The two Brahms cello sonatas are among the finest works in the cello-and-piano repertoire. The Sonata No.1 in E minor Op.38 is a dramatic three-movement work of brooding intensity. The Sonata No.2 in F major Op.99, written during a summer stay in Baden-Baden, is by contrast almost rhapsodic — lyrical and expansive where the earlier sonata is concentrated. Brahms himself was a capable cellist, and the dialogue between the two instruments is always equal and searching. Christoph Henkel (b.1946, Marburg) plays on the 'Ex Barbirolli-Schuster' Gofriller cello, Venice 1700 — an instrument of exceptional resonance and character — accompanied on a Bösendorfer 275.