Eric Tanguy (born in1968) is among the most prolific and frequently performed French composers of his generation. Tanguy's music sounds very much like that of a large number of composers of a variety of nationalities who were old enough, when they came of age musically, to have absorbed serial techniques but were young enough to see that there was a world of other options for classical music gaining traction and respectability.

It's curious why there are not more compositions for cello and guitar duo. The two overlap greatly in range, have wonderfully complementary timbres, and possess virtually none of the inherent balance problems encountered when pairing the cello with the more commonplace piano. The guitar is often thought of in term of Spanish or Latin-influenced music, and though there have been many compositions written for the cello by composers from these parts of the world, precious few have bothered to incorporate the guitar as a duo partner.

Not since Yo-yo made his recording back in 1990 has there been such power and precision displayed in a recording of the Barber Cello Concerto, and she practically glides through phrases where other famous soloists (I'm looking at you, Kirschbaum) struggle to stay afloat. My favorite and, dare I say, the definitive performance of my favorite cello concerto.

Other than the piano, there were few instruments on which Chopin focused his attention, which makes this album featuring cellist Anne Gastinel something of a rarity - all the more so in the hands of this iconic French cellist and her partner Claire Désert, veterans of countless concerts and recordings over several decades. Their united voice - as always, remote from the chorus of the mundane and the media-fixated - is a subtle, inspired cantilena.

A child prodigy in her youth and a competition-winning virtuoso by her late teens, cellist Anne Gastinel has gone on to handsomely fulfill all the promise augured by such auspicious beginnings. She has appeared on French television, received countless awards, made over a dozen recordings, and given concerts at the major venues throughout Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas, often with the leading conductors and orchestras. In addition, despite her busy concert and recording schedules, Gastinel has served on the faculty of the Lyon Conservatory as professor of cello.