Review of Saul Gabetta-Mendelssohn: Works for Cello

They have known each other for a long time, they appreciate each other and are now releasing another album together after Schumann and Chopin: Saul Gabetta and Bertrand Chamayo recorded works for cello and piano by Felix Mendelssohn. There are also pieces, some adapted, some compositionally independent, that relate directly to Mendelssohn's “Songs Without Words.” We know from Sol Gabetta that she can get a clear, warm sound from her instrument. It worked here too. She does not tend to exaggerate, but seeks a flexible tone design that remains organically integrated into the mood and dramatic progression. Bertrand Chamayo plays Mendelssohn's original works on a historic Blüthner grand piano, and in the second part of the album on a modern Steinway. Rather, he extracts the subtleties from the old machine.

Works by Mendelssohn, Holliger, Rehm, Weidmann and Cole

Saul Gabetta (cello), Bertrand Chamayo (piano)
Sony classic

Bertrand Chamayo

Bertrand Chamayo was born in Toulouse and was discovered early by the pianist Jean-François Hesser, who later became Chamayo's teacher at the Paris Conservatoire. Additional studies then took Bertrand Chamayo to Maria Curcio in London, among others. With him…continue

Sol Gabetta

Her parents noticed her musical talent in her early childhood, when Sol Gabetta began taking cello lessons. She was born in Villa Maria, Argentina in 1981, and received many musical works when she was only ten years old.