Antoni Wrona — a young Polish cellist currently studying at the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music under the guidance of Tomasz Strahl and Marcin Zdunik—was awarded the Third Prize at the 12th Witold Lutosławski International Cello Competition, held in Warsaw this past May. Accompanied by Łukasz Chrzęszczyk, he will perform works by Fryderyk Chopin for cello and piano: the Grand Duo Concertant in E major on a theme from Giacomo Meyerbeer’s opera “Robert le Diable,” composed in collaboration with his friend, cellist Auguste Franchomme, and the masterpiece of cello literature dedicated to that same friend, the Cello Sonata in G minor, Op. 65. The program will be rounded out by Johannes Brahms’ Cello Sonata No. 2 in F major, Op. 99 (1886).
Chopin met Auguste Franchomme in Paris in the spring of 1832. Their collaboration on the Grand Duo marked the beginning of a friendship that lasted until the end of the composer’s life. Published in 1833, the work was met with applause from the Parisian music community, and Robert Schumann himself highlighted its “grace and elegance” in his review. Despite such contemporary praise, the Grand Duo is often considered a marginal work in Chopin’s oeuvre, where his individuality is not fully expressed, and the music reflects his adept assimilation of the stereotypical techniques of the virtuosic brillante style.
In contrast, the Cello Sonata in G minor—the last work published during Chopin’s lifetime (1847)—is regarded very differently. Professor Mieczysław Tomaszewski does not hesitate to call it a masterpiece of Chopin’s late post-Romantic phase, heralding the music of the second half of the 19th century. Its four movements each possess a distinct character and vivid expression, yet they are unified by a common intervallic structure that integrates the entire cycle. From its first performance on February 16, 1848, in Paris, the Sonata was met with little enthusiasm or understanding. It was not until the 20th century that its significance as a musical vision of a new Chopinesque style was fully appreciated. Mieczysław Tomaszewski, summarizing the work, wrote: “Composed during difficult times for Chopin, it captivates, astonishes, and delights with its rare beauty and the wisdom—both sharp and bitter—that shines through its sounds.