Catalogue

Summary:

“This conductor-less release from Avie manages to capture something too often lost in recordings of the early cello concerto repertoire: fun … Croisé plays with the benevolence of an 18th-century king, spinning phrases of loving length, generous is resonance and appoggiatura … This is a recording teeming with sparkle and relentless in fizz.” – Mark Seow, Gramophone

International Classical Music Awards 2019: Nominee – Concerto

“Croisé is sparing with his vibrato, particularly in the slow movements, and favours changing the timbre when a D major Adagio’s opening phrase returns, floating it high on the D string. His virtuosity is everywhere in evidence, but nowhere more than in the exuberantly bustling finale of the C major Concerto, which is taken at a breath-taking pace in this vibrant and immediate recording.” – Janet Banks, The Strad

Pizzicato Supersonic  “With his fresh playing, and the equally vivid Eurasian Soloists Chamber Orchestra cellist Christoph Croisé treats us with brilliant performances of both Haydn concertos. He combines virtuosity with an almost humble and yet self-confident view of the music” – Uwe Krusch, Pizzicato

Classic Today Recommendation  - Artistic Quality 10 Sound Quality 10  Overall Impression 10  –  “A highly recommended new recording of well-known works in a convincing interpretation” – Thomas Baack, Klassik-heute.com

“They [Eurasian Soloists] create a wonderfully light and airy sound, and ideal background for Croisé’s sensitive playing. For me this album goes right towards the top for these two much-recorded Haydn works… Really not to be missed.” – David Mellor, Classic FM

“an exquisite listening pleasure: the opening tutti of the C major concerto sounds slender and elegant… All technically demanding passages of the movement are handled with playful ease. Radiant in the high register, full of warmth in the lower register, we hear the cello at its best. Haydn’s C major concerto can sound so natural, so fresh!..” - Gerhard Anders, das Orchester

“.. Christoph Croisé, for his part, is extremely agile and displays exemplary musicality, while appearing very attentive to detail… With an ensemble of this size, the short concerto by Antonio Vivaldi placed at the end of the disc does not lack depth of sound. Above all, it highlights the Italian influences felt in Haydn. It also showcases the superb violin of Sherniyaz Mussakhan” – Stéphane Reech, ResMusica

“.. beautiful album” – Aart van der Wal, Opus Klassiek 

“The orchestra is small, about seventeen players, and provide Mr. Croise a clean and elegant accompaniment. This greatly complements Croise’s obvious joy in the music making… There’s a spark, an effervescent fizz in his playing, which isn’t about mere tempo speed or loudness contrasts… he’s the real deal. He substitutes nuance and élan for theatrics. Yet his playing is clearly virtuosic when necessary and elegant always.” – JJP, Classical Candor 

“A magical performance from beginning to end …” – Anne Carlini, Exclusive magazine

Winner of the Berliner International Music Competition, the Prix Jeune Soliste des Médias Francophones Publics, and the International Manhattan Music Competition, young cellist Christoph Croisé debuts on AVIE performing the two Cello Concertos by 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.

Tracklist:

JOSEPH HAYDN (1732–1809)

Cello Concerto No. 1 in C, Hob VIIb:1
1. I. Moderato (10.09)
2. II. Adagio (7.38)
3. III. Allegro molto (6.18)

Cello Concerto No. 2 in D, Hob VIIb:2
4. I. Allegretto moderato (14.55)
5. II. Adagio (5.01)
6. III. Rondo: Allegro (5.00)

ANTONIO VIVALDI (1678–1741)

Concerto for Violin and Cello, RV 547
7. I. Allegro (3.59)
8. II. Andante (2.03)
9. III. Allegro molto (2.29)

Total duration: 57.37

Christoph Croisé, cello
Eurasian Soloists Chamber Orchestra
Sherniyaz Mussakhan, violin/director

Recording: November 2017, Kirche Obertrass Zürich, Switzerland
Recording producer: Joël Cormier