Elgar / Walton

Opus Klassik chose him as "Instrumentalist of the Year 2024" for his album Destination Paris: Gautier Capuçon. The French cellist will perform during the gala broadcast by ZDF on 13 October to receive the award and present his album. The frequently acclaimed musician has already recorded a new album with the cello concertos of Edward Elgar and William Walton. Both concertos make high demands on their performers. The cello in Edward Elgar's Cello Concerto in E minor op. 85 reflects the composer's state of mind at a time when he not only struggled with the First World War, but was also afflicted by financial problems and illness. The instrument fluctuates emotionally strongly between sadness and tenderness, the orchestra takes up its movement and continues it, supporting the movement rather than competing with it. As at the premiere of the work in 1919, the London Symphony Orchestra plays here too. It is conducted by chief conductor Antonio Pappano. By contrast, British maestro Sir Antonio Pappano describes William Walton's Cello Concerto: "It is clearly more virtuosic for the cello. It has cadenzas, great cadenzas, in which the cello is left alone and can really show what it can do." A work created for the exceptional musician Gautier Capuçon!