Cork cellist Brian O’Kane and Belfast pianist Michael McHale present the First Cello Sonata by Saint-Saëns and both of Fauré’s cello sonatas in the context of shorter pieces by both composers.
Their playing shows a rewarding fondness for understatement in Fauré. O’Kane and McHale understand how emphasis can skew the expressive effect, that the music is best left to speak for itself, and that it sounds much better — and sometimes startlingly modern — when approached with sophisticated reserve.
They are fully alive and alert in the invigorating though more conventional world of the Saint-Saëns, and their handling of the six shorter pieces is pleasing, too.
