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Schubert: Quintet D956, Webern: Complete Cello Music
Anton von Webern
Two Romantic Pieces for cello and piano
Three Small Pieces for cello and piano op 11
Cello Sonata op post
Franz Schubert
Quintet for two violins, viola and two cellos in C Major D956
Martin Rummel, cello
Christoph Eggner, piano
Akadémia Quartet Budapest
In 1995 I was teaching at the Holzhauser Musiktage, then under the artistic direction of violinist Dénes Zsigmondy who always attracted a large number of very talented Hungarian students. Four of those were the members of the Akadémia Quartet Budapest and we somehow kept in touch over the years. In the early 2000s we played the Schubert Quintet together a number of times, once being the memorial concert on the first anniversary of my mother's death. It was around that time that we recorded it, and I still feel very privileged to have shared this special moment with the quartet. Playing the second cello part in the Schubert Quintet is one of the most rewarding things a cellist can do ...
Coupling the Schubert quintet with anything is very difficult, especially because I feel a very strong connection with Schubert that goes far beyond affection of the music. I am still happy with the first C Major chord of the quintet rising from the emotional turbulences of Webern's expressive sonata movement. The op 11 pieces and the two Romantic pieces are certainly amongst the most intense music ever written for cello and in this intensity match the Schubert Quintet, even if it is an entirely different language.