Arcangelo / Jonathan Cohen HANDEL Brockes-Passion

 

BROCKES-PASSION

 

Sandrine Piau / Orchestre Victor Hugo / Jean-François Verdier CLAIR-OBSCUR

 

CLAIR-OBSCUR

Giovanni Antonini / Il Giardino Armonico HAYDN 2032 - No. 9 L'ADDIO

 

HAYDN 2032 - No. 9 L'ADDIO

 

Coro e Orchestra Ghislieri / Giulio Prandi NICCOLÒ JOMMELLI Requiem

REQUIEM

 

Insula Orchestra / Laurence Equilbey MAGIC MOZART

                                                                MAGIC MOZART

Les Talens Lyriques / Christophe Rousset PERGOLESI Stabat Mater

                                                                STABAT MATER

Sandrine Piau / Le Concert de la Loge / Julien Chauvin SI J'AI AIMÉ

Sandrine Piau’s first recital for the ALPHA Label, with Susan Manoff (Chimère - Alpha 397), proved an enormous hit (Diapason d’Or of the year, Choc of the year, and Gramophone Editor’s Choice). Her new project is a recital with orchestra celebrating French song of the period when it moved from the private salon to the concert hall. Planned in partnership with the Palazzetto Bru Zane, this programme evokes anticipation, desire, pleasure, memory, in short all the vagaries of love experienced by a romantic heroine… To verses of the poets Hugo, Gautier, and Verlaine, Sandrine Piau has selected song settings by Saint-Saëns (‘Extase’, ‘Papillons’), Massenet (‘Le Poète et le Fantôme’, ‘Aimons-nous’...), and Vierne, as well as by the rarely-heard Dubois, Bordes… Julien Chauvin and his period instrument ensemble combine these songs with orchestral pieces (the ‘Symphonie Gotique' by Godard or the 'Valse très lente' by Massenet). The disc also presents excerpts from Nuits d’Été by Berlioz, and ends with the famous classic ‘Plaisir d’amour’ by Martini. 

Julian Prégardien / Éric Le Sage / Sandrine Piau SCHUMANN Dichterliebe

The album is opened with a lovely yet rarely recorded duet from “Spanisches Liederspiel” (Op.74), where Prégardien is joined by Soprano Sandrine Piau. A short Romance by Clara is then played expertly by Eric Le Sage, then more duets by husband and wife, all lovely performed, until we get to Dichterliebe. This prologue to the Op. 48 cycle works very well, preparing the listener to the world of love, anguish and hope the famous group of songs entails.

Prégardien uses the new Bärenreiter edition to the Dichterliebe, which puts into question few phrasings, markings and, most of all, the decision to omit several songs from the cycle, supposedly due to a request made by the first publisher. Happily, Prégardien and Le Sage don’t bite, and keet the masterful flow of the original 16 songs. Nonetheless, Prégardien not only incorporates some of the new editorial recommendations, but also adds a little of his own. In the first song of the set, as an example, the tenor ornaments with small grace notes on repeated phrases. They are eloquently done, though listeners will have to decide if they truly add to the experience or call attention to themselves. Small surprises can be undoubtedly delightful, though, as when Piau joins for the “Ich liebe dich!” (“I love you”) calling in “Wenn ich in deine Augen seh”.

Accentus / Insula orchestra / Laurence Equilbey BEETHOVEN Triple Concerto - Choral Fantasy

Conductor Laurence Equilbey is fascinated and inspired by the unconventional, hybrid character of Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy and Triple Concerto. She sees it as “the root of their originality, which gives them a special place in Beethoven’s output and in the history of music as a whole.” Their fusion of genres is reflected in performances that unite the period instruments of Equilbey’s Insula orchestra and soloists – pianists Bertrand Chamayou and David Kadouch, violinist Alexandra Conunova and cellist Natalie Clein – who are best known for playing modern instruments.

Ophélie Gaillard / Sandrine Piau / Pulcinella Orchestra BOCCHERINI

This season 18/19 Ophélie Gaillard will be performing as a soloist with the Filharmonia Slovenska under the direction of James Judd, with the National Orchestra of Brittany conducted by Marc Feldman and with her ensemble, the Pulcinella Orchestra. Her repertoire includes Boccherini’s concertos, CPE Bach, Vivaldi, Schumann, Tchaikovsky’s Variations on a Roccoco Theme, and Nino Rota’s transcriptions.

She can be heard in Paris (Radio-France auditorium, the cycle of the Army Museum) and in the French provinces as well as abroad (tours in Italy, Singapore, Germany).

In the spring of 2019 a double monographic record will be released, dedicated to Luigi Boccherini with the Pulcinella Orchestra and Sandrine Piau, published by the Aparté label and distributed by HM.

Ophélie Gaillard will be a member of the jury of the prestigious competition of the ARD of Munich and will give masterclasses at the French American school of Fontainebleau, in Munich, during the Musicalp summer academy in Tignes, as well as at the High School of Music of Geneva.

After a first album about Boccherini, that was acclaimed by the press in 2007 (awarded with the Choc du Monde de la Musique, distinctions in Strad and BBC Magazine), Ophélie Gaillard joins Sandrine Piau and the Pulcinella Orchestra again in a double album that is a tribute to the brilliant Tuscan cellist.

Concerto Italiano / Rinaldo Alessandrini UN VIAGGIO A ROMA

"The programme on this CD provides a snapshot of music over a few decades. An incomplete one, in that it focuses firstly on the contribution of Stradella, who lived in Rome between 1652 and 1678, with his S. Giovanni Battista, performed in the church of San Giovanni dei Fiorentini in 1675; then the visit of Georg Muffat, a Frenchman interested in Italian style, a pupil of Pasquini between 1681 and 1682, and a great admirer of Corelli; the young Handel, who was the object of admiration in the papal city between 1707 and 1709; Alessandro Scarlatti, prolifc, tireless composer and musical traveller, and lastly Corelli, the classic symbol of the splendour of Roman musical culture, who spent the whole of his life from 1675 ‘in urbe’." (Rinaldo Alessandrini)

Le Concert de la Loge / Julien Chauvin / Sandrine Piau HAYDN La Reine

It was in 2015 that Julien Chauvin decided to bring back to life one of the most famous orchestras of the late 18th century, Le Concert de la Loge Olympique. Founded in 1783 and owing its lasting famous for having commissioned Joseph Haydn’s ‘Paris’ Symphonies, it gave its first concerts under the high patronage of Marie-Antoinette, hence the subtitle of the fourth ‘Paris’ Symphony: ‘La Reine’. 

Although the name has been slightly changed today, now called Le Concert de la Loge, this ensemble of a variable number of musicians perpetuates the same tradition of excellence as its illustrious namesake. On the programme, of course, the recording of the cycle of these ‘Paris’ Symphonies and, to get the series off to a start, the recording of this famous ‘Reine‘. Taking up the purest tradition of concerts of the ensemble at the time, for each programme, Julien Chauvin combines not only instrumental works by various composers but also vocal pieces (in general, opera arias). 

Thus the fabulous Sandrine Piau, a distinguished guest of this first recording, ideally portrays the gentle Sélène in the world premiere recording of an aria from Giuseppe Sarti’s Didone abbandonata (1762) and offers dazzling virtuosity in Diane’s spectacular aria from Johann Christian Bach’s serenade Endimione. The listener will also (re)discover a little gem by Henri-Joseph Rigel, violist in Le Concert de la Loge Olympique: the Symphony Op. 12 no.4 (1774). With this first release, Julien Chauvin already proves that his orchestra will quickly establish itself and regain its past glory.

Sandrine Piau / Susan Manoff CHIMÈRE

After a number of appearances in Alpha productions Sandrine Piau now joins the label for several recordings. With Chimère, she invites us on a voyage into the intimate and infinite territory of dreams. ‘Chimera: an illusory, unsatisfied quest, the graveyard of our illusions...’ She and her long standing partner, the pianist Susan Manoff, have thought up a programme combining the German lied (Hugo Wolf, one of Schumann’s Mignon songs, a scene from Goethe’s Faust by Carl Loewe), Mélodies by Debussy and Poulenc (his Banalités), and Art Songs by Barber along with discoveries of more rarely heard composers like Ivor Gurney and the Dickinson Songs of André Previn – the celebrated American conductor is less well-known for his compositions, which include this magnificent cycle written for Renée Fleming. Equally at home in French, German and English, Sandrine Piau is at the peak of her artistry. Fantoches, Clair de Lune, Solitary Hotel, Will there really be a morning?: set out for the world of dreams following this unique poetic itinerary. ‘The land of chimeras is the only one in this world worth living in’ (Jean-Jacques Rousseau).

Le Concert d'Astrée / Emmanuelle Haïm UNE FÊTE BAROQUE!

This "fête Baroque" occurred in December 2011 at the Théâtre des Champs Elysées in Paris, marking the tenth anniversary of the ensemble Le Concert d'Astrée under founder and conductor Emmanuelle Haïm. The concert was a benefit for a French cancer research facility, and it attracted a galaxy of guest stars. Le Concert d'Astrée is one of the very best Baroque vocal ensembles, and this release never descends to a low common denominator. Haïm's trademark expressive phrasing is everywhere in evidence, but the biggest attraction is the selection of singers, with several figures from the mainstream showing up alongside established Baroque specialists. You might not think that tenor Rolando Villazón has quite the right voice for an aria from Handel's Tamerlano, HWV 18, but he's clearly wrestling with the problem, and he gets an appreciative roar from the Parisian crowd (who are given full voice on the recording). Right after that comes a delicious duet from mainstreamer Anne Sofie von Otter and countertenor Philippe Jaroussky in the Cornelia-Sesto duet from the second act of Handel's Giulio Cesare in Egitto, HWV 17, a pure feast of sensuous singing. Established Baroque vocalists like Natalie Dessay and Sara Mingardo are on hand, as well as a few up-and-comers who seized the chance to put their names and voices in front of a well-heeled crowd. Rather than try to cover the entire range of Baroque opera, Haïm wisely chooses to focus on three composers: Rameau, Lully, and Handel, whose vocal riches occupy the entire second CD. The sound picks up unadulterated audience noise, but nothing interferes with the spontaneity the musicians bring to the event. (James Manheim)

Ophélie Gaillard / Pulcinella BACH Arias

Ophelie Gaillard has made recently a deep impression with the Suites for cello solo by Jean-Sebastian Bach. On this new recording, dedicated to the Cantor of Leipzig, she gathered her close team from the Pulcinella Ensemble and invited some of the most talented soloists: Sandrine Piau, Emiliano Gonzalez Toro, Christophe Dumaux.

This programme gives a vision of the most beautiful cantatas written by Jean-Sebastian Bach in Leipzig from 1723 to 1750, interspersed with some of the masterpieces from the 'Schübler' Chorales and Orgelbüchlein.

With a passion for Baroque music played on period instruments, Pulcinella is a group of virtuoso soloists, gathered in a chamber spirit around cellist Ophélie Gaillard. Highly experienced musicians, who attach great importance to sound and articulation, they explore some of the major works of the repertoire, while aiming to present little known or unknown pieces as well.

Part of Pulcinella’s repertoire is devoted to important 17th- and 18th-century works for concerted cello, of which it is one of the foremost ambassadors. The ensemble’s first recording, devoted to Vivaldi’s complete Cello Sonatas (on Ambroisie) was highly acclaimed by the international press in 2006. The following year its tribute (with Sandrine Piau and Rolf Lislevand) to the cellist and composer Luigi Boccherini also received excellent reviews, including praise from The Times.

Pulcinella works with singers including Nuria Rial, Salomé Haller, Sandrine Piau, Max Emmanuel Cencic, Xavier Sabata, Christophe Dumaux, Carlos Mena, Dietr ich Henschel, Emiliano Gonzalez Toro, who are among its guests at major festivals, such as those of Saint-Denis, Beaune, and Santiago de Compostela, and at venues such as the Cité de la Musique and the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris.

Sandrine Piau / Susan Manoff ÉVOCATION

This is a beautiful recital--a complete, well-thought-out, gorgeously sung program that combines compatible, complementary works with a singer who knowingly, sensitively interprets them. Although the songs span the period from the 1880s to the 1930s and are the creations of six composers who, albeit contemporaries, are not customarily joined together stylistically, there's an inexplicable camaraderie of spirit that illumines and threads through these songs whose subjects are love's longing and hope, pain, pleasure, and danger, conveyed through images of flowers, birds, trees, water, colors. Color may be the key word here, for each composer treats voice and piano with such careful concern for timbre, for the effects of upper-register brightness, textural density and transparency, and for the inherent tonal qualities, rhythms, and inflections of language, be it French or German.
Soprano Sandrine Piau has an ideal voice for this music--true and lovely across her range, with no points of harshness, no weakness of technique. And especially in the French repertoire, her ability to phrase and impart feeling is consistent with her statement in the notes that this is her "most personal and intimate" album. Although she does a nice job with the Strauss songs, they don't seem to flow as naturally as, for instance, those by Chausson (of which Le Colibri--"the hummingbird"--for me was the highlight of the disc). Piau is fortunate to have such a musical soul-mate in pianist Susan Manoff, a superb partner who also knows about nuances of color, from the softest shades to tones more bold and emphatic.
There's much to savor here--it would be difficult to name an inferior song among the program's 30 selections--but the rarely-heard Strauss Mädchenblumen, Schoenberg's beautiful and affecting Vier Lieder Op. 2 (from 1899), and Koechlin's Sept Chansons pour Gladys (to his own very strange texts) are of particular interest. And you've never heard a more gently endearing song than Zemlinsky's Frühlingslied or a more perfectly evocative musical creation than Debussy's Fleur des blés, depicting a breeze rippling through a cornfield, a whispering bird, cascading hair, sunshine, and flowers. The sound is nicely balanced and complementary to both voice and piano, with a comfortably positioned listener perspective (not always the case with voice/piano recitals!). Highly recommended. (David Vernier / ClassicsToday.com)

Sandrine Piau / Susan manoff APRÈS UN RÊVE

Sandrine Piau was recently forced to withdraw from both Glyndebourne and this year's Proms after sustaining a knee injury, so if you admire her work, then you're going to have to make do, I'm afraid, with her latest album. It thoughtfully examines images of night, sleep, dreams and waking in post-Romantic and modern song. Piau treats the subject metaphorically as well as literally, which allows her to include Poulenc's settings of surrealist poetry, Strauss's Morgen, and Britten's The Salley Gardens, which deals with waking up to reality after disappointment in love. She also gives us Vincent Bouchot's Galgenlieder – an eerie new song cycle that pitches settings of Christian Morgenstern somewhere between nightmare and nursery rhyme – together with some rarely heard Mendelssohn and familiar numbers by Chausson and Fauré. At 58 minutes, the disc is a bit short, and a preponderance of reflective material results in an occasional sameness of mood. But there's exquisite playing from Susan Manoff, and no mistaking the beauty of Piau's voice, or her hypnotic way with words. This is singing that sends shivers down your spine. (Tim Ashley / The Guardian)

Les Arts Florissants / William Christie DELALANDE Petits Motets

An ensemble of singers and instrumentalists specialized in the performance of Baroque music on period instruments, Les Arts Florissants are renowned the world over. Founded in 1979 by the Franco-American harpsichordist and conductor William Christie, the Ensemble, named for a short opera by Marc-Antoine Charpentier, has played a pioneering role in the revival of a Baroque repertoire that had long been neglected (including the rediscovery of countless treasures in the collections of the Bibliothèque Nationale de France). Today that repertoire is widely performed and admired: not only French music from the reign of Louis XIV, but also more generally European music of the 17th and 18th centuries. The Ensemble is directed by William Christie who, since 2007, has regularly passed the conductor’s baton over to British tenor Paul Agnew.

Each season Les Arts Florissants give around 100 concerts and opera performances in France—at the Philharmonie de Paris, where they are artists in residence, the Théâtre de Caen, the Opéra Comique, the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, the Château de Versailles, as well as at numerous festivals—and are an active ambassador for French culture abroad, being regularly invited to New York, London, Edinburgh, Brussels, Vienna, Salzburg, Madrid, Barcelona, Moscow, and elsewhere.

Anne Sofie von Otter / Sandrine Piau / Cappella Mediterranea / Leonardo García Alarcón SOGNO BAROCCO

Mezzo-soprano Anne Sofie von Otter is an artist who continues to amaze with the undiminished luster and beauty of her voice, the depth and daring of her interpretation, and her commitment to exploring unfamiliar repertoire. Sogno Barocco is a recital of Italian songs, scenas, and operatic solos and duets drawn from the early to middle Baroque era. It's a mix of familiar pieces like Monteverdi's solo madrigal Si dolce è'l tormento, and "Pur ti miro" from L'incoronazione di Poppea and some real rarities (not to say oddities) such as Luigi Rossi's eccentric, starkly dramatic Lamento della regina di suezia, and Francesco Provenzale's even stranger, highly entertaining parody of it, Squarciato appena havea. Von Otter brings a lifetime of experience and probing intelligence to this intensely expressive repertoire, yet her voice is youthfully fresh and radiant, making for performances of unusual depth and vocal loveliness. Her dramatic sensibility in these pieces, many of which are laments, is focused and subtle (except in the over-the-top comedy of the Provenzale, in which she cuts loose with abandon). Soprano Sandrine Piau joins her in three duets and their voices blend beautifully, especially in sensuality of "Pur ti miro" and the intimate urgency of "Signor, hoggi rinasco," also from Poppea.

Leonardo García Alarcón demonstrates exceptional insight into the music of the early and middle Baroque and further cements his reputation as one of the brightest stars in this repertoire to emerge in the second decade of the 21st century. He and Cappella Mediterranea opt for a spare, lean approach to the realization of the accompaniment, and while it is not the only possible interpretation, it works wonderfully well. It is understated but always inventive, and the ensemble is varied and colorful. Naïve's sound is characteristically immaculate, detailed, and realistic, with plenty of warmth. Highly recommended for fans of vocal music of the Baroque. (Stephen Eddins)

Anne Gastinel AMERICAS

Born in 1971 Anne Gastinel began playing the cello at the age of four while studying simultaneously the piano and the oboe. She gave her television début at the age of 10 as concert soloist. Five years later Anne Gastinel finished first place at the Music Conservatory in Lyon went on to complete her brilliant studies at the National Music Conservatory in Paris. In 1989, she met Yo Yo Ma, Janos Starker and Paul Tortelier who later became her masters and profoundly marked her personal musical evolution. By the age of 18, Anne Gastinel had performed in over fifty cities throughout Europe, won the 1st prize of the International Competition of Scheveningen and became the first French artist in forty years to reach the finals of the International Competition of Prague. Revealed to the vast public by the 1990 televised Eurovision Tournament in Vienna and shortly thereafter at the Rostropovich Competition in Paris, Anne Gastinel pursued an impressive solo career which took her on annual worldwide tours around Europe, Africa, Asia and America performing in prestigious halls among which the Salle Pleyel, Théâtre des Champs Elysées, Théâtre Châtelet, Schauspielhaus, Musikverein, Santori Hall, Victoria Hall. For the past 12 years she has equally been performing with internationally renown orchestras and distinguished artists such as Kurt Sanderling, Emmanuel Krivine, Louis Langrée, Semyon Bychkov, Vladimir Spivakov, Pinchas Steinberg, Yuri Bashmet, Max Rabinovitsj, Lord Yehudi Menuhin… Her recording career both in chamber and orchestral music won acclaimed success from the international press and resulted in great distinctions such as the Victoires “Young Talent 1994”, Victoires “Best Recording of the year” 1995, “Discothèque idéale”, Prix “Fnac” in 1995 and 2000 the Prix de l’Académie du disque et Classique d’Or by French Radio RTL in 1996 and 1998 – the “Choc” du Monde de la Musique, Télérama¦¦¦¦ 1998, 2000, 2001, 2002. Designated unanimously in 1997 as ambassador of French cello, Anne Gastinel was nominated in New York by Marta Casals-Istomin to receive the mythical Matteo Gofriller cello belonging to Pablo Casals. Presently Miss Gastinel performs on a Testore made in 1690 (association “Fonds Instrumental Français”). She has received several distinctions among which the “Femme en Or 2002” for the Perfoming Arts. Anne Gastinel has also held the honory position of Patron for the “Festival des Rencontres de Musique de Chambre de Lyon” since 2000. Anne Gastinel continues to charm her audience wherever she performs - striving to privilege the art of sharing – the very essence of music to her eyes.