Orchestral conductor and concert pianist Giuseppe Martucci (1856-1909) was among the leaders in the revival of symphonic and chamber music in an Italy still dominated by opera.

The Sonata for cello and piano op. 52 here published belongs to the earliest period (1884) of his creative parabola. The formal and contrapuntal structure of German Romanticism and the elegance of melody are the distinguishing marks of this work, in which the impassioned lyrical outbursts of the cello are supported by refined writing for the piano, almost recalling Chopin.