‘More than a return to the roots, French Neo-Classicism represents an affectionate and critical look at the past, a mischievous smile, roguish consent, irony without any malice.’ These are the words the Swiss cellist Christophe Pantillon uses to describe the connecting character of the otherwise strongly contrasting works written after 1945 on his new solo CD. Starting with the Paduana by Arthur Honegger of 1945, the chronological arch stretches over the Étude-Caprice pour un „Tombeau de Chopin“(1949) and the Ghirlarzana (1950) von Jacques Ibert, the Sonate pour violoncelle by Henri Sauguet (1956) and the Suite en Concert by the more progressive André Jolivet (1965) to Henri Dutilleux’s 3 Strophes sur le nom de SACHER (1976-1982) and finally to a composition of 2011 by David Chaillou, Seul - Monologue pour violoncelle.