Debussy / Franck / Boulanger / Vermeulen: Works For Cello And Piano – Lidy Blijdorp

Dutch cellist Lidy Blijdorp and pianist Tobias Borsboom delve into the world of the Société Nationale de Musique in this programme of late-romantic and early modern French chamber music.

César Franck’s Sonata for Violin and Piano was transcribed, with the composer’s approval, by Jules Delsart. Nadia Boulanger’s Trois Pièces for cello and piano date from 1914. These lyrical and playfully virtuosic works are proof of the master pedagogue’s extraordinary talent for composition. Debussy’s Sonata for Cello and Piano conjures up images of nocturnal encounters, in a form and proportions that are almost classical. A performance of this Sonata in Amsterdam in 1918 after Debussy’s death inspired Dutch composer Matthijs Vermeulen to write a cello sonata of his own. Shortly after, Vermeulen moved to France, where he would work as a journalist and keep composing until after the Second World War. With seven symphonies and a wide array of chamber music works to his name, Blijdorp and Borsboom present Vermeulen’s Sonate pour violoncelle et piano here.