Enjoying Beethoven cello and violin sonatas with Lucy and Della


Are you loving the music in Annette’s story? Lots of readers are bringing the rich musical repertoire of A Distant Prospect gloriously to life, by enjoying performances they find online.

Here, for instance, Leonard Rose (cello) and Glenn Gould (piano) play the first movement of Beethoven’s Cello Sonata in A Major:

In Chapter Four, Della finds Lucy’s cello music:

Then she noticed my ’cello lying on its side on the rag rug. She wandered over to the music stand and perused its contents. …

‘Beethoven ’cello sonatas? Good heavens! I’m learning the Spring [violin] Sonata at the moment. Which one are you playing?’

‘The A major one it is.’

‘How long have you been learning it?’

‘Since last year,’ I replied. ‘Twas some practice I was doing this morning. I’ve a lesson on Monday and Mrs Epstein will rouse on me surely if I’m behind with it for ’tis too much Bach I been playing of late.’

After you watch the cello work above, here are two pretty good interpretations of Della’s violin sonata, Beethoven Violin Sonata No 5 Opus 24 “Spring”:

• Gidon Kremer (violin), Martha Argerich (piano)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmVpwZAsG48

• Anne-Sophie Mutter (violin), Lambert Orkis (piano)

Tip: Be sure to pause and check out a performance of the music when you are re-reading the book in preparation for the exciting sequel!