An encounter between two outstanding musicians who explore the boundaries between tradition and modernity in their joint debut.

Cellist Valerie Fritz, ECHO Rising Star 2025/26, and the critically acclaimed pianist Nina Gurol, known for her passionate dedication to contemporary music, present a multi-layered programme that brings together masterpieces from the 20th and 21st centuries. The composer York Höller (b. 1944), whose works characterise the musical dramaturgy of this recording, takes centre stage.

With Signe ascendant (2024), Höller pays tribute to the 100th birthday of Pierre Boulez. The virtuoso piano piece, written for and premiered by Nina Gurol, develops from a compositional nucleus that translates Boulez's name into sounds - a work of crystalline clarity and energetic density.

The Mouvements (2010) for cello and piano, on the other hand, unfold an imaginary, abstract ballet: four movements full of rhythmic intricacies, dance-like gestures and expressive timbres. Höller's Piano Sonata no.3 (2010/11) combines virtuoso brilliance with structural sophistication and demonstrates Nina Gurol's pianistic resilience.

Höller is joined by two sonatas that add impressionistic and expressive-romantic facets to the repertoire: Claude Debussy's Sonata for Violoncello and Piano in D minor (1915), a manifesto of French sound poetry, and Rebecca Clarke's powerful, colorful Sonata for Viola (or Violoncello) and Piano (1919), a milestone in the art of female composition.

With the album “Pas de deux”, Valerie Fritz and Nina Gurol create a musical choreography of movements, contrasts and dialogues - a recording that opens up intimate sound conversations and builds bridges between eras, styles and sound worlds.