Although Ludwig van Beethoven’s last cello sonata initially startled his contemporaries with its intensity and rawness, we can discover in it just as much of the composer’s other side: an intimate, song-like tone that fits the instrument’s character perfectly. We can even listen to Robert Schumann’s popular Three Romances as songs without words, whose long, meandering melodies alternate with narrative and ballad-like moments. In the same year, 1849, the composer had already composed “an Adagio with a rather elaborate, brilliant Allegro for piano and horn (or cello), and was fond of it.” Clara Schumann shared her husband’s enthusiasm: “The piece is majestic, fresh, and passionate!”

The same can be said of Richard Strauss’s early cello sonata, which the composer wrote at the age of 17. Two years later, he revised the first movement and completely rewrote the second and third – the freshness was the result of hard work. The sonata follows in the footsteps of its Romantic predecessors, particularly Beethoven, Schumann, and Mendelssohn; yet in a few surprising harmonic twists, heroic themes, and unbridled melodies, one can already recognize the Strauss whom the world would soon come to know.

Despite his young age, Swiss-born Zoltán Despond has performed on the most prestigious stages in Western Europe, from the Musikverein in Vienna to the Gewandhaus in Leipzig and the Auditorio Nacional in Madrid. In addition to works by Bach, Beethoven, Schumann, and Brahms, 19th- and 20th-century Russian cello literature occupies a prominent place in his repertoire. One of his most important current projects is his duo with pianist Vesselin Stanev – the audience of BMC first witnessed their sensitive, energetic, and elegant playing in 2023, and now they return to the Concert Hall with a new program.