Cellist Steven Isserlis and pianist Connie Shih have released their new album, Schumann & Moscheles: 1851 Cello Sonatas, on the Hyperion Records label.

The album revolves around the year 1851, which is the year the Érard piano (played by Shih on the recording) won an award at the Great Exhibition in London. The album's two sonatas, Ignaz Moscheles' Cello Sonata in E Major, Op. 121, and Robert Schumann's Violin Sonata No. 2 in D Minor, Op. 121, arranged for cello by Isserlis, were composed in the same year.

To present a more complete portrayal of the musical landscape of 1851, Isserlis and Shih interspersed the album's program with four miniatures composed during the same year by Schumann, Ferdinand David, and Charles Gounod. Remarkably, the composers and works presented on the album are deeply intertwined; Moscheles's sonata was dedicated to Schumann, while Schumann's was dedicated to David.

According to Isserlis, the inspiration between the collection of repertoire was the result of serendipitous encounters. "A few years ago, a violinist in my class at Prussia Cove played me the Schumann D minor sonata—and I fell completely in love with it," he told The Violin Channel. "What a masterpiece! Then, a couple of years later, I was looking at Moscheles’ sonata, which has always interested me, partially because it was dedicated to Schumann—and which had been warmly recommended to me by the conductor Nic McGegan, who loves it. And then it struck me that both sonatas were written in 1851—which was the same year as the Érard piano, with which Denes Varjon and I had recorded Schubert and Chopin sonatas a few years ago, had been made. So it seemed like fate—I had to make a recording dedicated to that year!"

Hear the full album below:

 

Cellist Steven Isserlis CBE appears regularly as a soloist with leading orchestras, and his current 2025/2026 season includes performances with the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and the London Philharmonic Orchestra. An avid chamber musician, he has curated series at venues such as Wigmore Hall, the 92nd St Y in New York, and the Salzburg Festival. In addition to performing, Isserlis has written two children's books, contributes to a variety of journalistic publications, and serves as the Artistic Director of the International Musicians’ Seminar at Prussia Cove.

Canadian pianist Connie Shih made her debut as a soloist with the Seattle Symphony Orchestra at the age of nine, and in 1993, she won the Sylva Gelber Award for most outstanding classical artist under the age of 30. She has made chamber music appearances at Wigmore and Carnegie Halls, the Bath Music Festival, Aldeburgh, Cheltenham, and the Kronberg Festival. She is on the faculty at Italy's Casalmaggiore Festival.