‘Romantic Cello’ is the title of ES-Dur’s special compilation released for the 70th birthday of the eminent Lithuanian cellist David Geringas. It features works from the early to late romantic periods - by Schubert, Schumann, Brahms and Richard Strauss.

The cellist’s wife, pianist Tatjana Geringas, was an ideal and passionate duet partner for 42 years. Even back in their Moscow Conservatory days - David Geringas with Mstislav Rostropovich, Tatjana Schatz in the master classes of Heinrich and Stanislav Neuhaus - the pair realised their joint destiny. After relocating from the Soviet Union to West Germany in 1975, the duo continued making music together and the composers here formed a major part of their joint repertoire.

Schubert’s Sonata for Arpeggione and Piano was composed in 1824 especially for the then new ‘guitare d’amour’ - a six-stringed instrument designed for playing in quartets. The work is often played on the violin or the viola, but the sound and the tonal range of the cello is evidently more comparable and has a wonderful songlike quality.

In the “most fruitful” year of his life, 1849, Robert Schumann composed two works which feature on the present recording: Fantasy Pieces op. 73 for clarinet (or cello), and the uniquely original Fünf Stücke im Volkston for cello and piano op. 102.

Brahms’s six Song transcriptions for cello and piano were published in 1896, a year before the composer’s death. These selected Lieder encompass the entire output of piano songs from the very first published songs, through to the Lieder of his final years. The 19-year-old Richard Strauss wrote Romance in F major for cello and piano in 1883 for his uncle, the magistrate Anton Ritter von Knözinger, reputedly an accomplished cellist.