Marie-Elisabeth Hecker & José Gallardo

Marie-Elisabeth Hecker is only twenty-four, but we already dare to consider her a great lady. In 2005, she caused quite a stir at the Rostropovich Cello Competition, being the first in the thirty-year history of the competition to walk off not only with the first prize, but also two special prizes. Since then, conductors such as Gergiev and orchestras such as the Vienna Philharmonic have been queuing up to work with her. Her cello playing is at once fresh, energetic and elegant, and she captivates immediately with her warm, lyrical tone. Partnered by the sensitive pianist Louis Lortie, she plays Chopin's Cello Sonata, which is often regarded as one of his less inspired works. But Hecker and Lortie sweep all such prejudices aside. It is with great fantasy that they tell the story of the tsar's son Ivan and Princess Maja in Janácek's 'Fairy Tale' ('Pohadka'). In Poulenc's good-humoured Cello Sonata, we hear the composer at the height of his powers. Hecker and Lortie chase each other in a riotous and flirtatious exchange.