OUT NOW | Cellist Gautier Capuçon's New "Souvenirs" CD

The 3 CD pack present various recordings from the past 20 years with artists such as Paavo Järvi, Nicholas Angelich, Yuja Wang, Valéry Gergiev, and many others

Erato Records announced the release of French superstar Gautier Capuçon's new "Souvenirs" three CD pack.

"This album is coming out the year of my 40th birthday," Gautier told The Violin Channel. "And it's also the 20th anniversary of our collaboration with Warner classic, so it's a big birthday. For this first CD, I started to think about this past 20 years of being on stage and I came back to this solo program I was playing in my 20s, Bach, Dutilleux, Kodaly, which is a program that I played a lot. I was very lucky to work with Henry Dutilleux for many years before he passed away, and I haven't played this program since then. Every year I thought, okay, next season, I'm gonna come back to it and I never did.

"I thought it was a great memory to come back to it now for this special album, and also to celebrate it in a way with all my friends with whom I've been recording those past 20 years. The two best-of CDs are a selection of the pieces I recorded those past 20 years with all my friends. That's also why I called it "Souvenirs," the title came after thinking about those past years and what I've been doing, and all those musical projects.

"I also wanted to tell a little more about those 20 years which is why I put a few pictures of where I grew up in Savoie (French Alpes). The river is close to my parents' house. And then there is the horse. People don't know, but I've been horse riding a lot when I was a kid. The motorbike is a motorbike I bought when I was 18 I think, it's a motorbike from the 50s, French-made, called Terrot. By the way, there is a funny story. The picture with the sheep shows the farmer who lives just next to my parents' house. We were doing the photoshoot and I came to him and said, 'Well, do you mind if we make a few pictures there in the field?' And then sheep came, it was so beautiful. There was this newborn lamb who was there too, so cute. And the funny story is that the farmer, even though he is listening to mine, doesn't know about music but his name is Mr. Berlioz. I think it's so funny.

"I hope that listeners will travel with me through those 20 years of recording and also my youth in Savoie. I think that when we do a recording, we tell a story to the listener and I think it's nice to also have the pictures to illustrate all those moments together with all the artists of those two best off CD."