Swiss cellist Mattia Zappa and Italian pianist Massimiliano Mainolfi are making an excellent career; both as soloists and chamber musicians.

Formed in 1994 during their studies at the Julliard School in New York; their Duo is highly successful: as well as winning numerous distinctions from international competitions; they played at the Carnegie Hall in 2001 and with the Berlin Philharmonic two years later. After a first CD dedicated to Czech composer Bohuslav Martinu ((CD 50-2803); they are back with Claves with; this time; a programme dedicated to music from the North. Christened « Lux Nordica »; this album offers a surprising confrontation between two stars of Scandinavian romanticism:

Norvegian Edvard Grieg and Swedish Jan Sibelius. Confrontation coupled with discovery – both are little known in this intimate field – and contrast; as writer Etienne Barillier so finely describes in the introductory notice: « The work of both musicians - whether it be drawing from popular sources or whether it be purely "learned" - radiates for us with the same very bright light; though never far from the night; a light rather like the sun of Nordic summers; more intense than that of the South; yet its intensity is coupled with suffering; as it holds within itself the permanent pledge of winter; just as we carry our own mourning.