Monthly Archives: February 2021

Beethoven in Context: Cello Sonata Op. 5, No. 2

February 23rd, 2021

This video premiered on Friday, February 26 at 7:30 pm EST.


R. Larry Todd, piano and Nancy Green, cello

This Friday’s “Best of Biddle” video premiere features Professor R. Larry Todd’s recording of Beethoven’s Cello Sonata Op. 5, No. 2. The video is divided between Professor Todd’s introduction, which places the work in its historical and musical context, and his recording of the sonata with cellist Nancy Green.

R. Larry Todd is Arts & Sciences Professor of Music, and co-author, with Marc Moskovitz, of Beethoven’s Cello: Five Sonatas and Their World (Boydell & Brewer, 2017), 2018 CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title Award.

Hailed by Fanfare Magazine as “one of the great cellists of our time” and “in the elite of today’s concert cellists,” Nancy Green is an internationally recognized recording artist, known for her highly acclaimed CDs of previously unrecorded works as well as staples of the cello repertoire. She has appeared as soloist in venues such as Boston’s Symphony Hall, New York’s Alice Tully Hall, the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, Windsor Castle, and London’s Wigmore Hall as well as major concert halls in Shanghai, Taipei and Seoul.

Music for Two

February 12th, 2021

This video premiered on Friday, February 19 at 7:30 pm EST.

View the program online.

This week’s Best of Biddle video features duets by Duke Music students and faculty. The video begins with “Tema (Andante) con variazioni” from Mozart’s Sonata for Piano and Violin in F Major, K.377 performed by students Brian Chan, violin and Rui Xi, piano. It is followed by two piano duets featuring Ieva Jokubavicuite and her students: the “Allegro con spirito” from Mozart’s Sonata in D Major, K.448 (with Kevin Xu) and Debussy’s Lindaraja (with Catherine McMillan). The Scherzo from Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in G Minor, Op. 16 follows, featuring pianists Andy Zhang and Claire Li. The video then features two excerpts by Ciompi Quartet violist Jonathan Bagg and pianist Emely Phelps: a movement each from Elizabeth Maconchy’s 1937 Sonata for Viola and Piano and from Marion Bauer’s Sonata for Viola and Piano, composed in 1932. The video ends with Lutoslawski’s Variations on a Theme by Paganini for 2 pianos, performed by David Heid and Daniel Seyfried (pictured above).