We welcome South African cellist Jacques-Pierre Malan into the AmiciMusic family with this powerful program of Sonatas for Cello and Piano by two composers with very similar dates—Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847) and Frederic Chopin (1810-1849).   While both composers died before they reached the age of 40, they left behind some of the greatest of the Romantic music.  Chopin was the great master for piano, but wrote this Cello Sonata at the very end of his life that shows his potential to have written more chamber music had he lived longer.  This work glitters with the usual Chopin filagree and lyricism.  Mendelssohn was one of the greatest child prodigies who helped bring Leipzig to the top of the musical world with his conducting and musical power.  He also helped revive the music of J.S. Bach, which had gone out of favor during the Classical period.  Sadly, Mendelssohn’s position as one of the top composers began to diminish after his death, largely through anti-semitic attacks by Wagner and others.  When the Nazis rose up, his music was banned despite the fact that Mendelssohn had converted to Christianity in his lifetime.  Only now are we putting Mendelssohn back where he belongs in the top tier of composers.