Nils Mönkemeyer, Nicholas Rimmer - Beethoven, L. Van: Notturno, Op. 42 / Part, A.: Fratres / Shostakovich, D.: Viola Sonata, Op. 147 (2008)

It says a great deal about two young artists when they entitle their first CD together “Farewell and New Beginning.” What Nils Mönkemeyer and Nicholas Rimmer present to their listeners on their GENUIN debut CD is not a fast-food product. As prize winners of the German Music Competition, they show that they have fully consummated their farewell from student life; the listener is fortunate to be able to follow them at the outset of their professional careers with this CD. Ludwig van Beethoven’s own adaptation of his feather-light, zestful Serenade, Op. 8, Arvo Pärt’s meditative “Fratres” and Dmitri Shostakovich’s opus ultimum, the Viola Sonata, Op. 149 - all three works offer both musicians limitless possibilities of lending expression to their profound musicality and putting it into a nutshell. They show that they do not forget the present, for all this emphasis on the past and the future, letting it shine through most beautifully.