Ludwig van Beethoven - Cello Sonata No. 3 in A major, Op. 69 Ludwig van Beethoven's Cello Sonata No. 3 in A major, Op. 69 was written in 1808, during his middle period. The sonata was composed in the same year as the Piano Trios Op. 70 and the Choral Fantasy, and the same year the Fifth and Sixth Symphonies, which were begun earlier, premiered. It was first performed in March 1809 by cellist Nikolaus Kraft and pianist Dorothea von Ertmann, and dedicated to Baron Ignaz von Gleichenstein, who was a cellist himself.In the course of his life, Beethoven composed five sonatas for cello and piano. The Op. 69 was the first he had written since his Op. 5 over a decade earlier. Mark Kaplan writes: "In general, the writing in op. 69 is thinner than in the early cello sonatas ... greater compositional technique allowed Beethoven the possibility of using fewer notes with confidence." The contemporary cellist Steven Isserlis describes it as the first cello sonata in history to give the two instruments equal importance. A performance takes about 25 minutes.
Cello : Paul Tortelier Paul Tortelier (21 March 1914 – 18 December 1990) was a French cellist and composer.He was born in Paris, the son of a cabinet maker with Breton roots. He was encouraged to play the cello by his father Joseph and mother Marguerite (Boura), and gifted at 12 he entered the Conservatoire de Paris. He studied the cello there with Louis Feuillard and then Gérard Hekking. He won the first prize in cello at the conservatoire when he was 16, playing the Elgar cello concerto, and then he studied harmony under Jean Gallon. His debut was with the Orchestre Lamoureux in 1931 at the age of 17. He performed Lalo's Cello Concerto.
