Panfilov

Versatile cellist Christoph Croise indulges in his passion for romantic Russian repertoire, coming together with close collaborators violinist Andrey Baranov and pianist Alexander Panfilov for a recording of works by a young Rachmaninoff. All of the works on this album were written before 1917, the year that the composer left Russia in the wake of the Revolution, and eventually emigrated to the United States.

Versatile cellist Christoph Croise indulges in his passion for romantic Russian repertoire, coming together with close collaborators violinist Andrey Baranov and pianist Alexander Panfilov for a recording of works by a young Rachmaninoff. All of the works on this album were written before 1917, the year that the composer left Russia in the wake of the Revolution, and eventually emigrated to the United States.

Versatile cellist Christoph Croise indulges in his passion for romantic Russian repertoire, coming together with close collaborators violinist Andrey Baranov and pianist Alexander Panfilov for a recording of works by a young Rachmaninoff. All of the works on this album were written before 1917, the year that the composer left Russia in the wake of the Revolution, and eventually emigrated to the United States.

Estonian composer, multi-instrumentalist, and producer Misha Panfilov continues to operate in his own diaphanous waters where waves of funk, jazz, and exotica crash upon mystic sands of psychedelic rock and kosmische music. Recorded in the archipelago of Madeira, his latest album, Atlântico, shifts tectonic plates of space and sound, leaving a decidedly more spiritual and serene landscape in its wake.

USSR, Late November, 1941. Based on the account by reporter Vasiliy Koroteev that appeared in the Red Army's newspaper, Krasnaya Zvezda, shortly after the battle, this is the story of Panifilov's Twenty-Eight, a group of twenty-eight soldiers of the Red Army's 316th Rifle Division, under the command of General Ivan Panfilov, that stopped the advance on Moscow of a column of fifty-four Nazi tanks of the 11th Panzer Division for several days. Though armed only with standard issue Mosin-Nagant infantry rifles and DP and PM-M1910 machine guns, all useless against tanks, and with wholly inadequate RPG-40 anti-tank grenades and PTRD-41 anti-tank rifles, they fought tirelessly and defiantly, with uncommon bravery and unwavering dedication, to protect Moscow and their Motherland.

On The Russian Album, award-winning cellist Christoph Croisé offers two towering 20th-century masterpieces, the Cello Sonatas by Sergei Rachmaninov and Dmitri Shostakovich, alongside miniatures by Sergei Prokofiev, Rodion Shchedrin and his compatriot, the Swiss cellist-composer Thomas Demenga.
In the spring of 2019, Christoph Croisé scored a break-through with his critically acclaimed recording of Haydn’s Cello Concertos (AV 2402). With The Russian Album, he turns his attention to two towering 20th-century masterpieces, Sergei Rachmaninov’s early, eloquent and emotional Sonata for Cello and Piano, Op. 19, and Dmitri Shostakovich’s D minor Sonata for Cello and Piano, Op. 40.

A composer of film, TV, and game music, indie soul songs, and funk-fueled electronica, producer/multi-instrumentalist Shawn Lee embarked on his eclectic career in music in the late '80s, completing his first solo LP in 1996, though it never received an official release. In the 2000s, he found homes for his solo material on labels such as Ubiquity and Wall of Sound and formed Shawn Lee's Ping Pong Orchestra. He also released albums with Clutchy Hopkins, and began taking work composing scores, including for the video game Bully (2006). The Ping Pong Orchestra continued into the 2010s as Lee formed psychedelic soul group the Electric Peanut Butter Company with Adrian Quesada and the indie electronic duo AM & Shawn Lee. Meanwhile, highlights of his periodic score work included the documentaries Elevate (2011) and Let It Soul (2018).

Christoph Croisé has emerged as one of Europe's fastest-rising young cellists, with a large variety of world-class collaborators listed on his CV by his early twenties. Even in an age of competition profusion, Croisé's list of competition prizes is impressive. Croisé was born on December 3, 1993, in Filderstadt, Germany, near Stuttgart, but grew up in Niederlenz, Switzerland. He took up the cello at seven and soon began lessons in his hometown and in nearby Zurich. Marked early as a major talent, Croisé began taking master classes from the likes of Steven Isserlis and Frans Helmerson and entering and winning competitions.

Christoph Croisé has emerged as one of Europe's fastest-rising young cellists, with a large variety of world-class collaborators listed on his CV by his early twenties. Even in an age of competition profusion, Croisé's list of competition prizes is impressive. Croisé was born on December 3, 1993, in Filderstadt, Germany, near Stuttgart, but grew up in Niederlenz, Switzerland. He took up the cello at seven and soon began lessons in his hometown and in nearby Zurich. Marked early as a major talent, Croisé began taking master classes from the likes of Steven Isserlis and Frans Helmerson and entering and winning competitions.