Zoltán Kocsis and Miklós Perényi perform Brahms' Sonata for Cello and Piano n° 1

Two magnificent Hungarian performers, cellist Miklos Perényi and pianist Zoltán Kocsis, perform a gem of the Romantic chamber music repertoire, Brahms’s Piano and Cello Sonata No. 1. Composed in 1862, this sonata is rich with allusions to the German composer’s predecessors. The minuet of the second movement evokes the spirit of Mozart and Haydn, yet it is Bach who clearly shines through this sonata—most notably in the opening theme of the Allegro non troppo, echoing Contrapunctus 13 from The Art of Fugue, and in the brilliant fugue of the final Allegro, where the full expressive potential of both instruments is realized.