Winner of the Berliner International Music Competition, the Prix Jeune Soliste des Medias Francophones Publics, and the International Manhattan Music Competition, young cellist Christoph Croise debuts on AVIE performing the two Cello Concertos by Franz Joseph Haydn. His fresh and fervent approach is matched by his collaborators, the Eurasian Soloists Chamber Orchestra, as they recreate the original set up of the works’ first performances in the Esterhazy Castle when the composer directed from the harpsichord alongside the first violinist and the soloist. Christoph concludes the album with Antonio Vivaldi’s Concerto for Violin and Cello, RV 547, joined by the orchestra’s founder and director, Kazakh violinist Sherniyaz Mussakhan. “a magical performance… delicate yet virtuosic” (BBC Music Magazine) “Croise plays with considerable ardency and style” (MusicWeb International)

REVIEW:

This conductor-less release manages to capture something too often lost in recordings of the early cello concerto repertoire: fun. With the brilliance of steel strings – no sheep were harmed in its making – the Eurasian Soloists Chamber Orchestra encapsulate the phrase, ‘a band that plays together, plays together’. This delightful sense of the social and chamber music-making infuses producer Joël Cormier’s mix.

-- Gramophone