The crossover album is not quite as highly developed a genre in France as it is in Britain and the U.S., but cellist is having great success with a sequence of single-word-titled albums. , released in 2022, is the latest, and it makes a fine place to try these out for listeners in France or anywhere else. Indeed, part of what makes 's program work here is its variety; much of the material is not French, and the French pieces often have some kind of twist. Fans of , for instance, may not have known the French origin of one of his most famous songs. It is a rare European album of any kind that would include a rendition of , and both 's placement and his performance of this melody are haunting. mixes orchestral, small-group, and piano-accompanied pieces of both classical and pop origin. In the classical pieces, his arrangers serve him well, putting the cello front and center while keeping the flavors of the originals. The end result is a collection of favorites, remade for the cello, that maintains its variety and never cloys. This album is a superior and totally fresh example of its type. ~ James Manheim