Henriette Bösmans - cello sonata, nocturne and impressions (2025, cpo)

[eschiss1]

Performed by Raphael Wallfisch and Ed Spanjaard. The cello sonata in A minor of 1919 sounds Brahmsian in a "actually listened" rather than generic way (Brahmsian here is not, as so often, just a placeholder for "late-19th-century Germany-area music" but includes some of that composer's more interesting qualities, like the use of 3 against 2 for restless forward motion in the first movement. Note that I do not mean boring*). More on the rest as I've heard it- only just beginning to listen (so haven't gotten to the Nocturne or Impressions), I admit sheepishly, but it sounds like a fine disc so far.

*pointing out possible influences is tricky that way, of course... and as to Brahms himself, unlike others here, I very much do not find him boring either, especially once past the half-dozen best known works- and with a terrific performance of those, even.