 1846 publication, Carl Czerny, respected friend and colleague of Beethoven, corroborates this and brings to light substantial and significant information on these sonatas, which for the first time in history, now serves as an interpretative basis for a commercial recording.

This Marathon of the complete Beethoven Cello and Piano Sonatas in two recitals forms part of a nationwide tour celebrating the release of a double CD by Martens and Magalhães. The first concert features the Sonata in C major Op. 102 no. 1 and the Sonata in F major Op. 5 no. 1. The Sonata in A major Op. 69, regarded by many as the most beautiful of the set will end the recital. At 20:00 the program includes the Sonata in G minor Op. 5 no. 2 and the Sonata in D major Op. 102 no. 2. This concert will open with the rarely heard Sonata in F major Op. 17, more well-known as a sonata for French horn and piano, but transcribed for cello by the composer himself.

Tickets are available at Computicket outlets countrywide or on 083 915 8000. Prices at R130 and student/pensioner tickets R100 for both performances. Box office at the Endler Hall will open at 15:00 on the day of the concert and will sell individual tickets. For further enquiries, please call Leon van Zyl on 071 896 5790 during office hours.