Deeply expressive, virtuosic cello sonatas from Sheku and Isata Kanneh-Mason

Sheku and Isata Kanneh-Mason
© James Hole

Sheku Kanneh-Mason (cello)

Isata Kanneh-Mason (piano)

7.30pm, Tuesday 28 May 2024

Barbican Hall, London

★★★★

Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1947): Cello Sonata No. 1 in B flat major, Op. 45

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827): Cello Sonata No. 5 in D major, Op. 102 No. 2

Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924): Cello Sonata No. 1 in D minor, Op. 109

Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849): Cello Sonata in G minor, Op. 65

Encore:

Chopin: Largo from Cello Sonata in G minor, Op. 65

Sheku & Isata Kanneh-Mason
© Nick Boston

Mendelssohn:

'It is a lightly joyful work, and Sheku and Isata played with nimble delicacy'.

Beethoven:

'From the funereal opening, with Isata’s low soft chords and Sheku’s long sustained line, right through to the final falling harmonies and low cello notes to end, they showed remarkable sensitivity in this typically profound late Beethovenian statement'.

Fauré:

'Sheku and Isata passed the melodic fragments back and forth, with some deft pedalling from Isata in the central movement in particular to avoid muddying the line among the rich textures'.

Chopin:

'... it was the sad, lyrical Largo that sat at the heart of this performance, Sheku and Isata at their expressive best, each seamlessly taking the baton of sustained melody from the other'.

Isata & Sheku Kanneh-Mason
© Nick Boston

'This was an impressive evening from two rapidly maturing performers, not afraid to bring chamber music to audiences more familiar with more standard virtuosic concerto displays'. 

Read my full review on Bachtrack here.

Moving intimacy in Sheku and Isata Kanneh-Mason’s impressive Chamber Prom - BBC Proms 2020 Live

Isata & Sheku Kanneh-Mason
© BBC/Chris Christodoulou

  Sheku Kanneh-Mason (cello) 

  Isata Kanneh-Mason (piano)

  BBC Proms 2020 Live

  8pm, Friday 11 September, 2020, BBC4

  (first broadcast Sunday 6 September

  2020, BBC Radio 3, 

  recorded Thursday 27 August 2020)

  Royal Albert Hall, London

  ★★★★★

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827): Cello Sonata No. 4 in C major, Op. 102 No. 1

Samuel Barber (1910-1981): Cello Sonata, Op. 6

Frank Bridge (1879-1941): Mélodie

Sergei Rachmaninov (1873-1943): Cello Sonata in G minor, Op. 19

© BBC/Chris Christodoulou

Beethoven:

'The Kanneh-Masons enjoyed the conversational exchanges in the two movement’s slow openings, whilst giving the fast sections that follow in both cases great energy and momentum'.

Barber:

'The exquisite mixture of sunlight and sadness was as transparent in his facial expression as in the passion of both performers’ rendering of Barber’s late Romantic outpourings'.

Bridge:

'Sheku and Isata remained in total sync, right to the perfectly timed finish'.

Rachmaninov:

'The sibling closeness shone through, and despite those two huge ‘solo’ parts, they played as one'.

Read my full review on Bachtrack here.