Pauline plays Liebermann première
Lowell Liebermann's Sonata No 4, Op 108 for cello and piano received its world première at the Wigmore Hall on 4 March.
On his Facebook page, the composer commented:
My 4th Cello Sonata Op.108 was given an incredible premiere at London’s Wigmore Hall by 14-year-old cello prodigy Joel Sandelson and pianist Thomas Blach as part of the Razumovsky Academy’s Young Artists Showcase.
Joel is a music scholar in his third year at St Paul’s and a member of the Razumovsky Academy. The evening showed off the talent of several young Razumovsky Academy students. On his Daily Telegraph weblog, Michael White wrote:
But above all there was a 14-year-old cellist called Joel Sandelson who, with a look of seraphic indifference that coolly said, ‘Here I am, this is what I do’, coolly sat down and played the world premiere of a challenging new piece like a pro of the first order.
Watching him, I thought his look oddly familiar — and then recalled seeing it in the face of the young Yevgeny Kissin: distant, disconcertingly robotic, but the mask of genius. And what Joel Sandelson played here with something en route to genius was a new cello sonata (No. 4 for anyone counting) by the American composer Lowell Liebermann, who had flown over specially to hear it.
Classic FM interviewed Lowell Liebermann and Joel recently and you can listen to the podcast — the interview is about two-thirds of the way into the programme.
