Christian Poltéra

This young Swiss cellist is a student of Heinrich Schiff and Boris Pergamenshikov, and he has already played with the best in the world. Last season, he performed with Frank Peter Zimmermann and Antoine Tamestit at deSingel in a captivating interpretation of Beethoven's string trios. It's high time we got to hear Poltéra in a solo piece! Preferably, in the Bach Suites, of course. Here is an exciting confrontation with twentieth century equivalents. It was Rostropovitch's rich romantic performance of the Bach Suites that inspired Britten's own solo suites. The Third is Britten's most expressive and personal suite, in which he reflects upon death. 'Trois strophes sur le nom de Sacher' by Henri Dutilleux also originated under the influence of Rostropovich. In 1976, he commissioned twelve composers to write a work for solo cello to commemorate the seventieth birthday of the Swiss conductor Paul Sacher. Dutilleux' contribution is based on the six letters of the name Sacher (the letter names for the notes mi flat-la-do-si-mi-re) which return as a sort of rhyme in each small section. In Poltéra's hands it is pure poetry!