Frédéric Chopin (1810 - 1849) composed the Cello Sonata in G minor, Op. 65 in 1846 and was the last of his works to be published in his lifetime. Felix Mendelssohn (1809 - 1847) composed the Cello Sonata No. 2 in D major, Op. 58 in late 1842 - first half of 1843.

Janos Starker (1924 - 2013) played and recorded, from 1950 to 1965. on the “Lord Aylesford”, the largest cello made by Antonio Stradivarius. In 1965 Starker acquired a Matteo Goffriller cello believed to have been made in Venice in 1705; known previously as the "Ivor James” Goffriller cello, Starker renamed it for its certification as "The Star" cello.

György Sebők (1922 – 1999) gave his first solo piano recital at age 11. At 14, he played Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 1 under conductor Ferenc Fricsay. He was, like Janos Starker, a professor at the Indiana University's Jacobs School of Music in Bloomington.

A powerful broad theme, driven by nervous, throbbing chains of semiquavers (16th notes) in the piano and a vigorously bowe d cello which sings out its melody with a bitter-sweet tone – if every chamber-music work began so invitingly as Mendelssohn’s D major Cello Sonata, then the number of fans of works for small ensemble would rapidly increase. The dedicatee Count Wielhorsky, an excellent amateur cellist, must surely have revelled in this closely-knit work with its waft of salon air. Although it is somewhat astonishing that Mendelssohn’s Cello Sonata is left unmentioned in some music handbooks, this is soon forgotten when one listens to Janos Starker and György Sebök playing the work so resolutely and with such refreshing vitality.
Chopin’s Cello Sonata too undeservedly remains in the shadows thrown by his great piano concertos. Here again, the two musicians prove that they are a perfectly balanced team who complement one another admirably. Their lightning-swift interchanges between intimate, introvert expression and nervous passion, spiralling upwards to the cello’s most dramatic top register, are characteristic for the playing of this world-class virtuoso duo who here present a remarkable recording of two rarely performed masterpieces.

Recorded inJuly 1962 at Town Hall in Watford, United Kingdom, by C. Robert Fine and Robert Eberenz

This Speakers Corner LP was remastered using pure analogue components only, from the original analogue studio tapes through to the cutting head and was pressed with virgin vinyl at Pallas. More information under http://www.pure-analogue.com