Anne Gastinel

"…it's the playing that makes these three sonatas really come alive. Anne Gastinel is one of the finest French cellists around, and she's a superb chamber music player, as you'll know if you've heard her Naïve recording of Rachmaninov and Strauss Sonatas with Pierre-Laurent Aimard." Andrew Mcgregor, BBC Radio 3, on Anne Gastinel’s recording Beethoven Cello Sonatas (V4297)

“With an easy technique and a mellow yet focused sound, she dances to the Allemandes, scampers through the Courantes and oozes character in the "galanterie" movements. Above all she plays with a singing tone that reaches its apogee in the Sarabandes, most notably those of the Fourth and Sixth suites which for sheer sustained sweet lyricism are among the most beautiful I have heard. ” Gramophone Magazine, June 2008

“Inspired changes of tone colour” Gramophone on Anne Gastinel

“I found myself completely compelled by the heartfelt warmth and spontaneity that Gastinel and Désert bring to [Schubert’s] melodic invention. … This duo makes such a marvellously fresh case for this well-loved friend, and imparts so much soul (for want of a better word) in the Adagio, that one can only say it is desirable.” The Strad

“The phrases are finely drawn, with tone that is never inappropriately heavy or too powerfully sustained. The rhythms are poised, the articulation clear and crisp, and in the variation sets as well as in the early sonata there’s an element of wit and playfulness that’s an essential part of the young Beethoven.” (The Gramophone)