Joan Rodgers, Guy Johnston

Often compared to a human voice, the cello is a natural partner in song, as composers have long recognised. Here distinguished soprano Joan Rodgers is joined by leading cellist Guy Johnston in a Russian-themed programme which delves into the soulful songs of Rachmaninov, Scriabin and Arensky, and the cosmopolitan Pauline Viardot. Johnston will play two works dedicated to Rostropovich, Prokofiev’s bittersweet late Sonata, and Shostakovich’s visionary Romances on the poetry of Alexandr Blok, written for Rostropovich and his wife Galina Vishnevskaya.