Chopin, original and transcribed, for cello and piano
The very latest from cellist Sara Sant'Ambrogio, a collection of Chopin's music, actually began a few years ago when she was asked to perform a Chopin recital in Austin. "Suddenly two other pianists asked me to do [Chopin] recitals as well!" says Sant'Ambrogio. "So I started thinking and researching, how do you fill a whole recital after you have the [Cello] sonata and polonaise..."
He [Chopin] has this incredibly intimate, romantic vulnerability about his musical persona, which is so beautifully expressed on the cello.
Sara found arrangements of other famous works, most close to Chopin's era, and almost all from Eastern Europe, for cello and piano. A summer music festival brought Sant'Ambrogio and Robert Koenig together -- they had met previously on facebook -- and while both had attended the same schools, never managed to meet in person! They read through chamber pieces, and through a few Chopin arrangements.
"It was like we were playing together all our lives! Really, it was like our souls were intertwined - nothing had to be spoken." Then Koenig surprised Sara: "He looked at me and said, 'You should record these!'" The rest, as they say, is history!
- There is more online at www.sarasantambrogio.com
http://youtu.be/Shvs5cx-vI0
