Cello Sonata No. 1 New York Performances

Johannes Brahms composed *Cello Sonata No. 1* (Op. 38) between 1862 and 1865, pairing cello and piano in a work that treats both instruments as equal speakers. Its tone is austere and tightly argued, with the final movement shaped around fugal writing that nods to Bach without imitation. In New York City, the sonata belongs to the long recital tradition that made chamber music a public art, though a specific local premiere is not firmly documented. At David Geffen Hall, Sheku and Isata Kanneh-Mason place it in a program that traces Romantic lineage and later responses.