Brahms Cello Zoe Knighton & Amir Farid

• Johannes Brahms (1833 - 1897): Cello Sonata No. 1 in E minor, Op. 38:
• 1 Brahms: Cello Sonata No. 1 in E minor, Op. 38 i. Allegro non troppo (1) 14:39
• 2 Brahms: Cello Sonata No. 1 in E minor, Op. 38 ii. Allegretto quasi menuetto (1) 05:58
• 3 Brahms: Cello Sonata No. 1 in E minor, Op. 38 iii. Allegro (1) 07:39
• Sonata No. 2 in F, Op. 99:
• 4 Brahms: Sonata No. 2 in F, Op. 99 i. Allegro vivace (1) 08:54
• 5 Brahms: Sonata No. 2 in F, Op. 99 ii. Adagio affettuoso (1) 08:00
• 6 Brahms: Sonata No. 2 in F, Op. 99 iii. Allegro passionato (1) 07:58
• 7 Brahms: Sonata No. 2 in F, Op. 99 iv. Allegro molto (1) 05:01
• Songs Von ewiger Liebe Op. 43, No. 1 (1):
• 8 Brahms: Songs Von ewiger Liebe Op. 43, No. 1 (1) 04:34
• Songs Meine Liebe ist grün Op. 63, No. 5 (1):
• 9 Brahms: Songs Meine Liebe ist grün Op. 63, No. 5 (1) 01:42
• Songs Die Mainacht Op. 43, No. 2 (1):
• 10 Brahms: Songs Die Mainacht Op. 43, No. 2 (1) 03:26
• Total Runtime 01:07:51

Info for Brahms Cello

Zoe Knighton and Amir Farid present their seventh cello-piano collaboration — this time from the composer Johannes Brahms. The program includes his sonatas for cello as well as three songs where the cello presents the vocal line wordlessly.

It's uncanny how certain composers can "fit" certain performers as comfortably as a well worn pair of slippers and that's exactly how Zoe felt when she heard Amir playing Brahms a number of years ago.

Having explored a vast amount of repertoire together over the course of nearly 15 years, it was inevitable they turn their attention to the two sonatas for piano and cello by Johannes Brahms. Played on a modern Australian cello made in Castlemaine by celebrated maker, Rainer Beilharz, the three songs (originally sung in German) find an unexpectedly natural home and act as enticing entrées to these seminal works.

There is a famous photo of Brahms with his friends. Brahms is seated and behind him is the cellist, Hausmann. Hausmann (who was the cellist in Joachim’s quartet) has his arms over Brahms, pretending to play him like a cello. Quite literally playing Brahms! Hausmann was responsible for reviving the first sonata and it was he who implored Brahms to write its successor. Hausmann and Joachim were the inaugural players in Brahms’ double concerto.

The second sonata is best summed up by Elisabet von Herzogenberg who received a manuscript from Brahms. She wrote: “I'd like to hear you yourself play the Scherzo, with its driving power and energy (I can hear you constantly snorting and grunting in it!) No one else would succeed in playing it as I imagine it: agitated without rushing, legato and yet inwardly restless and propulsive. Needless to say, we revelled in the beautiful warm sounds of the Adagio, and especially at the magnificent moment when we find ourselves again in F-sharp major, which sounds so marvellous. I really do want to point this moment out to you, because it brings a tear to my eye whenever I hear it. It has such nostalgia and love.”

Zoe Knighton, cello
Amir Farid, piano

Zoe Knighton
is at the fore of a new generation of performer intent on forging an innovative path for the enjoyment of 'classical' music. She is a founding member of Flinders Quartet

In 2008, Zoe founded the Melbourne Chamber Feast, a biannual festival celebrating the wealth of chamber music talent in Melbourne and in 2009 was the Artistic Director of the Montsalvat 20 concert series. She is currently a board member of 3MBS FM and on the Musica Viva review panel.

A passionate pedagogue, Zoe and the Flinders Quartet are regular tutors for the Australian Youth Orchestra and the Mount Buller Chamber Music Summer School. Zoe coaches chamber music and cello studies at the Victorian College of the Arts and the University of Melbourne where in 2008, she was Acting Co-ordinator of Strings. She has been guest lecturer at the Tasmanian Conservatorium of Music and guest principal cellist with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra. Zoe plays with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and is a core member of the Melbourne Chamber Orchestra. The Flinders Quartet has toured internationally through Sweden, Canada and the UK and appears regularly at Australian festivals as well as its own celebrated subscription series.

With pianist Amir Farid, the duo made an impressive debut at the Melbourne Recital Centre to great critical acclaim. Their partnership continues with recordings for the ABC and concerts throughout Australia.

Amir Farid
Pianist Amir Farid has been described as "a highly creative musician - a pianist of great intelligence and integrity. He brings strong musical substance to all that he does, imbuing it with his own particular experience and understanding", and who "in a well populated field...distinguishes himself for all the right reasons". Winner of the 2006 Australian National Piano Award.

In 2004 Mr. Farid completed his B.Mus (Hon) at the University of Melbourne under the guidance of Ronald Farren-Price, and later attended the Australian National Academy of Music (ANAM) studying with Rita Reichman, the late Geoffrey Tozer and Timothy Young. In 2009, he graduated with distinction as a Scholar supported by the Gordon Calway Stone Memorial Award at the Royal College of Music London, studying with Andrew Ball.

He has performed concerti with the Sydney Symphony, Melbourne Symphony, Melbourne Chamber Orchestra, Orchestra Victoria, Melbourne Youth and ANAM Orchestras, including Rachmaninoff's 2nd Piano Concerto at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl with the Melbourne Symphony in front of a capacity 13,000 strong crowd. Collaborations with conductors include Graham Abbott, Peter Bandy, Alexander Briger, Oleg Caetani, Brett Dean, Marko Letonja and Benjamin Northey.

As a chamber musician, Mr. Farid is pianist of the acclaimed Benaud Trio (www.benaudtrio.com), winning the Piano Trio prize at the 2005 Australian Chamber Music Competition, and with whom he undertook a residency at the Banff Centre for the Arts in Canada.

As an associate artist, he was winner of the prize for best pianist at the 2006 Mietta Song Recital award, and the 2007 Geoffrey Parsons Award. Collaborations include cellists Alexander Baillie, Mats Lidstrom and Martin Loveday, saxophonist Claude Delangle, clarinetist Dong Jun-Mo, contralto Liane Keegan, pianist Max Olding, soprano Merlyn Quaife, the Tin Alley String Quartet and mezzo-soprano Pamela Turner.

Throughout his studies, Mr. Farid has participated in lessons and masterclasses with Michele Campanella, Aquiles Delle Vigne, Nikolai Demidenko, Christopher Elton, Gordon Fergus-Thompson, Cord Garben, Mark Gasser, Angela Hewitt, Ian Holtham, Leslie Howard, Julian Jacobson, Geoffrey Lancaster, Stephen McIntyre, Malcolm Martineau, Dominique Merlet, Hamish Milne, Lisa Moore, Ian Munro, Ruth Nye, Adrian Oetiker, Max Olding, Bart van Oort, Christina Ortiz, John Perry, Geoffrey Saba, Natasha Vlassenko, Frank Wibaut, Gerard Willems, Oxana Yablonskaya and John York.

Mr. Farid would like to acknowledge the support and generosity of the following organizations and individuals: Mr. Neville Arthur, the Australia Business Arts Foundation, the Australian Music Foundation, the Australian National Academy of Music, Mr. John Garran, Mrs. Lois Goodin, Mrs. Heather de Haes, the Ian Potter Cultural Trust, the Royal College of Music, The Swiss Global Artistic Foundation, the Tait Memorial Foundation, the Turnbull Family and the University of Melbourne.

Booklet for Brahms Cello