Examiner review of cellist Samsun van Loon & pianist Michael Tan — 2010 December 21
Today Samsun van Loon returned as soloist in the Noontime Concerts™ recital series at Old St. Mary’s Cathedral (which calls itself “San Francisco’s Musical Lunch Break”). His accompanist was again Michael Tan, and the program consisted of late cello sonatas by composers from two different centuries. The first offering was the last of Ludwig van Beethoven’s five cello sonatas, Opus 102, Number 2, in D major; and this was followed by Sergei Prokofiev’s Opus 119, his only sonata for cello in C major, composed for the 22-year-old Mstislav Rostropovich (which I have previously described as “an encounter between Prokofiev’s twilight and Rostropovich’s dawn”)…