This was bad luck last year. Alban Gerhardt filled more headlines with the search for his stolen Guadagnini cello than with his Echo-Classic-Prize. This year this shall change. New cello, new luck. Besides this, the Berliner returned after six years in New York back home. His home game with the Berlin Symphony Orchestra was vociferously celebrated. The Schumann concerto was the occasion. „Cheerful“ the romantic called his work…But Alban Gerhardt searched also the mysterious corners in the disheveled soul. He lived and suffered through the work like a feverish fantasy (ravings). He took the first movement with ponderous emphasis, as if lead weights put strain on his fingers. Even in the virtuoso Finale he avoided elegant brilliance. A bit roughed up, almost shirt-sleeved he sprayed vital energy. A touch of melancholy hung over the concerto. The three movements which lead into each other seamlessly sounded like made in one mysteriously sparkling casting. Alban Gerhardt took the spoken gestures in Schumann‘s music especially seriously. He poured out his heart not only in the slow movement, a heart filled with sensual and wild sounds. Once again the cellist proved himself an artist of great conviction.”