Here are two masterpieces for cello by Shostakovich, written 25 years apart. The insolent Sonata Op.40 of 1934, contemporary with 'Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District' - the opera soon to plunge its composer into disgrace with Stalin, was answered in 1959 by the bitter self-questioning of an artist who seemed to have sunk into depression. This Cello Concerto ends with a wicked caricature of true joy, adding the final touch to the extreme polymorphism of a traumatised humourist who had long since learned not to laugh.

A passionate devotee of chamber music and member of the ensemble Les Violoncelles Français, Emmanuelle Bertrand has appeared in duo repertoire with the pianist Pascal Amoyel since 1999. Her harmonia mundi recordings as a soloist or in tandem with Amoyel have all received the most prestigious critical accolades in France and abroad, including the Cannes Classical Award, Diapason d’Or of the Year, 10 de Répertoire-Classica, Choc de Classica, and ffff de Télérama.