Alexander Wollheim & Klavierduo Müller-König

Programme:
Robert Fuchs: Cello Sonata in E-flat minor, op. 83
Sergei Rachmaninoff: Suite No. 2 for 2 pianos, op. 17
Henryk Wieniawski: Scherzo-Tarantella, op. 16
Ludwig van Beethoven: Sonata for Piano and Cello in F major, op. 5 No. 1
Maurice Ravel: "La Valse" for 2 pianos

Performers:
Alexander Wollheim (cello)
Iwan König (piano)
Julia Marie Müller (piano)

Beethoven's Cello Sonata No. 1 dates from 1796, his early Vienna years, and is among the first works to treat cello and piano as genuine equals. About a century later, the Viennese composer and teacher Robert Fuchs wrote his Cello Sonata in E-flat minor. Fuchs is rarely performed today, but in his time he was a central figure in Viennese musical life and a highly regarded professor at the conservatory - his students included Gustav Mahler, Jean Sibelius, Hugo Wolf, Alexander von Zemlinsky, and Erich Wolfgang Korngold.

Wieniawski's Scherzo-Tarantella is paired with Rachmaninoff's Suite No. 2 for two pianos, whose four movements move between driving rhythms and broad lyrical passages. The evening closes with Ravel's "La Valse" for two pianos - a tribute to the Viennese waltz that captures both its brilliance and its dissolution.

Julia Marie Müller and Iwan König are long-established favourites with audiences, consistently praised by critics for their ensemble playing. Cellist Alexander Wollheim (b. 2000) has been a regular presence at the Musikalischer Sommer festival for many years; at the most recent closing concert, he was celebrated by audiences and press alike for his performance of Weinberg's Concertino - for his virtuosity, musical maturity, and assured command of the instrument.