Beethoven: Cello Sonatas, Op. 5 & Variations, WoO 45 Jarosław Thiel & Katarzyna Drogosz

• Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 - 1827): Cello Sonata No. 1 in F Major, Op. 5 No. 1:
• 1 Adagio sostenuto − Allegro 16:18
• 2 Rondo: Allegro vivace 06:58
• Cello Sonata No. 2 in G Minor, Op. 5 No. 2:
• 3 Adagio sostenuto ed espressivo - Allegro molto più tosto presto 14:44
• 4 Rondo: Allegro 08:45
• 12 Variations in G major on See, the conqu’ring hero comes from Handel’s oratorio Judas Maccabaeus WoO 45:
• 5 12 Variations in G Major on See the conqu'ring hero comes from Handel's Judas Maccabaeus, WoO 45 11:41
• Total Runtime 58:26

Info for Beethoven: Cello Sonatas, Op. 5 & Variations, WoO 45

Ludwig van Beethoven’s chamber works are doubtless among the most important achievements in music history. What is really mind boggling is the fact that in Polish phonography we come across very few recordings devoted to this repertoire and produced by Polish artists. The album of Beethoven Sonatas op. 5 featuring the cellist Jarosław Thiel and the pianist Katarzyna Drogosz tries to fill this gap. These pieces take pride of place in music history: they are the first sonatas written for cello in which the basso-continuo-based composing technique was abandoned in favour of a fully developed piano part and the equal importance of both instruments. This recording of the Sonatas is unusual also because it is a pioneering release as both artists play on copies of historical instruments in the historically informed style, which in the case of Classical repertoire is still a novelty on Polish record market. For Jarosław Thiel, Artistic Director of the Wrocław Baroque Orchestra, enjoying long years of collaboration with the National Forum of Music, and previously with the Wrocław Philharmonic, this will be his phonographic debut in a chamber repertoire, although he can boast a dozen or so other recordings as a member of German early music ensembles and conductor of the Wrocław Baroque Orchestra. This recording will surely be an important voice on our phonographic marketplace, due to the quality of the recorded repertoire, the performance aesthetics inspired by early music performance practice and the output of both instrumentalists featured on this album.

Jarosław Thiel, cello
Katarzyna Drogosz, fortepiano

Jarosław Thiel
Artistic Director of Wrocław Baroque Orchestra. A graduate of the Poznań School of Talents, he studied cello at the Music Academies in Poznań and Łódź. Since 1997 he has focused mainly on historical performance. Jarosław Thiel participated in master classes run by Christine Kypranides at the Dresdner Akademie für Alte Musik and completed post-graduate studies in Baroque cello at the Universität der Künste in Berlin, working with Phoebe Carrai and Markus a Möllenbeck (diploma with distinction). He has collaborated with the most important Polish ensembles of early music. Since 2000 Thiel is the first cellist with the Dresdner Barockorchester and a member of the FestspielOrchester Göttingen led by Laurence Cummings. He also works with other leading German ensembles, such as Cantus Cölln, Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin and Lautten Compagney. He regularly performs as a soloist and chamber musician, apperaig at numerous Polish and international festivals of early music. He teaches Baroque cello at the Academy of Music in Poznań and during the Summer Academy of Early Music in Lidzbark Warmiński, Poland. In 2006 he was appointed artistic director of the Wrocław Baroque Orchestra.

Katarzyna Drogosz
was born in Warsaw, Poland. As a pianist, she specialises in playing historical instruments. Besides interpretation, she is interested in the history and construction of early keyboards.

Katarzyna Drogosz studied piano at the Frederic Chopin Academy of Music in Warsaw, fortepiano at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam, and historical keyboard instruments at the Musikhochschule Freiburg. In 2007, Katarzyna Drogosz was one of the four finalists of the “Musica Antiqua” international competition for fortepiano solo in Bruges. She performs regularly in Poland and abroad, and cooperates with renowned instrumentalists such as pianist Petra Matejova, trombone player Ercole Nisini and cellist Jarosław Thiel. She took part in many important festivals in Poland and Europe. As a fortepiano soloist and continuo player she performed with Capella Cracoviensis, Wrocław Baroque Orchestra and Musicae Antiquae Collegium Varsoviense.

Since 2010 Katarzyna Drogosz has been teaching harpsichord, fortepiano and historical performance practice at the Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music in Katowice, where she is also a PhD candidate. She has taught fortepiano interpretation classes at international summer schools of early music in Wilanów and Markt-Nordheim.

Katarzyna Drogosz is a co-founder of “Fortepianarium”, a collection of fortepianos and other keyboard instrument in Zabrze (Silesia).

Booklet for Beethoven: Cello Sonatas, Op. 5 & Variations, WoO 45