Popper was a virtuoso cellist / composer, born in Prague in 1843. He wrote four Cello Concertos and a quantity of salon music, for which he is best remembered. His music is very melodious and highly attractive, though much of it is unknown. The Opus 3 Maskenballscene receives its premiere recording on this disc.

Helen Lindén started playing the cello with Hungarian pedagogues, Csaba and Géza Szilvay, at the age of six. Her outstanding talent was very apparent from an early age, and when she was nine she made her debut as a soloist with a symphony orchestra. At fifteen she was employed by the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra for ten performances.

In 1987 she began her studies at the Sibelius Academy of Music in Helsinki with Erkki Rautio and in 1992 she went to the Bloomington School of Music, Indiana University, where she was the student of Professor János Starker. The Indiana University awarded her the first prize in the Concerto competition, the first prize in the Popper competition, and the Artist Diploma degree. In 1999 she completed her Master’s degree at the Sibelius Academy.

She is very much in demand today as a teacher and performer, notably with the Trio de

Figeac and Bellosio String Quartet, with whom she has regularly performed at

many festivals. She has recently received great critical acclaim for her masterly

performances of Bach’s Cello Suites and the Cello Sonatas of Beethoven and

Brahms. She is accompanied on this recording by Folke Gräsbeck, himself a distinguished artist.