Cellist Emanuel Gruber's New Album, "Brahms Cello Sonatas"

Released on Bridge Records, the album features three sonatas by Brahms

Bridge Records has released cellist Emanuel Gruber's new album, Brahms Cello Sonatas, recorded with pianist Arnon Erez.

The album includes Brahms' Cello Sonata Op. 38 No. 1 in E Minor and Op. 99 No. 2 in F Major, along with the Adagio from the Violin Sonata Op. 78 in G Major, arranged for cello and piano by Paul Klengel in D Major.

To purchase and listen to the album, click here.

“These sonatas became part of the core cello repertoire along with Bach’s cello suites and Beethoven’s sonatas and variations,” Emanuel stated. “When recording became available, cellists, starting with Pablo Casals, recorded them and inspired us to follow in their steps.”

Composed between 1878-1879, Brahms' Violin Sonata Op. 78 was later arranged for cello by Paul Klengel, a violinist, pianist, composer, and conductor. Klengel was often hired by Brahms' publisher to arrange works by Brahms, even garnering his approval.

In response to Klengel's transcription of his Clarinet Quintet, Brahms wrote, "I look at the arrangement with great pleasure, it seems to me to be a very good one indeed." Klengel's decision to transcribe the violin sonata down a fourth from G to D was to create an optimal register for the cello.

Watch Emanuel perform Brahms' Cello Sonata Op. 99 No. 2 below:

"These Sonatas, Op. 38 and Op. 99, are part of the great cello repertoire," shared Emanuel. "They are very different from one another. In Op. 38, the first movement starts in the low register of the cello to convey a reflective mood. In Op. 99, the first movement starts in the high register, making a powerful heroic statement. In Op. 38, there is no real slow movement. The first movement could be considered the “slow” movement. One can sense that Beethoven’s cello sonatas inspired young Brahms. These sonatas present Brahms’ inner world of drama and intensity, love, tenderness, elegance, and humor. They inspire confidence and positivity."

Emanuel Gruber is a cello and chamber music professor at East Carolina University's School of Music. Before joining the faculty in 2004, he served as principal cellist of the Israel Chamber Orchestra in Tel-Aviv, and played with the Sequoia String Quartet in Los Angeles, Camerata Clarinet Trio, Tel Aviv Piano Quartet, and the Israel Cello Ensemble. Emanuel was awarded the Pablo Casals Prize by the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra and won the Concert Artists Guild Auditions in New York City early in his career.