The young Croatian cellist Jelena Ocic has been singled out as one of the most gifted of her generation. On this CD she is accompanied by pianist Federico Lovato in performances of five of the ten Preludes adapted by Ignaz Moscheles from The Well-tempered Clavier of J S Bach, and Carl Czerny’s version of Beethoven’s ‘Kreutzer’ Violin Sonata.

The final piece is a significant 20th century work written specifically for cello and piano, Paul Hindemith’s Sonata Op.11 No.3 of 1919, which has been described many times as one of the young composer’s key works. Within the context of modernism at this time, the stylistic experiments of the young Hindemith are inspired more by the music of Brahms, Reger, Mozart, and Bach than that of the late-romantic composers of the time like Richard Strauss.

The late Bernard Greenhouse, founding cellist of the great Beaux Arts Trio, referred to Jelena Ocic as “one of the most remarkable cello talents of today”, while Siegfried Palm called her “one of the most promising interpreters of New Music”. This is her second recording for Challenge Classics, following last year’s album, also with accompanist Federico Lovato, of music by Ginastera, Kabalevsky, and Senderovas (CC72358).