Moreau is evidently a cellist of exceptional gifts with a vibrant directness of delivery, absolute security of tone and intonation in all registers and a concentrated intentness in his playing that rivets the attention…He’s vividly supported by Raphaël Merlin’s recently founded young orchestral collective Les Forces Majeures, recorded with a real presence.

Moreau is a commanding presence, singing tone that illuminates Offenbach’s debt to bel canto. His virtuosity can be thrilling…Unfortunately, [he] is let sown by conductor Raphael Merlin, who misses the rhythmic élan Minowski brings to the score…Gulda’s concerto fares better…The Menuett is done especially beautifully, with plenty of rhythmic point.

Moreau and Merlin get the balance between parody and affection just right in Offenbach’s deliciously over-the-top ‘concerto militaire’ from 1847, the sparkling passagework and manic exuberance of the outer movements replete with hints of what was to come in his operettas (Orphée aux enfers in particular, though the slow movement is closer to the world of Hoffmann). Gulda’s eccentric 1980 work for Heinrich Schiff comes across in all its phantasmagoric glory.