Brian Thornton / Afendi Yusuf / Spencer Myer DEBUSSY Cello Sonata BRAHMS Clarinet Trio

For his latest album on the Steinway & Sons label, cellist Brian Thornton continues his exploration of great sonatas, this time opening his album with Debussy’s Cello Sonata, which marked the composers first return to chamber music since the String Quartet of 1893. While Debussy was greatly interested in Baroque music, his love for cutting edge musical trends led him to combine many early music elements with harmonies and playing techniques that were modern in his day. One notable example of this can be seen in the second and third movements of the piece, which are played without pause. They feature whimsical mood changes and a variety of special techniques used by the cellist. The last movement alternates between an animated first theme and bursts of dreamy free rhythm sections that juxtapose new and old musical styles.

The second half of the album is devoted to Brahms’ Clarinet Trio, Op. 114. Thornton and Myer, who recorded the composer’s Cello Sonatas for the Steinway label in 2017, are joined here by clarinetist and Thornton’s fellow Cleveland Orchestra member Afendi Yusuf. During a period where Brahms was considering retiring from composition, the revered composer found new inspiration in the clarinet, which he had never used in a chamber work before. In 1891, Brahms met Richard Mühlfeld, principal clarinet in Meiningen, and was immediately entranced. He wrote four major works for the instrument within a short period of time, including the Clarinet Trio featured on this record. According to Peter Laki’s liner notes, the combination of cello, clarinet, and piano in the Clarinet Trio “emphasizes the lower, darker register, which suits the emotional character of the work” and allows each instrument to play off the other in the special way that only Brahms knew how to evoke.

Brian Thornton / Spencer Meyer ROBERT SCHUMANN Works for Cello & Piano

Cellists like to bemoan the paucity of repertory for their instrument, but somehow they overlook the pieces on this fine release by cellist Brian Thornton and pianist Spencer Myer, both musicians associated with the musically rich but underrated Cleveland, Ohio, area. True, two of the main attractions, the Adagio and Allegro, Op. 70, and Fantasiestücke, Op. 73, are better known in other versions, for horn and clarinet, respectively, but Schumann explicitly said that either could be played by a cello and indeed they arguably gain from such treatment. Sample the first of the Fantasiestücke, where the intensity resulting from the cello's prolonged residence in its upper register parallels, and is probably preferable, to an inferior horn performance. Another attraction is the set of Fünf Stücke im Volkston (Five Pieces in Folk Style), which perhaps have been ignored because of their seeming simplicity. In fact this is deceptive; although formally simple, the pieces combine subtle treatment of register, passionate melodies, and a full measure of Schumann's pictorial skill. They get superb, strong performances here from Thornton and Myer, who avoid the temptation to tone the music down and make it cute. Another strong point of the recording is the sound. Steinway's engineers abandon their usual northeastern haunts for a studio at Ohio's Oberlin College with fine results; the intimate but not overbearing sound makes it easy for you to put yourself in the shoes of the music's original hearers. American chamber playing at its best. (James Manheim)