Thrilled to release LIVE in Concert with Carter Brey, principal cellist of the NY Phil, to celebrate the return of in person concerts!   Performing the Rachmaninoff and Debussy cello and piano sonatas with Carter was a dream come true and I am delighted to share this recording from one of our pre-pandemic concerts at Pick-Staiger Concert Hall.  The Rachmaninoff sonata was one of the major works to emerge after the composer suffered  "writer's block" for 3 years,  triggered by the disastrous premiere of his first symphony. Hypnotherapy eventually helped him overcome his loss of confidence, and what a way to make a comeback! This was also Rachmaninoff's last chamber music work, and is one of the most romantic, passionate, expressively tender and intense pieces I have ever played. Similarly, Claude Debussy also had  a block, and wrote in a letter "“I spent nearly a year unable to write music…after that I’ve almost had to re-learn it. It was like a rediscovery and it seemed to me more beautiful than ever!"  This sonata was one of Debussy's last compositions, and it was his quest to preserve French heritage in his music “I want to work not so much for myself, but to give proof, however small it may be, that not even 30 million ‘boches’ can destroy French thought.”  On Spotify, Amazon and Dweezer
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