Christian Poltera & Ronald Brautigam - Mendelssohn: Works for Cello & Piano (2017) [CD-Rip]

While his discography might suggest a preference for chamber and recital repertory, cellist Christian Poltera regularly appears as soloist with leading orchestras in Europe, the U.K., and U.S. Indeed, and he manages to balance his solo, chamber, and recital concerts pretty evenly and in a remarkably broad range of repertory as well, from mainstream works by J.S. Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Schumann, Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Prokofiev, and Shostakovich to lesser known fare by Honegger, Frank Martin, Dutilleux, Lutoslawski, Othmar Schoeck, Ernst Toch, and Michael Tippett. In recital and chamber music Poltera has collaborated with such artists as pianists Mitsuko Uchida and Lars Vogt, violinists Gidon Kremer and Christian Tetzlaff, and a spate of well-known and ad hoc ensembles, including the Zehetmair, Auryn, and Belcea quartets. Poltera also performs regularly in a string trio with violinist Frank Peter Zimmermann and violist Antoine Tamestit. Poltera has recorded for various labels, including BIS, Chandos, DG, and Naxos.

Christian Poltera was born in Zurich, Switzerland, in 1977. He studied cello with Nancy Chumachenko at the Zurich School of Music. Under her guidance he played in a trio with violinist Linus Roth and pianist (now conductor) Philippe Jordan, and with them won first prize in chamber music performance at the 1992 Swiss National Competition. Poltera had further studies with Boris Pergamenschikow in Berlin, and with Heinrich Schiff in both Salzburg and Vienna.

During his student years Poltera was already drawing notice as a soloist: at 17 he relaced Yo-Yo Ma in a Zurich concert with the Tonhalle Orchestra under David Zinman in a peformance of an Elgar concerto. In 1998 Poltera debuted in the recording studio with a pair of Pan Classics CDs, the first containing the Cello Concerto of Paul Huber and the next offering a Dvorak concerto. By the turn of the new century Poltera was regarded among the most talented young Swiss cellists.

In 2001 Poltera became a member of the BBC New Generation Artist scheme, performing in that capactity until 2004. That year he received a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award, which provides financial assistance to outstanding young talent in the development of their careers.

In 2006 Poltera made his New York debut at Avery Fisher Hall with the American Symphony Orchestra and the following year made his BBC Proms debut. Meanwhile, the European Concert Hall Organization selected Poltera as a Rising Star for the 2006-2007 concert season. In this role Poltera was given a slate of concerts in repertory of his choosing at some of Europe's most prestigious concerts halls.

Poltera continued making important debuts, as with his 2008 appearance at Carnegie Hall with Mitsuko Uchida and others in a performance of Messiaen's Quartet for the End of Time. In 2010 Poltera appeared on an acclaimed BIS CD of Mozart's trios K. 471 and K. 563, with trio companions Frank Peter Zimmermann and Antoine Tamestit. Poltera's busy 2012 schedule included concerts in February in Vevey, Switzerland, and Antwerp, Belgium with pianist Ronald Brautigam in sonatas by Beethoven. Poltera plays a 1675 Antonio Casini cello.