"The serenade: an evening song at someone's door", says a dictionary from the 17th century. The ensuing centuries have not changed this definition at all, as anyone knows who has heard Don Giovanni singing for Donna Elvira, Count Almaviva for Rosina or the Meistersinger Beckmesser for Eva Pogner.

The Ensemble arabesques is now bringing together Antonín Dvořák's Serenade for Winds, op.44, one of the most famous pieces in the genre, with a rarity that is well worth being played and heard, the wind serenade by Danish composer Emil Hartmann, and an extremely diverting concerto featuring (serenade-like) depictions of nature, that for cello and winds by Jacques Ibert.

The present recording was made on the occasion of the concert in 2021 marking the tenth anniversary of the arabesques festival. The friendship and artistic collaboration with the internationally renowned French cellist Emmanuelle Bertrand, who has been awarded the Interpretation Prize of the Académie des Beaux-Arts, has existed equally as long.

The Ensemble arabesques, which was founded in 2011 in connection with the German-French culture festival arabesques in Hamburg, now performs throughout the year both in Germany and abroad. Noted professors and orchestral solo players from all over Germany play together in a variety of instrumental combinations. The ensemble focuses on unusual projects ranging from Baroque to contemporary. The ensemble's work particularly features unfamiliar composers and works that have fallen into oblivion.

The cellist Emmanuelle Bertrand studied with Jean Deplace and Philippe Muller. She has won several international music competitions and received numerous awards. In 2022, she was chosen as "instrumental soloist of the year" at the Victoires de la Musique competition. She has been artistic director of the Beauvais International Cello Festival since 2012, and professor of chamber music at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris since 2008. In 2022, she became the first woman to be appointed professor of cello in the history of this institution, founded in 1795.