A unique recital of 20th-century chamber music, essentially melodic but expressively rich, woven seamlessly together by a Spanish-based duo.

In the 20th century, many composers embraced the unique combination of the violin and cello, producing a diverse and captivating repertoire. Deborah Gonsalves and Berthold Hamburger take the listener on an engaging journey from Reinhold Glière’s post-romantic Huit Morceaux for violin and cello (1909), Bohuslav Martinů’s folk-influenced Duo no.1 (1927) to Erwin Schulhoff’s avant-garde Duo (1925) and Don Jaffé’s moving autobiographical suite, The Last Days (2000).

These compositions showcase the immense artistic possibilities offered by the juxtaposition of the violin’s virtuosity with the cello’s depth of sound. Similarly, the duo repertoire of the 20th century shows the evolution of musical language as composers introduced special playing techniques, unconventional harmonies, and rhythmic complexity, pushing the boundaries of tradition.

While Glière, Martinů and Schulhoff are all established names, these works for violin and cello have not received the attention they deserve. They are all products of their composers’ full maturity, and perhaps it is only a reluctance on the part of performers and listeners to embrace the possibilities of the violin-cello combination that has prevented them becoming much better known. In each case, the composers demonstrate that no piano is required to anchor the string instruments, when the imagination is fired up, the melodies are firmly shaped and the dialogue engaging.

The case of Don Jaffé is different: born in 1933 in Riga, of Jewish descent, he eventually became renowned as one of the foremost cello teachers in the former Soviet Union. However, finding postwar Soviet culture hardly less anti-Semitic than the Nazi regime, he emigrated to Israel and later moved to Germany. He only began composing late in life: this four-movement duo draws on the composer’s experience of observing a close friend’s painful battle with a terminal illness.

Deborah Gonsalves and Berthold Hamburger are colleagues in the Symphony Orchestra of Galicia; as Orphelion, they have toured festivals across Europe and in India, Japan, and South America.