Cellist Emanuel Gruber has released his new album Beethoven: Music for Cello and Piano on the Bridge Records label.

The recording, which also features pianist Arnon Erez, presents Ludwig van Beethoven's five sonatas for cello and piano, which were composed between 1796 and 1815. In addition, the album's program includes three sets of variations: Twelve Variations on a theme of Handel's "Judas Maccabeus," WoO 45, Twelve Variations on a theme from Mozart's "The Magic Flute," Op. 66, and Seven Variations on a theme from Mozart's "The Magic Flute," WoO 46.

"It is fortunate for cellists that Beethoven wrote five sonatas and three sets of variations," writes Gruber. "These pages of chamber music, some of the finest chamber music ever written, bring in the cello as equal partner to the piano."

"Beethoven wrote in his letters that whoever immersed himself in his music would be elevated to a place beyond suffering," Gruber continues. "Arnon and I hope that our interpretation will transport you, the listener, beyond daily cares to a place of aesthetic pleasure."

 

 

Cellist Emanuel Gruber is a professor of cello and chamber music at East Carolina University's School of Music, and since last July, was named the school's Hardy Distinguished Professor in String Pedagogy. Before joining the faculty in 2004, he served as principal cellist of the Israel Chamber Orchestra in Tel-Aviv, and played with the Sequoia String Quartet in Los Angeles, Camerata Clarinet Trio, Tel Aviv Piano Quartet, and the Israel Cello Ensemble. Emanuel was awarded the Pablo Casals Prize by the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra and was a winner of the Concert Artists Guild Auditions.

Arnon Erez has performed at venues including Beethoven Halle, Vienna's Musikverein, Amsterdam's Concertgebouw, Wigmore Hall, and Carnegie Hall, and he has performed as a soloist with ensembles including the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. Along with violinist Hagai Shaham, he was a winner of the 1990 Munich ARD International Duo Competition. A graduate of Tel Aviv University, Erez is currently a professor at Tel Aviv University's Buchmann-Mehta School of Music, where he heads the department of chamber music.