“The sonatas on this recording are two works to which we seem to return continually,” writes Mats Lidstrom in the context of Hyperion’s booklet. He continues: “They belong to the truly grand sonatas: Brahms’s F major Sonata is another one. Maybe one day they will be played as often as the Brahms.” A point well made, though ‘truly grand’ is no substitute for truly great, which is why the Brahms has gained a secure foothold in the repertory, and both the Godard and the Boellmann still languish in relative obscurity. Godard’s offering plays for over half an hour, with Lisztian swirls in the first movement, a Schumannesque Adagio non troppo and a finale that suggests Brahms and, occasionally, Faure. Were it not that the performers on the present CD are so exceptionally adroit, I doubt thatI would have returned to the work; but I did, mainly because their enthusiasm and expertise proved so infectious.
I was even more taken with the Boellmann, and not just because of the playing. Here the ideas seem far bolder (Franck and Wagner thicken the mix), while the first movement’s bracing Allegro con fuoco suggests Grieg in folkish mood (a connection that obviously wasn’t lost on these particular performers). Again, the reading is especially compelling, with plenty of cut and thrust from Lidstrom backed by a warmly cosseting piano line (the two players have been performing together for some 16 years). All four of the shorter pieces deserve a place in the ‘encore’ folio although Boellmann’s “Menuet” sounds to me more like a Valse noble (or at least a lusty mazurka).
Cellists should rejoice, and so should those who know Benjamin Godard only from the Jocelyn “Berceuse” and Leon Boellmann from the Suite gothique. As in days of old, second-rate music can still fare well if played by first-rate musicians; although nowadays, both can enjoy the additional advantages of first-rate digital sound. Annotation by Roger Nichols is excellent.'