Modernism. Multiculturism. Multi-tuning. Lockdown. These are among the elements that bind the works on “The Solo Album” by cellist Christoph Croisé, who took the opportunity of 2020’s coronavirus isolation to work intensively on a variety of solo works and also turn his hand to composition.

Christoph Croise turns to the rich Romantic works of his 19th-century Swiss compatriot Joachim Raff, breathing new life into the composer’s complete works for cello and piano.

The beautiful, lyrical music of prolific 19th-century Swiss composer Joachim Raff was widely performed during his lifetime but is relatively under-represented today. Who better than Christoph Crois, Raff’s modern day compatriot, to breathe new life into the composer’s complete works for cello and piano.

Raff’s chamber music, and especially his works for cello, were among his most notable achievements. Having established a career in Germany in the mid-1850’s, Raff encountered the eminent cellist Bernhard Cossman whose mastery of the instrument inspired the composer’s rich Romantic oeuvre. Christoph, who has “got it all technical chops, impeccable musicianship” (Gramophone), puts a fresh, 21st-century spin on Raff’s memorable music resulting in this benchmark recording.

Lauded for ‘delicate yet virtuosic’ playing (BBC Music Magazine) and ‘seamless subtleties of tone colour’ with ‘plenty of edge’ (The Strad), Swiss-French-German cellist Christoph Croise is quickly building an international reputation as one of the most captivating young concert soloists to emerge in recent years.

Christoph Croisé channels his prowess as a cellist – “he’s got it all – technical chops, impeccable musicianship and imaginative daring” (Gramophone) – into compositional ingenuity on the first album devoted entirely to his own works.

Christoph draws inspiration from a variety of musical role models, including contemporary and centuries past, paying homage to the time-honoured evolution of classical music that has melded current conventions with popular styles. Traditional forms, such as sonata and concerto, are imbued with jazz, blues, bossa nova and improv to create, as Christoph puts it, “a musical and cultural melting pot.”

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 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.