Music is the key

Thibault Cauvin is certainly one of the most talented, charismatic and sought-after guitarists at the moment. He started touring more than ten years ago and never stopped since. Cauvin perfomed as a soloist in 120 countries on the most prestigious stages: Carnegie Hall in New York, Shanghai Concert Hall, Tchaikovsky Hall in Moscow, Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, GAM in Santiago de Chile, the Théâtre des Champs Elysées in Paris, Gasteig in Munich, and many others.  He releases is eighth album, which follows his two very popular and critically acclaimed previous albums, « Le Voyage d’Albéniz », recorded at the Château Lafite-Rothschild in 2014 and « Danse avec Scarlatti » in 2013. These albums are available in many countries and can be found on several compilations bringing together the music that has marked the past few years.  Born into a family of musicians, Thibault Cauvin started learning to play guitar at five years old with his father. After brilliant studies at th...

Camille & Julie are the Berthollet sisters, two extraordinarily gifted musical siblings from the idyllic Rhône-Alpes region in France. Camille (17) plays violin and cello and Julie (19) violin and viola. They became celebrities in France when the then 15-year-old Camille won Prodiges , a TV show for classical virtuosos under the age of 16. After captivating more than four million viewers on the France 2 network with her searing rendition of ‘Summer’ from Vivaldi’s Four Seasons , Camille was immediately signed to Warner Classics , her debut album (featuring her older sister as duo partner) going on to achieve Gold status with more than 80,000 copies sold in France alone. On their second album together, with the support of the Monte Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra, the sibling sensations reveal the poise, maturity and musical prowess they have continued to develop since Prodiges, confirming their talent goes far beyond the TV phenomenon that launched their bright career...

A lovely Handel and Mozart singer, Sophie Karthäuser here proves herself a natural in Lieder. In a discography dominated by tenors and (especially) baritones, her all-Wolf recital, centred on settings of Mörike and Goethe, is doubly welcome. Karthäuser’s choice of songs, too, couldn’t be more apt. In her Mörike selection she mixes a handful of favourites with cherishable rarities such as the desolate ‘Agnes’, with its sadly tolling ostinato, and ‘Nixe Binsefuss’, a mischievous fairy scherzo that sounds like refracted Mendelssohn. With her fresh, limpid soprano and sharp feeling for character and nuance, she gives unfailing delight in the these settings, whether in her conspiratorial sense of fun in the children’s song ‘Mausfallensprüchlein’ and the two elfin vignettes ‘Nixe Binsefuss’ and ‘Elfenlied’ – the comedy of the latter deliciously timed – or her mingled simplicity and acuteness of observation in ‘Das verlassene Mägdelein’: the weary stressing of ‘muss’ near t...

Philippe Bernold began his musical studies in Colmar, France, studying the flute and later composition and conducting under René Matter, himself a student of Charles and Fritz Münch. He then attended the Paris Conservatory, where he earned the First prize in flute and the next year, at the age of 23, was appointed first flute of the National Opera Orchestra of Lyon .  In 1987 he won First Prize in the Jean-Pierre Rampal International Competition in Paris This award allowed him to start a career as a soloist, performing with world famous artists and orchestras such as: M. Rostropovitch,  J. P. Rampal, M. Nordmann, with Paris Orchestra, F. Liszt Orchestra of Budapest, Manchester Hallé Orchestra, Tapiola Sinfonietta, National Orchestra of Lyon, Tokyo and Kyoto Symphony Orchestra…,  he has been directed by S. Bychkov, J. E. Gardiner, L. Maazel, K. Nagano, Sir Y. Menuhin, M. Inoué, T. Koopman, in concert halls such as the Royal Festival Hall in London, Pl...

French pianist Alexandre Tharaud takes on the blockbuster 'Rach 2' concerto in a thrilling performance with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and Russian maestro Alexander Vedernikov. It is coupled with more intimate Rachmaninov for piano six-hands (for which Alexandre is flanked by Alexander Melnikov and Aleksandar Madžar) and the icing on the cake: a sublime Vocalise in the original version for voice and piano, with pure-voiced French soprano Sabine Devieilhe.  Alexandre Tharaud's recorded catalogue is large and eclectic, but this is the first time he has devoted an entire album to Russian repertoire – specifically to the music of Sergei Rachmaninov. 'I was still quite young when I first played this concerto' explains Tharaud. ' I adored it... Rachmaninov's virtuosity really appeals to young pianists. Today, of course I'm still enthralled by the concerto's virtuosity, but now I'm more interested in its dark shadows: the sense of de...

"With the wonderful Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra we are presently exploring Schubert's quatuor ‘Death and the maiden’ . Of course we have to include Schubert’s earlier song with the same title on the poem of Matthias Claudius. This song belongs to the medieval tradition of the dance of death. Therefore we also play "Toden Tanz" (with poor me dancing), an ancient death dance written up by the German organ player August Nörmiger (1560-1613). Schubert’s song and the slow movement of his quatuor use the solemn rhythm of a Pavan, so we also play one of Dowland’s Pavans from "Seaven Teares". Add to this "Moro lasso" a madrigal about death by the famous Renaissance composer (and murderer!) Gesualdo. In between we also refresh our ears with other unsettling works by modern composers like György Kurtag and Heinz Holliger." (Patricia Kopatchinskaja)

Since he completed his master studies in 2012 at the Conservatoire Royal in Brussels (class of Dina Grossberger), Reinoud Van Mechelen has established himself on the international stage.  In 2007 he caught attention at the Académie Baroque Européenne in Ambronay under the baton of Hervé Niquet. In 2011 he was a member of the "Jardin des Voix" of William Christie and Paul Agnew and became soon a regular soloist of Les Arts florissants. With Les Arts florissants he has performed at the Festival d'Aix-en-Provence, the Edinburgh Festival, the Château de Versailles, the Bolchoï Theatre in Moscow, the Royal Albert Hall and the Barbican Centre in London, the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels, the Philharmonie in Paris, the Opéra Comique and the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York.  At the same time he is a guest with international ensembles such as Collegium Vocale, Le Concert Spirituel, La Petite Bande, Les Talens Lyriques, Pygmalion, Le Poème Harmonique, Il Gardellino,...

Nemanja Radulović’s performance of The Four Seasons comes as much from the heart as it does from the printed page. He often toys with rhythms and tempos, dynamics are taken to such extremes that at times the music become just audible, and mood swings from pensiveness to mercurial vivacity happen in the twinkling of an eye. You could hardly quibble at the technical brilliance he brings to the music, ‘Summer’ being an example of his left-hand alacrity as he drives tempos forwards at a breathless pace. Then, just when you expect rhythms to be highly stressed in the finale of ‘Autumn’, the performance becomes soft-grained. For my library I would always opt for safety with the excellent Andrew Manze and the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra (Warner), but with the 15 members of Double Sens playing with admirable unity, Radulović certainly captures the attention . Aleksandar Sedlar’s Spring in Japan portrays the great earthquake and tsunami in March 2011, and the work moves from the ...

Audite's 2013 double-SACD of Johannes Brahms' complete works for clarinet is an attractive presentation of the artistry of Laura Ruiz Ferreres, one of the Europe's leading clarinetists. Ruiz Ferreres is accompanied by pianist Christoph Berner in the Clarinet Sonatas No. 1 and No. 2, Op. 120, and she also joins Berner and cellist Danjulo Ishizaka in the Trio in A minor, Op. 114; for the Quintet in B minor, Op. 115, she performs with the Mandelring Quartet . Ruiz Ferreres' polished technique and limpid tone are brilliantly showcased in these audiophile recordings, and while she naturally comes to the foreground as the soloist in the two sonatas, she is on equal terms with her partners in the trio and the quintet. Shifting easily between carrying the melodic line and being one voice among others, Ruiz Ferreres always puts herself at the service of the music and never forces her presence. Thanks to the remarkable details, textures, and dimensions of the super audio...

German cellist, Jan Vogler presents his 2nd recording of Schumann's Cello Concerto (1st recording on Edel, 2001) but this time with his own orchestra, the Dresden Festival Orchestra, (alongside Ivor Bolton), that consists of more than 50 members from Europe's most renowned early music ensembles. Exploring Schumann's "original sound", Jan Vogler plays on gut strings and the orchestra on period instruments. In addition to the cello concerto, the orchestra is playing Schumann's 2nd symphony . The repertoire connects the Dresden Music Festival and its orchestra to the productive Dresden period of Schumann's work (1844-50) since both works were composed during that time. The second Symphony was written between December 1845 and October 1846 in Dresden, the cello concerto immediately after he had left the city. (Presto Classical)

“Passionate” (Sole 24 Ore), “Convincing” (American Record Guide), “Rich in personality”(Diapason). Cellist Silvia Chiesa has conquered public and critics thanks to a brilliant solo career that has made her one of the best loved performers of her kind, touring regularly Europe, and also China, United States, Australia, Africa and Russia.  Her artistic journey is defined by the originality and the wide range of its repertoire, which includes lesser known or unjustly forgotten music and composers. A case in point is the felicitous rediscovery of two obscure masterpieces by Nino Rota: the two Cello Concertos, which she recorded with the Orchestra Nazionale della Rai di Torino, conducted by Corrado Rovaris. Published in 2011 by Sony Classical, the CD was reviewed enthusiastically in the Italian and international press.  The Milanese cellist should be also credited with an important contribution to the contemporary repertoire for her instrument. It is not a coincidence that the...

It is with great pleasure that I introduce “Freedom,” which brings together two works commissioned by my Dolce Suono Ensemble and one discovery, all receiving their first recordings here. This has been a journey of over six years of artistic exploration and planning during which pianist Charles Abramovic and I performed and lived with these works extensively. It began when we commissioned Richard Danielpour to write a trio for Dolce Suono Ensemble - pianist Charles Abramovic, cellist Yumi Kendall, and me. I had known and worked with Richard since my student days at the Curtis Institute of Music and had long been thinking of collaborating on a new piece. As it happened, the people of Iran erupted in protest for their freedom while he was composing the work in 2009, sparking Richard to reflect on his Persian-Jewish roots and the plight of the Iranian people living under a brutally repressive regime. The result was Remembering Neda: Trio for Flute, Cello, and Piano , a work...

The press has already taken her to their heart: “fulminant, brilliant, beautiful voice” (Das Opernglas), “a touching mezzo” (Süddeutsche Zeitung), “…a treat for the ears and the eyes…” (WAZ). The young mezzo-soprano Lena Belkina is already in demand all over the world. She sang her way into the international limelight back in 2012 with her Angelina in Rossini’s La Cenerentola (Carlo Verdone/Gianluigi Gelmetti). The live video recording made by Mondovision was awarded the 64º PRIX ITALIA and the Warsaw Music Gardens Festival audience prize. What entranced the Oscar-winning director about his star performer was her extraordinary charisma: “…una fotogenia straordinaria, e la giusta dolcezza malinconica e sognante nei suoi grandi occhi neri…” (“extraordinarily photogenic, with the ideal melancholy and the dreamy sweetness of her big dark eyes”) (Verdone in Cultura). Since then, this film version produced by Andrea Andermann has been shown in more than 150 countries. Lena...

. . . [an] exhilarating album that crosses musical boundaries as if they don't exist . . . [Radulovic has] exceptional talent, real charisma and serious youth appeal. This young man plays the fiddle brilliantly . . . [the album] allows Nemanja to display his musical range, with everything from a vivid arrangement of the "Sabre Dance" to traditional Serbian stuff that's utterly compelling at Nemanja's extraordinairy pace . There are also more soulful tracks, like a fine arrangement by his in-house guru, Yvan Cassar, of John Williams's "Schindler's List" theme. It's one heck of a visiting card, and not to be missed. (Record Review / David Mellor, Daily Mail (London) / 01. February 2015)   Radulovic balances virtuoso posturing, famous film melodies and traditional tunes with unapologetic flair . . . The overall feeling is light but enjoyable . . . he has a warm, full-bodied tone and the technique to master each of the pieces on t...

Kim Kashkashian introduces a duo with Russian composer-pianist Lera Auerbach. Their first collaborative recording features Auerbach’s viola and piano version of Dmitri Shostakovich’s 24 Preludes op. 34, and Auerbach’s own, darker, sonata for viola and piano, Arcanum . The musicians first met at Switzerland’s Verbier Festival in 2010, although Auerbach had long been aware of Kashkashian’s recordings, and the “quality of life-or-death-intensity to her performing, which is rare and wonderful.” Arcanum, accordingly, was written for Kashkashian. Its title, the composer explained in a recent interview, “means ‘mysterious knowledge’: I was fascinated by the inner voice within each of us, some may call it perhaps intuition, some maybe guided meditation, but there is some knowledge that we have, which we may not necessarily verbalize or rationalize. This knowledge allows us to see the truth, to be guided, to seek answers.” Of Auerbach’s roles as composer and performer in this pro...

Deutsche Grammophon launched its latest exclusive collaboration with the Sistine Chapel Choir on Friday 7 October with a press conference and special concert at the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican. Members of the Vatican clergy were joined by dignitaries, diplomats and representatives of the international media to hear performances of a selection of works from the Choir’s new album. Palestrina , only the second recording to be made under studio conditions in the Sistine Chapel, follows the yellow label’s pioneering release of Cantate Domino in September 2015. It comprises the world premiere recording of the 1567 first edition of Palestrina’s Missa Papae Marcelli together with a selection of motets conveying the essential message of divine generosity and compassion. The album celebrates the “Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy” (8 December 2015 to 20 November 2016), defined by Pope Francis as “a revolution of tenderness and love”. “We are delighted that our exclusive relations...

With Yellow , the internationally acclaimed Amaryllis Quartett is rounding out its five-CD GENUIN series that kicked off with ECHO Klassik Award-winning White . And like in the first release, the phenomenal ensemble is performing music from the First and Second Viennese School, this time showcasing Mozart and Schoenberg. Joining the project are exceptional young soprano Katharina Persicke and ARD prizewinner Tomoko Akasaka, the ensemble’s new violist. In both the first and second cast, we are treated to immaculate, intelligent, inspiring quartet playing that makes new works seem familiar and familiar works new!

With its unique approach to music-making, the Kuss Quartet ranks amongst the world's best-renowned ensembles.  'Worlds away from shallow showmanship' its members constantly strive for interpretations of a 'revelatory nature', 'whose individuality (is derived) entirely from a deep and comprehensive exploration of the idiosyncrasies of each work.' (Frankfurter Rundschau)  Deep understanding of a work takes time to mature - that is self-evident for the Kuss Quartet; as is the courage, borne of personal discoveries, to develop their passion for experimentation. This is what the Kuss Quartet has stood for since the beginning of its professional career in 2002.  The two founder members, Jana Kuss and Oliver Wille (violin) have been travelling the same musical path for 25 years. Together with their colleagues William Coleman and Mikayel Hakhnazaryan, they are pioneers of a concept-based presentation of chamber music, which reveals new musical perspectives...

For his first album devoted entirely to works sung in German, star countertenor Philippe Jaroussky has chosen four religious cantatas: two by J.S. Bach (including the much-loved ‘Ich habe genug’) and two by Georg Philipp Telemann. Jaroussky is accompanied by the Freiburger Barockorchester, which also joined him for live performances at Berlin in 2015 as part of the singer’s season as artist-in-residence at the city’s historic Konzerthaus. In late 2015 Jaroussky performed these works before a capacity audience at Berlin’s historic Konzerthaus, where he was artist-in-residence in the 2015-16 season; this concert marked the first time he had sung in German to a German audience. “The voice of an angel” were the words of the Berliner Tagesspiegel , which also made clear that Jaroussky had the vocal means to express the drama of Telemann’s ‘Mount of Olives’ cantata. The Berliner Morgenpost , meanwhile, highlighted the singer’s readiness to venture into new areas of repertoi...

The New York Times has praised violinist Miranda Cuckson’s “undeniable musicality,” while Gramophone has declared her “an artist to be reckoned with.” Born in Australia and educated in America, she makes her ECM New Series debut – alongside pianist Blair McMillen – with three 20th-century milestones: the Hungarian Béla Bartók’s Violin Sonata No. 2 (1922), the Russian Alfred Schnittke’s Violin Sonata No. 2 “Quasi una Sonata” (1968) and the Pole Witold Lutoslawski’s Partita for Violin and Piano (1984). “Bringing these great Slavic composers together enables us to hear each dealing with the dichotomies of form and spontaneity, playfulness and seriousness, folk expression and abstraction,” Cuckson explains. “The colors and traits of Slavic ethnic music are vibrantly in the foreground in Bartók’s music, more subsumed into abstraction and flavor in the Schnittke and Lutoslawski. Humor is a tool of provocation and survival in Schnittke and to some extent Lutoslawski, a cheeky...

This new recording contains Brahms’ complete music in which the viola plays a solo part: the two Sonatas Op. 120 and the 2 Gesänge Op. 91, for alto, viola and piano. Brahms’ two viola sonatas are masterworks of his late style: the perfect handling of the sonata form sets the structure for autumnal reminiscenses and melancholic introspection, alternated by either passionate or tender interludes. Beautiful performances by violist Luca Sanzò and pianist Maurizio Paciariello, who made an excellent recording of Hindemith’s Viola Sonatas for Brilliant Classics (BC94782): “Strong performance….a real winner” (Musicweb). A special treat is the voice of Sara Mingardo in the Zwei Gesänge, one of the foremost altos of today, who sung with Claudio Abbado, Riccardo Chailly, Myung-Whun-Chung, Rinaldo Alessandrini. (Presto Classical)

Asked why he has chosen to tackle music by Bach for his new album, the violinist Nemanja Radulović might almost hesitate before answering, so self-evident does his reply appear to him and so natural is the affinity that he feels for Bach. For him, the present recording is the logical successor to his two previous releases: in the wake of Vivaldi and his project The Five Seasons, he continues his personal exploration of the Baroque repertory with his ensemble Double Sens; and, like Journey East, this recording, too, represents a reflection on his own particular roots – in this case, his musical roots. The three words that recur here with leitmotivic regularity are: roots, loyalties and families.  Roots. It all started with Bach. As with so many other musicians, Bach remains bound up with Nemanja Radulović’s earliest musical memories as a violinist, for even as a boy in Belgrade, he was already working on this repertory, in particular the Sonatas and Partitas, movements from which...

The latest choral work by Welsh composer Karl Jenkins is Cantata Memoria , commissioned by S4C to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the disaster on 21 October 1966 when a coal spoil tip enveloped a school and houses in the South Wales village of Aberfan, killing 116 children and 28 adults. Cantata Memoria bears the subtitle For the children and, as well as remembering the tragic Welsh catastrophe and its aftermath, mourns the loss of children in universal terms, as witnessed in the Dunblane shooting (1996), the Beslan school siege (2004), the Korean ferry disaster (2014) and the Peshawar School massacre (2014).   Cantata Memoria is scored for chorus – both mixed and young voices,  baritone and soprano vocalists, orchestra with prominent solos for violin, euphonium and harp, and sets a libretto by poet Mererid Hopwood. The premiere at the Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff on 8 October is conducted by the composer with leading Welsh soloists ...

Leoš Janáček’s Second String Quartet, Intimate Letters, inspires four complementary new works by Billy Childs, Bruce Broughton, Peter Knell and Kurt Rohde in an inventive new recording by the “radiant” (Los Angeles Times) Los Angeles-based ensemble. On September 30, ARS will release The Lyris Quartet’s Intimate Letters, an inspired new project anchored by the Second String Quartet of Leoš Janáček, “Intimate Letters” . Janáček’s Intimate Letters holds a special place in the repertoire of the Los Angeles-based Lyris Quartet; having been the first work that the group performed publicly and one they return to most often. So it is fitting that the piece serve as catalyst for the ensemble’s first recording. Often referred to as the composer’s “manifesto on love”, Intimate Letters was inspired by Janáček’s near obsessive devotion to his longtime muse Kamila Stösslová (a married woman 38 years his junior) to whom he wrote more than 700 love letters over 11 years. The Lyr...

Of Camille Saint-Saëns’s five piano concertos, the G minor Second is the one most favoured. Its three movements cover majesty, wit and exuberance: a splendid piece altogether. Louis Schwizgebel (a success at the Leeds Piano Competition in 2012) brings weight, poise, deftness and sparkle to this endearing work, and is well accompanied by Fabien Gabel, the recording reporting a partnership of equals. Scarcely less fine as music is the ‘Egyptian’ Concerto (No 5) . Saint-Saëns, an inveterate traveller, knew the locale first-hand. It’s a charming work, full of lovely tunes, affecting harmonies and oodles of atmosphere. Like Gabel, Martyn Brabbins is sympathetic to the music and to Schwizgebel’s intentions. If Rubinstein (in No 2), and Ciccolini and Hough in all five, should not be forsaken, then Schwizgebel is to be reckoned with, for both these performances are excellent and do these marvellous concertos proud – the finale of No 5 has the wind in its sails. Bon voyage! (Co...

In this eagerly awaited solo album for the enterprising Aparté label, Louis Schwizgebel appropriates two gems of piano repertoire: Sonata D845 (no. 16) in A minor , considered the first of Schubert's maturity, impresses with the mastery of its structure and its expressive power. Worthy of a symphony, D958 in C minor, 19th out of the 21 that he composed, symbolises the mastery of the composer, freed from the weight of his admiration for Beethoven. Enhanced by recording quality featuring an extraordinary harmonic palette that will delight the most demanding audiophile, this project promises to be one of the finest piano CDs of the year. Louis Schwizgebel makes his debut in the International Piano Series on December 2nd at St Johns Smith Square, playing Sonata D958 and discussing his programme in the free pre-concert talk. The Swiss pianist won second prize at the Leeds International Piano Competition in 2012, and soon afterwards became one of the BBC’s New Generatio...

Murray Perahia's absorption with the music of Johann Sebastian Bach has resulted in a series of highly acclaimed recordings of keyboard works that set new standards in Bach pianism for their intelligent virtuosity and stylistic insights. This Perahia/Bach collection offers a stimulating mix of individual movements - a fascinating testimony to all the artistry and dedication the pianist brings to the composer and his works.

. . . a triumph. After the opening salvo of the "Etudes d'exécution transcendante", Trifonov attacks the A minor study with tremendous ferocity, so much so that on page 4 he had me scurrying to check the score. There are the left hand's clearly marked accents against the right hand's semiquaver octaves but which I could not recall anyone illuminating quite so clearly . . . This is unquestionably one of the great recorded performances of the "Transcendental Studies". The three sets of studies on CD2 are equally compelling, with Trifonov's eye for pointing up subtle details likely to appeal to Lisztian connoisseurs -- the left hand's rhythmic support in "Gnomenreigen", for example . . . Every decent record collection should have at least one version of all four sets of these studies. It is quite a feat for a single pianist to deliver what are, in effect, top-of-the-pile performances of almost all of the 23 separate titles --...

Universally recognised as the finest cellist of his generation, Gautier Capuçon has a firm reputation as a concerto soloist, recitalist and chamber musician. He is a regular performer with the Berlin Philharmonic, Concertgebouw Orchestra, London Symphony, Leipzig Gewandhaus, Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, Chicago Symphony, NHK Symphony, and at festivals such as Verbier and Lugano, and has won several awards at the ECHOS and the Victoires de la Musique. Following on from last year’s live recording of the Shostakovich cello concertos, this album sees Gautier return to the studio with his friend and recital partner of many years, Frank Braley, in a programme of Beethoven’s Sonatas for Cello and Piano. In addition the album includes Beethoven’s wonderful variations on three different themes – two on arias from Mozart’s opera Die Zauberflöte, and the other from Handel’s Judas Maccabaeus. This is the first new recording of the complete Beethoven cello works for some ...

In his liner notes, Klaus Schweizer describes a unique meeting of minds when pianists András Schiff and Peter Serkin appeared on stage together for a November 1997 concert held at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art. Rather than join forces, these two “protagonists” rubbed those forces together to see what kind of electricity could be produced, so that “the audience had the pleasure of enjoying a contest of temperaments…and may have come away with the impression that such ‘contrapuntal’ music-making can be more stimulating than the harmony of two kindred souls.” The spontaneity of said performance and all its glorious vices have made their way into this subsequent studio recording, for which we are treated to the same sounds that graced the eyes and ears of all who were there for this rare event. As Schweizer so keenly sees it, this is a program of fugal magnificence , each work drawing from Bach’s highest art its own vivid line of continuity. (ECM Reviews)

A French cellist born in 1988, Julie is among today’s young soloists and recently performed the Concerto by Saint-Saëns with the Antwerp-based orchestra deFilharmonie at the Flagey concert hall in Brussels and L. Boccherini’s Cello Concerto in B-flat major with the Royal Chamber Orchestra of Wallonia In 2013 she was the laureate of the Fondation Natexis Banque Populaire and performed Tchaikovsky’s Rococo Variations at the Festival des Rencontres de Violoncelle de Bélaye broadcast on France Musique.Passionate about chamber music, Julie has performed alongside artists such as Emmanuelle Bertrand, Augustin Dumay and Gérard Caussé in the Flagey concert hall and in trio with Régis Pasquier and Abdel Rahman El Bacha. Julie was notably part of the Werther trio until 2010, with which she performed at the Festival de la Roque d’Anthéron. The trio won the Prix de la Presse at the International Chamber Music Competition of Lyon in 2011. She was also a guest at the Chamber Music F...

Murray Perahia, one of today’s most celebrated pianists, has signed a new deal with Deutsche Grammophon.For more than four decades, the American-born, London-based pianist has recorded exclusively for Sony Classical (including with Columbia Masterworks, its predecessor). His performances of core repertoire from solo Chopin, Bach and Brahms to the complete Mozart concertos, have all become key reference recordings, many securing either Editor’s Choices or Gramophone Awards.   DG’s announcement hints at the potential for new recordings of some of these works, stating that Perahia ‘intends to record key works from his repertoire, thereby preserving insights gained over the course of a career that began in the mid-1960s and continues to flourish as he approaches his 70th birthday next April.’ Perahia himself added that ‘There is something very special for me about revisiting music by composers such as Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, Chopin and Brahms. Their inexhaustible art ...

. . . a colossal recital . . . [Beethoven]: the opening 1803 "Waldstein Sonata" reveals a virtuoso pianist in smart music. The Gilels sonority in "ostinato" energy, runs, and trills penetrates deeply, and his capacity for liquid velocity seems limitless . . . [Chopin / Variations on "Là ci darem" from Mozart's "Don Giovanni"]: We might concur with Robert Schumann, who, in speaking of Chopin, proclaimed, "Hats off, gentlemen, a Genius!" and so say of Emil Gilels . . . [Prokofiev]: From the 1915-17 group of "Visions fugitives" Gilels proffers six, each vignette in color and dynamics, close to the terse spirit of Scriabin. Nos 1, 3, and 5 each sparkle with an ethereal impressionism. The accented dissonances of No. 11 always attract Gilels, who favors this study in contrary-motion scale patterns. No. 10 provides a jumpy etude marked "Ridicolosamente". The last, "Poetico", conveys an elusive v...

With his whiskers well trimmed, Jonas Kaufmann really looks every inch the lion king of tenors as, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, he stares out from the cover of his album of Neapolitan songs, Dolce Vita. But other big beasts are circling around, itching for their chance to become lord of the tenorial jungle. Kaufmann is proclaimed as the world’s finest tenor but, as this album shows, his grasp of Italian idioms isn’t as secure as Juan Diego Flórez’s was in his Neapolitan-song CD. Nor does Kaufmann’s voice have the heady, Italianate beauty of Joseph Calleja’s. And the Italian Vittorio Grigolo will surely think he’s even more of a matinee idol. There’s much to enjoy here in this 18-item, 70-minute programme. Old favourites – Torna A Surriento, Mattinata and Volare – are mixed with enticing rarities, several of which I didn’t know. But on this evidence, is Kaufmann a master of Neapolitan song? I don’t think so. Take that modern classic, Lucio Dalla’s Caruso, written for P...

Elegance and energy characterise this account of K453, Ingrid Jacoby especially attractive to listen to in her fluid and dynamic playing, crispy phrased and also affectionate without losing the Concerto’s bigger picture, and most attentively accompanied by the Academy of St Martin in the Fields and Sir Neville Marriner. Separating such lively music-making (the playful and ultimately witty Finale brings a smile), the soulful slow movement is particularly eloquent with some very expressive contributions from woodwind soloists, and Jacoby digs deep into the music’s potential. The minor-key K466 is given a spacious and somewhat severe reading, emotionally intense too, which works well in creating a darkly dramatic atmosphere and, in purely musical terms, there are numerous examples of well-observed integration between pianist and orchestra: one senses that Marriner is being artless to both parties. The romance of the slow movement is nicely phrased, a yearning quality evi...

A quite extraordinarily good disc. The performances are exemplary in every respect and the recordings are absolutely beautiful too. I had to go back and revisit this issue after a few days to check that it really was as good as I thought - it is! Vadim Gluzman takes a lyrical view of these pieces compared to the likes of Heifetz in the 2nd Concerto, but it is just as valid as any other. There is plenty of evidence from the time of the first performances that both concerti were viewed as lyrical as much as dramatic. The liner notes mention Oistrakh being attracted to the cantabile themes in the 1st Concerto, and of audience members at the US premiere being moved to tears by the slow movement of No.2. All this emotional reaction is quite understandable; these are among the most beautiful of 20th Century violin concertos and have attracted the attention of all the top virtuosi. Listeners to this disc who own other performances may notice that the orchestra is a little re...

Tamsin Waley-Cohen has recorded a new disc of Roy Harris and John Adams Violin Concertos with the BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Andrew Litton. The recording will be released on Signum Records on CD and download on 30 September. This continues her series of concerto recordings on Signum, with these two contrasting works by American composers.  Already considered by many to be a modern classic, John Adams 1993 Violin Concerto was described by the composer as having a ‘hypermelody’, in which the soloist plays longs phrases without stop for the duration of the 35 minute piece. Although composed in 1949, the first performance of Roy Harris’s Violin Concerto didn’t occur until 1984. Since then it has been championed for its “luminous orchestration and exalted tone”. “Roy Harris may be the most all-American composer you have never heard of...Waley-Cohen handles [the Adams's] gruelling solo part with athleticism and conviction, and both pieces benefit from the pu...

Maddalena was born in Italy and started studying music at a very early age. At the age of four, she began learning the piano and gradually added the cello and singing to her musical repertoire. Years later, at the age of 13, her musical talent brought her to Vienna, where she studied the cello at the “Konservatorium Wien”. She first came in contact with the viola da gamba when she entered a record shop in the heart of Vienna and was mesmerized by an enchanting sound she would never forget. She still finished her studies as a cellist, received a MA and performed in many concert halls as a soloist and chamber musician. All this time, she never forgot the viol and secretly honed her skills until, one day, she decided to make the viol her focal point and to dedicate her life to baroque music. Charity work is very important for Maddalena. She is founding president of the “Juvenilia Club Wien”, which supports several charity organizations and advocates women rights all over the world....

Regula Mühlemann was born in Lucerne, Switzerland where she currently resides. She completed her studies at the Conservatory of Lucerne in 2010 graduating with distinction. In June 2012 she completed her master studies «Solo Performance» - again with distinction and top marks. 2013 has proved to be a pivotal year for the young artist and Regula is now emerging as a leading soprano of her generation. She began the year with her debut at the Theater an der Wien singing Isolier in Rossini's Le Comte Ory. Regula then returned to the Baden-Baden Festspielhaus in a new production of Mozart's Die Zauberflöte for their first Easter Festival, led by Sir Simon Rattle conducting the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. The 2012/13 season began in Berlin with Regula singing Serpetta in Hans Neuenfels's new production of La finta giardiniera at the Berlin Staatsoper with great success. Further highlights of the 13/14 season were her house debuts with the Grand Théâtre de Ge...