Loris Rossi and Giulia Libertini bring the music of Pierre-François-Olivier Aubert for two cellos to Da Vinci Classics. The recording is scheduled for May 2027.

What happens when a cello has another cello for company? Two instruments of the same range can exchange a phrase almost imperceptibly. They can also separate into sharply distinct registers, with one sustaining a bass while the other sings. For Pierre-François-Olivier Aubert, a cellist and composer born in 1763, the duet offered room for both kinds of writing.

Aubert’s name survives in sources that show how closely composition and instrumental teaching could be related. His Op. 8, published by Imbault, places three duets and three sonatas alongside studies for the cello. The Bibliothèque nationale de France also catalogues his Op. 9 as a set of three concertante duets for two cellos. The two publications invite us to hear the skills cultivated in a study, from shaping a line to controlling the bow, put to work in music whose timing and balance depend on another player. Bibliothèque nationale de France catalogue

The starting point for Rossi and Libertini was O Filii, Aubert’s variations on the Easter hymn O filii et filiae. Rossi identified the manuscript at the Bibliothèque nationale de France, and Da Vinci Publishing subsequently issued the work for two cellos. In the new recording it is heard alongside the duets from Opp. 8 and 9. The hymn gives the listener a melody to hold in mind as the texture changes. The duets extend that invitation by letting the ear follow how the two players divide and exchange the work of carrying a phrase. Da Vinci score catalogue

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