Ophélie Gaillard

Cellist Ophélie Gaillard and Pulcinella Orchestra focus on Luigi Boccherini, Italian composer and first virtuoso cellist in history. Born in the Tuscany, Boccherini then went to the Court of Prussa and Spain. His musical education looks like a journey around Europe, as it used to be. Long eclipsed by the violin, star of the string instruments, the cello slowly fit in the eighteenth century repertoire thanks to composers who played the instrument themselves. The now famous Suites of Johan Sebastian Bach are the first master pieces composed for the cello. Then Luigi Boccherini strengthened its place in the musical creation, thus becoming to cello what Vivaldi was to the violin one generation earlier. With rhythms of dance from Andalusia and melodies dug along the streets of Madrid, Boccherini draws with notes his adopted country such as his contemporary Francisco Goya did with colours. This double album explores all the genres (concertos, sonatas, symphonies) and invites the gorgeous Sandrine Piau to perform Boccherini’s poignant Stabat Mater for string quintet and solo soprano. © Aparté/Little Tribeca

After a double album dedicated to Boccherini and acclaimed by critics, Ophélie Gaillard and the Pulcinella Orchestra reveal the incredible sound palette of Vivaldi, one of the most brilliant venetian musicians. Drawing on the finest cello works of the composer, Ophélie Gaillard’s selection places great emphasis on the concerto, for one, two or even four performers. It also includes an exclusive reconstruction of the Concerto RV 788. The vocal interventions of Lucile Richardot and Delphine Galou light up the program like rays of sun through the clouds. The album alternates between moments of great emotion, sometimes even dolorous as in the Largo of the Concerto RV 416, and moments of passion and frenzy (in the Concertos RV 419 or RV 409) that evoke "The Summer" from The Four Seasons. This music thus unveils all its mysteries in the interplay of lights and shadows, giving its name to this recording. © Aparté

The Bach Cello Suites are an iconic monument of the literature with which any serious cellist must grapple. Performances can vary from the metronomically precise just-play-the-notes approach to the other extreme in which a player's idiosyncratic interpretations are so pronounced that they become the center of attention rather than Bach's sublime music. This 2010 version is French cellist Ophélie Gaillard's second recording of the suites, the first made a decade earlier when she was in her mid-twenties. For the most part Gaillard's take on the music (like that of most sensible cellists) lies somewhere in between, but with some movements closer to the eccentric end of the spectrum. Gaillard's technical fluency is unimpeachable. Her intonation, even in the most outrageous multiple-stop chords, is impeccable. She plays with a ripe, absolutely luscious tone that may not suit the taste of the most fervent period performance devotees but that would likely elicit wonder from just about everyone else. Her use of vibrato is circumspect and period-appropriate. She is scrupulous about observing repeats and her use of ornamentation is elegant and understated. The fluidity and unself-conscious physicality of Gaillard's playing keeps the listener aware that except for the preludes, this is sunny, dance-based music. Her handling of the faster movements is especially delightful; the Gigue from the Second Suite and the Bourées from the Fourth (among many others) are just plain fun. It's in some of the preludes where the idiosyncrasies of her interpretation may lose some listeners. The Prelude to the First Suite, consisting entirely of sixteenth note figures, is an interpretive challenge and it's one of the movements to which performers have applied the widest range of rhythmic freedom. Gaillard puts heavy emphasis on the downbeats and frequently sustains them for twice their written length, and she brings a similar approach to the Prelude of the Fourth Suite. Depending on the listener's perspective, her playing of these movements may come across as either expansively elastic or weirdly distended. A factor that's almost inevitably an issue in recordings of such intimate music for solo string instruments, and sometimes string chamber music, is the clear audibility of strings slapping the soundboard and the player's breathing. In almost any live performing situation, these would not be heard because those sounds don't tend to carry, and an audience member sitting even in the first row would be unlikely to notice them, so a recording is an unfortunately unnatural way to experience this music. The extraneous sounds are only minimally distracting here; Gaillard's breathing, while not annoying or always audible, can sound labored, as if she were working very hard, and that seems to contradict the apparent ease and flexibility of her playing. Otherwise, the acoustic is very fine, with a detailed, spacious, and nicely resonant ambience. © TiVo

Swiss-French cellist Ophélie Gaillard, who has made a name for herself recording some of the most challenging repertoire for her instrument, including the suites of Bach and Britten, turns her considerable talents to lighter fare in this album of transcriptions of short Romantic classics. She is accompanied by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, led by Timothy Redmond, in arrangements made by composer and producer Craig Leon, who had created a similar album for violinist Joshua Bell. The pieces include opera arias (from Rusalka, La sonnambula, L'elisir d'amore, and Gianni Schicchi), piano works by Debussy, Satie, and Chopin, and other vocal, instrumental, and orchestral music by Fauré, Rachmaninov, and Tchaikovsky. Almost all are close to the top of charts of the most familiar and broadly popular classical pieces. Gaillard brings a warm, generous tone and creamy legato to this lyrical repertoire. Redmond's thoughtful accompaniments are imaginative and creative in pieces where it would have been easy just to haul out the tried and true, predictable approaches. Leon's arrangements are wonderfully inventive and colorful; he really knows how to make the soloist shine, and the little details of orchestration, particularly in the transcriptions of the piano pieces, add layers of depth that makes his work outstanding. The sound is full-bodied and nicely present, with ideal balance. The album would be a great place to start for listeners just dipping their toes into classical music for the first time and should also appeal to fans of fine cello playing. © TiVo