CD REVIEW – sensations
Gautier Capuçon
Erato 9029615713 [83:46]

High in the list of the world's top cellists, Gautier Capuçon's album 'Emotions' – reviewed here as one of my CDs of the year for 2021 – reached gold status in France, remaining at No.1 in the charts for over 30 weeks. Evidently the Frenchman is a household name in his native country. (Somehow, I can’t imagine that happening to Steven Isserlis in the UK).

He is the founder and leader of the "Classe d'Excellence de Violoncelle" together with the Louis Vuitton Foundation in Paris, where every year the most talented young cellists work intensively together for one week.

In addition, he is the ambassador of the Orchestre à l'École Association, which brings classical music closer to more than 40,000 children in France.

A fine follow-up to the earlier disc, this latest release is an enticing mix of popular classical and lighter pieces. On 14 of the 20 tracks, he is accompanied by the Orchestre National de Bretagne, with the award-winning German conductor Johanna Melangré. Also present on 11 tracks is his friend and long-time pianist Jérôme Duclos, who was also responsible for most of the arrangements/transcriptions.

The opening Over the Rainbow is followed by BBC One 'The Apprentice' signature tune: Dance of the Knights from Prokofiev's 'Romeo and Juliet', Amazing Grace, Singin' in the Rain, the great John Williams' Shindler’s List, Main Theme, Bert Kaempfert's L-O-V-E, featuring the marvellous trumpeter Lucienne Renaudin Vary, and La vie en rose, stirring up memories of Édith Piaf.

Further examples of the wide-ranging appeal of this album are: Barber's moving Adagio for Strings, Morricone's The Mission: Gabriel's Oboe, Puccini's Nessun dorma from his opera 'Turandot', Legrand's I Will Wait for You from the film 'Les Parapluies de Cherbourg' and The Windmills of Your Mind from the film 'The Thomas Crown Affair', and well-known extracts from works by Dvorak and Smetana. Another standout track is Comme d'habitude, that turns out to be My Way.

Capuçon, soloist extraordinaire, is joined by Capucelli – half-a-dozen young former student cellists from his masterclass in Paris – on three tracks: Villa-Lobos's Bachianas brasileiras No.5, Aria: (Catalina), which also features another award winner, Egyptian soprano Fatma Said, In the Hall of the Mountain King from Grieg's 'Peer Gynt' and the final lively Mambo from 'West Side Story'.

Whatever the oncoming winter has in store for us, this is a superbly performed and great value for money length album to cheer listeners now and into the New Year.

© Peter Burt 2022

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