Beethoven recital — Marie-Elisabeth Hecker, Emmanuelle Bertrand, Frank van de Laar + Martin Helmchen

Beethoven’s artistic development and French romanticism

This Cello Biënnale will see a performance of every cello and piano composition by Beethoven, spread out over four concerts. Marie-Elisabeth Hecker takes on the lion’s share with her duo partner, master pianist Martin Helmchen. At this concert, they perform Beethoven’s first and his last cello sonata in the Everything by Beethoven series. These two sonatas perfectly illustrate the artistic development of the composer: travelling from the almost ‘pianistically dominant’ early sonata to the later, more complex sonata, in which the cello and the piano have become equal partners.

Apart from Beethoven’s Bei Männern welche Liebe fühlen, Emmanuelle Bertrand also performs two works from the French romantic era: Solitude by Rita Strohl, who only recently became well-known, and Saint-Saëns’ monumental Sonata No. 1.

This concert is a part of Everything by Beethoven.