Emotions

2020 has been a dramatic year in which feelings have inevitably run high. Joining us to explore a wide spectrum of musical moods - and to provide reassurance and inspiration - is cellist Gautier Capuçon.

His album Emotions was recorded in Paris in February, shortly before France locked down. In the summer, when life began to feel more normal, Gautier travelled around the country giving more than 20 informal concerts - alone or with his pianist friends Jérôme Ducros and Samuel Parent - in village squares, schools, concert halls and other venues.

Each track on Emotions is expressive of both a state of mind and a particular aspect of Gautier Capuçon's life and experience. The album embraces music by great composers of the past (such as Tchaikovsky, Debussy, Satie, Dvorák and Elgar), by major composers of today (such as Ludovico Einaudi. Max Richter and Michael Nyman), and iconic numbers like Leonard Cohen's 'Hallelujah' and 'Hymne à l'Amour', made famous by Edith Piaf.

Jérôme Ducros contributes to the album as both pianist and arranger and the conductor is Adrien Perruchon, with the Orchestre de Chambre de Paris providing the instrumental backdrop and the choral voices of the Maitrise de Notre Dame adding resonance to Schubert's Ave Maria. Like Gautier Capuçon, they invite us to embark on an uplifting emotional journey.