Sonata for cello and piano

This edition of the Sonata for cello and piano in D Major by Antoni Botey i Badia is based on the manuscript preserved in the archives of Orfeó Badaloní. The manuscript, along with Botey’s other chamber music works, remained in the family’s possession until 1974, when his sister-in-law, Joaquima Alsina i Casanovas, donated them to the centenary institution in Badalona, where Botey was a founding member and its first artistic director.

In 1914, Botey won the extraordinary violin prize awarded by the Barcelona City Council, which included a scholarship to study at the prestigious Brussels Conservatory. However, the outbreak of World War I derailed these plans, and Botey remained in Barcelona, where he studied composition with Enric Morera. During this time, Botey composed vocal and piano works, as well as instrumental chamber music, including this sonata for cello and piano.

Sonata for cello and piano reveals the character and personality of an ambitious composer. The first movement is extraordinarily lyrical, tireless, and obsessive. The second movement is more intimate and expressive, while the third is energetic and resolute, featuring a prominent and significant quotation of the main theme from the first movement.

Marc Renau and Marta Augé