Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France / Mikko Franck DEBUSSY L'Enfant Prodigue - RAVEL L'Enfant Et Les Sortilèges

Recorded live in Paris, two contrasting music dramas on the theme of an errant child, written by two supreme French composers and performed by a starry line-up of francophone singers. Mikko Franck, in his role as Music Director of the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, conducts Debussy’s L’Enfant prodigue, starring Roberto Alagna and Karina Gauvin, and Ravel’s L'Enfant et les sortilèges, with Nathalie Stutzmann and Sabine Devieilhe among the singers surrounding Chloé Briot in the role of the Child.

Complementing the two vocal works is the world premiere recording, made under studio conditions, of British composer Colin Matthews’ orchestration of Debussy’s Symphony in B minor. The work, which survives only as a manuscript for piano duet, was composed even earlier than L’Enfant prodigue, when Debussy was just 18, but it was not published until 1933, 15 years after his death. This orchestration of the Symphony in B minor was first heard in 2009. Colin Matthews is something of a Debussy specialist, having made admired orchestral transcriptions of all the composer’s piano Préludes, some of which have been recorded by Sir Simon Rattle and the Berliner Philharmoniker. (Warner Classics)

Christiane Karg / Malcolm Martineau STRAUSS, FAURÉ, DEBUSSY, POULENC, WOLF & BERG

The Wigmore Hall debut of young Bavarian soprano Christiane Karg in July 2012 proved a glistening highlight of the summer’s song recital series. A regular guest at the world’s leading opera houses, singing roles from Musetta (La bohème) to Poppea (L’incoronazione di Poppea), she is also renowned throughout the world for her enchanting performances on the concert platform.

Her recital featured two themes to link the programme: botanical in the first half, nocturnal in the second. Exploring celebrated jewels of the art song repertoire alongside lesser-known, but equally charming, discoveries, the programme moves from rarely heard floral songs from Strauss’s teens, through dreamy settings by Fauré, Debussy and Poulenc, mysterious and nocturnal Lieder of Wolf to Berg’s Sieben frühe Lieder.
 

Sabine Devieilhe RAMEAU Le Grand Théâtre De L'Amour

My connection with the music of Jean-Philippe Rameau dates back five years. I had just sung Aricie’s famous ‘Rossignols amoureux’ in a student concert at the conservatory when Alexis tapped me on the shoulder and asked if I would like to take part in a performance project involving the composer in whom he specialised. Alexis is well known as a flautist, a young conductor and musicologist and has done research which really brings to light the astonishing range of Rameau’s work. 

This programme is conceived along the lines of a small-scale opera, giving me a broad range of colours to choose from and highly demanding instru- mentation with which to work in the dramatic role of tearful lover. I can’t thank Alexis and Les Ambassadeurs enough for having seen the project through and for giving all their energy and musical creativity in the service of this recording. (Sabine Devieilhe)

The operas of Jean-Philippe Rameau, vast spectacles, may be lost to history in their original forms. Sure, some of them have been produced in the modern era, but no company could muster the combination of singers, instrumentalists, choreography, and costume and scene design that would have accompanied the originals. The closest might be this release by French soprano Sabine Devieilhe, which is a thrill from start to finish. The album simply has it all. Devieilhe's voice is a knockout, and a deceptive one at that: it comes in as a flutelike thing in the mid-range but then scores with an agile top that seems absolutely undaunted by acrobatic vocal writing. The work of the historical-instrument orchestra Les Ambassadeurs under Alexis Kossenko is technically superb and dramatically sharp; they convey the feeling of playing for real theatergoers. The music covers selections from some operas with hugely ambitious themes, and there are three world-premiere recordings. Sample the storm aria from Les Indes Galantes (The Gallant Indians), track 17, with its wind machine and its colorful vocal canvas, for a taste of an immensely satisfying recital by a new face on the scene who makes you wonder just how far she'll eventually go. (James Manheim)

Sabine Devieilhe MIRAGES

This album came about through my desire to record Lakmé, a role that has been very dear to my heart since I first performed it on stage in 2012. It’s a part of which I know and love every single bar. 

For the character of Lakmé, Léo Delibes composed some of the most beautiful music ever written for coloratura soprano. His artistic approach was essentially a French one in that he always made the voice the centre of attention, with an orchestration that is at times diaphanous (when the heroine recites a prayer) and at times dazzling (in the great love duets). It was this work that sparked my love for French nineteenth-century opera. But Lakmé also came about within the context of European artists becoming more open to influences from distant lands. Western ears were at that time keen to be taken on musical and poetic journeys, and people were increasingly receptive to perfumes from afar.

This collection explores the dream of the East cultivated by Delibes and later by Maurice Delage, who actually went on an extended visit to India and brought back with him the modal colours of Indian music. It also touches on Japan and China, as seen through the prism of Messager’s Madame Chrysanthème and Stravinsky’s Rossignol, and Egypt, with the incantation sung by La Charmeuse in Thaïs. The element of fantasy also takes on a more folk-like and popular dimension, with settings by Ambroise Thomas and Berlioz of Ophelia’s strange song. With his music for Mélisande and Ariel, both of whom use their voices to sing and to charm, Debussy uses the exoticism of the modal scale to disconcert the listener and evoke an unspecified faraway place. 

So, ‘far from the real world’, as Lakmé says before her ‘Liebestod’, like the fantasy image of a distant country – let us indulge an innocent pleasure, and dream... (Sabine Devieilhe, 2017)

Trio Wanderer / Christophe Gaugué / Stéphane Logerot FRANZ SCHUBERT Trout Quintet

We expect technical finesse and a thoughtful interpretive approach from the Wanderer Trio; these attributes are shared by the two ‘extras’, and together they make up a notably well integrated quintet. This is a finely controlled, highly polished performance of the Trout, and the recorded sound is excellent, too. It’s a treat to be so clearly aware of the double bass’s contribution to the texture and rhythm, without feeling that the internal balance is at all unnatural. These players don’t put a foot wrong; they negotiate all the awkward corners – between Scherzo and Trio and back again, for instance – with great confidence and conviction; they use Schubert’s dynamics and accents to characterise and enliven the musical expression, most notably in the finale, and they find the most appropriate bright, sparkling sonorities for this most carefree of Schubert’s chamber works.
The degree of control and organisation does perhaps leave little room for the individuality and spontaneity that makes the 1957 Curzon/ Vienna Octet recording, or the more recent version with Brendel and Zehetmair, so life-enhancing. But this would still be high on my Trout list, and the CD’s appeal is increased by the Hummel, a powerfully dramatic work, played with terrific energy and imagination. Vincent Coq relishes Hummel’s beautiful cantabile writing, half way between Mozart and Chopin, and Christophe Gaugué makes the most of some memorable, melancholy viola solos. Altogether, the performance is most impressive in the way that its verve is matched with such a strong sense of integration and balance. (Duncan Druce /Gramophone)

Gautier Capuçon / Frank Braley SCHUBERT Arpeggione

In the first decade of his recording career, cellist Gautier Capuçon has demonstrated great versatility, playing as often as a chamber musician as he has appeared as a concerto soloist. His repertoire covers the standard cello works, though he frequently performs pieces that are less expected. Thus, on this 2014 release from Erato, Capuçon delivers a stirring performance of Franz Schubert's famous Arpeggione Sonata, which is regularly recorded by cellists, yet he fills the rest of the disc with pieces a bit off the beaten path, such as Robert Schumann's Five Pieces in Folk Style, Claude Debussy's Sonata for cello and piano, and Benjamin Britten's Sonata in C. This makes for a varied and stimulating program that challenges listeners who don't know these pieces as much as it challenges Capuçon and his accompanist, Frank Braley. These works place apparent technical demands on the performers, so they may be regarded as music for virtuosos, though the overriding feeling of the program is of flowing lyricism and extraordinarily sustained expressiveness. Capuçon is a master of the long line, and the continuity of his phrasing and emotional connection to the music is unbroken through the album. Braley is an attentive pianist who follows Capuçon's lead with an excellent sense of direction and timing, and he is sympathetic to the subtle changes of moods. This album was recorded close-up to the musicians, so it has great presence as well as some places where Capuçon's breathing is quite audible. (Blair Sanderson)

Mikhail Pletnev / Russian National Orchestra SHCHEDRIN Carmen Suite - Naughty Limericks - The Chimes

By coincidence‚ just before hearing this disc I chanced upon Stan Kenton’s all­Wagner LP from the 1960s (STO2217). ‘File under jazz’ says Capitol’s spine‚ but Kenton’s evocative handling of Tristan’s Prelude is anything but ‘jazzed up’. In fact‚ if you take the OED’s secondary definition of jazz as ‘fantastic designs or vivid patterns’‚ Rodion Shchedrin’s 1967 Carmen Suite is a lot more jazzy than Kenton’s contemporaneous Tristan. It’s also brash‚ gimmicky and more obviously out for effect. And yet the formula sort­of works: strings (here spatially divided) and percussion shuffling hot­foot through some of Bizet’s best tunes.
The Introduction becomes a door chime of the ‘Habanera’‚ the ‘Boléro’ is L’Arlésienne’s ‘Farandole’ (truncated to fit a minute) and ‘Toréador’ brilliantly dispatches the skeleton of Bizet’s original among the pizzicatos‚ without quoting the top line. The eerie scene between the Toreador and Carmen – here Shchedrin’s transcription really does sound very Russian – is based on music from The Fair Maid of Perth‚ but brace your ears for the clatter of bells that follows with the Adagio. You also get the Card Scene‚ the Flower Song and the finale‚ which in this extremely dynamic new recording under Mikhail Pletnev makes a more dramatic impression than Gennady Rozhdestvensky’s good old Melodiya recording. The tempo is brisker‚ and the string choirs clearer‚ but elsewhere Rozhdestvensky’s performance has marginally more ‘umph’. It’s still the most exciting Shchedrin/Bizet on disc‚ though sound­wise‚ this latest recording presents the fuller sound frame.
The fill­ups are fun‚ or at least the ‘Naughty Limericks’ (or ‘Merry Ditties’ as they were once known here) are‚ pure slapstick‚ with rasping trombones and squeeze­box rhythms. The last version I heard was Leonard Bernstein’s in the New York Philharmonic’s newest bumper collection‚ a marvellous performance‚ but Pletnev’s dryer manner also works well. ‘The Chimes’ is less fervid than on Svetlanov’s famous live Melodiya account‚ where the ringing is wilder‚ but the closing pages are very atmospheric.
DG’s recordings (Moscow State Conservatory‚ spring 1998) are more obviously staged for the ‘hi­fi’ market than other Pletnev/Russian National Orchestra recordings from the same stable – especially in Carmen – but the engineering certainly suits the music. It’s worth a spin‚ but to my ears it all sounds terribly dated‚ a bit like one of those flashback TV shows that home in on some random decade from your distant past. The tricks don’t wear terribly well‚ and you can’t say that of Stan Kenton. (Gramophone)

Shchedrin plays SHCHEDRIN

Rodion Shchedrin embarked on a composing career at the dawn of the second half of the 20th century, and since then has been actively creative. Shchedrin is the happy owner of a gift that combines a topical music language with traditional elements of Russian music culture, which let him easily fit in with the global music space and, at the same time, remain an artist with strongly pronounced national attributes of style. While Shchedrin has created remarkable works in virtually all music genres, his relations with piano music are special. A student of the famous professor Yakov Flier, who was a brilliant soloist and teacher, Shchedrin continues the glorious traditions of the Russian school. His concert performances and recordings of his own works have always been bright events, and have attracted the attention of thousands of music lovers.

Trio Wanderer FAURÉ - PIERNÉ Trios avec Piano

Gabriel Fauré’s Piano Trio is a late work (1923) which at once aroused the admiration of his contemporaries and is now regarded as one of the finest trios in the French repertory. The much less well-known Trio of Gabriel Pierné, premiered a year earlier, is characterised by its solid architecture, its great melodic richness, and a notably inventive rhythmic style. Two masterpieces that make an eminently logical coupling. It was premiered in Paris, at the Société Nationale de Musique, on 11 February 1922. Pierné himself played the piano part, with George Enescu on the violin and Gérard Hekking on the cello. After the concert, the composer Paul Ladmirault wrote a very flattering article in Le Courrier musical. One understands what Ladmirault meant when he wrote that it ‘may take its place alongside the finest chamber music of César Franck and M. Fauré’.

"the Wanderers’ versions rank with those of Domus (Hyperion) and Pascal Rogé and friends (Decca)... Harmonia Mundi has done the trio and Tamestit’s voluptuous viola proud. The sound is sumptuous, almost symphonic in scale and expansiveness, especially in the surging Brahmsian outer allegros. The intimate Fauré has rarely sounded more dramatic or passionate." (Hugh Canning / Sunday Times)

Silvia Chiesa / Maurizio Baglini RACHMANINOV Complete Works for Cello and Piano

As a soloist Silvia Chiesa has worked with conductors such as Luciano Acocella, Paolo Arrivabeni, Gürer Aykal, Giampaolo Bisanti, Massimiliano Caldi, Tito Ceccherini, Daniele Gatti, Cristian Orosanu, Corrado Rovaris, Daniele Rustioni, Howard Shelley and Brian Wright. She has also recorded live for television and radio, on Rai Radio3, Rai Sat, France Musique and France 3. Her last CD is dedicated to the Italian music from the early 20th century and includes the first recording of the Cello Concert in C minor by Ildebrando Pizzetti, with the the Orchestra Nazionale Rai di Torino conducted by Rovaris (Sony Classical). In November 2015 she gave world premiere of …tra la Carne e il Cielo for concertante cello by Azio Corghi (dedicated to her and inspired by Italian poet Pier Paolo Pasolini) at the Teatro Comunale di Pordenone, with Maurizio Baglini, Omero Antonutti, Valentina Coladonato and the Orchestra Nazionale Rai di Torino conducted by Tito Ceccherini. 

In April 2016 Decca will release her new CD with Maurizio Baglini with the complete works for cello and piano duo by Rachmaninov. 

She is artist in residence for the international chamber music “Amiata Piano Festival” and she teaches at the Istituto Superiore di Studi Musicali “Monteverdi” in Cremona.

Vanessa Benelli Mosell CLAUDE DEBUSSY

Vanessa Benelli Mosell is a rising star on the international music scene. She is continuously praised for her virtuosity, her technical brilliance and the sensitivity of her musical insight, which have been shaped significantly in mentorships with Karlheinz Stockhausen and Yuri Bashmet. ​ 

Vanessa is acclaimed for her passion, in equal measure, for the great classics of the repertory and her championing of the newest composers. She has received universal praise for her recordings of Stockhausen for DECCA and for her orchestral debut of Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No.2 with the London Philharmonic Orchestra which has been released in 2017. Last November Vanessa released her latest CD on DECCA CLASSICS of Debussy's Preludes Book I and Suite Bergamasque.

More recent and future highlights include her debut at La Scala Milan at the MiTo Festival; a Stockhausen Marathon; recitals at the Muziekgebouw in Amsterdam and at the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg; a portrait in Ireland with concerti by Rachmaninov and George Benjamin at Dublin National Hall, recitals with violinist Vadim Repin, and her debut at the Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre performing Chopin Concerto with the London Philharmonic Orchestra.

The King's Singers GOLD

In 1967 six choral scholars from Cambridge founded a singing group and accidentally started a phenomenon. Photos of the original King’s Singers line-up show an earnest, bespectacled troupe of young men whose uneasy formality is a million miles away from today’s slick, matching-suited young members. But musically far less has changed, as ‘Gold’ – the group’s 50th anniversary triple-album – makes very clear.

Because what hits you first and leaves you last when listening to this project is the astonishing, exhilarating musicianship of these singers. You may or may not enjoy the group’s signature sound, with its diffuse bass warmth and blowsy top line (which has miraculously survived the departure of longstanding countertenor David Hurley), but there’s no arguing with tuning that electrifies even the simplest of chords, or with a vocal blend that turns cluster chords into gauzy clouds of colour. Stripped of the showmanship that’s so central to their live performances, this new generation of King’s Singers here prove that they still have the skills to go back to basics.

Paying tribute to the group’s past, while also bringing things cannily up to date, the three wide-ranging discs (five centuries of music spans from pristine Henry Ley to smoochy John Legend) divide their repertoire into three categories: ‘Close Harmony’, ‘Sacred’ and ‘Secular’. It’s a decision that allows them to roam to their musical extremes without the difficulty of trying to tie it all together in a single, coherent programme.

While all the recordings here are new, the pleasure for many longtime listeners will be hearing fresh accounts of familiar works and arrangements. Stanford’s The Blue Bird (erroneously titled here, along with Mary Coleridge’s original poem, as ‘The Bluebird’) flies freer than ever in this graceful performance, Rheinberger’s swooning Abendlied swells with so much restrained emotion that you scarcely miss larger choral forces, while Poulenc’s Quatre Petites prières de Saint François d’Assise feel markedly more differentiated and characterised than on their previous ‘Pater noster’ (Naxos, 12/12).

There’s novelty, too, in a mixed bag of new arrangements and commissions. Neither Bob Chilcott’s We are nor Toby Hession’s Master of Music make much of a mark, but John Rutter’s new Tempest-setting Be not afeard (its musical waves lulling and lapping evocatively) and arrangements of Shenandoah (Chilcott) and KT Tunstall’s Black horse and the cherry tree (L’Estrange) all feel like lasting additions to the group’s superb catalogue – a musical legacy well worth celebrating in its own right.

Looking back over 50 years of performances and recordings by The King’s Singers, it’s hard to think of a group whose music-making has aged so well. The joy, the generosity and the eclecticism of their earliest recordings are all still the defining qualities in their latest. The spectacles and stiff stances may be long gone but other things just never go out of fashion. Here’s to 50 more years. (Alexandra Coghlan / Gramophone)

Daniel Taylor / The Trinity Choir THE PATH TO PARADISE

The word sublime should never be used lightly, but if ever a collection of music warrants the term it's this one. In keeping with its title, this latest recording by Daniel Taylor and the Trinity Choir, their follow-up to Four Thousand Winter and the Juno-nominated The Tree of Life, offers a direct route to paradise, its figurative access achieved when the immediate space is filled with its glorious vocal performances. The set-list is dominated by choral works from the sixteenth century, the two by Arvo Pärt obvious exceptions. His pieces, as anyone familiar with the Estonian composer's output will have already guessed, sit comfortably alongside those by Thomas Tallis, William Byrd, Nicolas Gombert, and others. Though their works are set to sacred texts about the soul's lifelong struggle to achieve salvation, The Path To Paradise presents spiritually replenishing music whose rapturous beauty is capable of speaking to the faithful and non-faithful alike. (Textura.org)

Nicholas Angelich / Renaud Capuçon / Gérard Caussé / Gautier Capuçon BRAHMS Piano Quartets 1 - 3

With this two-disc set of the piano quartets, Nicholas Angelich proves conclusively that he is the best Brahms pianist of his generation. His previous Brahms recordings -- a 2005 disc of the violin sonatas with Renaud Capuçon, a 2006 solo collection featuring the Paganini Variations, a 2007 solo collection of the late piano works, and a 2008 disc of the First Piano Concerto with Paavo Järvi leading the Frankfurt Radio Symphony -- showed his skill in a variety of settings. But this disc takes all Angelich has done before and wrapped up in a single package. In these performances of the German Romantic's piano quartets, there's the poetry of his solo discs, the virtuosity of his concerto disc, and the ensemble ease of his sonatas disc. But here Angelich is teamed not only with Renaud Capuçon, but also with his brother, cellist Gautier Capuçon, and with violist Gérard Caussé, and this small ensemble gives Angelich the room to be everything he can be as a Brahms player. He's a fiery virtuoso in the G minor Quartet, a tragic poet in the C minor Quartet, and a lyrical pastoralist in the A major Quartet. But more than that, Angelich is a full partner with the Capuçon brothers and Caussé, and together they turn in performances that sound truly, deeply, and profoundly Brahmsian, that is, brilliant but thoughtful, reticent but emotional, and always consummately musical. No matter how many recordings of these wonderful works one has, this one should be heard by all dedicated Brahms listeners. Virgin's digital sound is clear, warm, and evocative, but with plenty of detail. (James Leonard)

Maya Youssef SYRIAN DREAMS

The latest release in harmonia mundi's fascinating Latitudes series features Maya Youssef, a virtuoso of the qanun, a traditional Syrian zither. Youssef's extraordinary musical gift and generosity of outlook, warmth, humor and optimism have brought comparisons with such legendary virtuosos as Ravi Shankar, Yehudi Menuhin and Meredith Monk. Syrian Dreams was written to express Youssef's powerful feelings of loss and sadness over the tragedy and suffering occurring in her homeland. 

Born in Damascus, Maya Youssef is a virtuoso performer on the qanun, the traditional Middle Eastern plucked zither. She moved to London under the Arts Council’s “exceptional talent” scheme, and has played at the Proms and alongside Damon Albarn. Here she demonstrates the range and power of her 78-stringed instrument on a “personal journey through the six years of war in Syria”. It’s an often exquisite, emotional set that constantly changes mood, from sorrow to hope, on compositions that range from the “prayer for peace” of the title track to the lengthy The Seven Gates of Damascus, in which she pays tribute to her battered homeland. Her music may be based on the scales and modes of the traditional Arabic maqam, but there are echoes of everything from jazz to flamenco here, and the backing is equally inventive, with thoughtful cello work from Barney Morse-Brown matched against incisive oud and hand percussion. (Robin Denselow / The Guardian)

Leontyne Price / Herbert von Karajan CELEBRATE CHRISTMAS

There are three or four CD's that are required listening in every December. Leontyne Price's makes the list-- with stars. This CD is a reissue from a LP recorded in 1961 and includes many, many great selections: Mendelssohn ("Hark!The Herald Angels Sing"), Schubert ("Ave Maria"), Bach ("Ave Maria" and "Vom Himmel hoch, da komm ich her") and Mozart ("Alleluja"). In addition, "Silent Night," "We Three Kings," "God rest ye merry, Gentlemen" and four other traditional Christmas songs are included. Ms. Price's a capella version of "Sweet li'l Jesus defies description. I'm not sure how to describe what she does on "Angels we have heard on High" except to say that her voice soars and floats as she plays with the melody line. She's obviously having a good time on this one. The two Bach numbers are wonderful, her version of "O Holy Night" is as good as any you'll ever hear, and the closing "Alleluja" is simply magnificent. (F.C.)

Philharmonia Orchestra / Paavo Järvi NIELSEN Flute Concerto - Clarinet Concert - Aladdin Suite

Carl Nielsen's two late woodwind concertos are performed here by the Philharmonia Orchestra with its own principals, in live recordings (no applause) at the Royal Festival Hall in London. Both works were conceived as portraits of their first soloists. Samuel Coles neatly personifies the fastidious Gilbert Jespersen, maintaining elegance and integrity in response to the intrusions of the orchestra, including a particularly obnoxious bass trombone. The controlled orchestral playing and the natural sound balance create a nice sense of chamber-music interplay between the soloist and his colleagues—including, sensibly, a solo violin rather than a whole section for the flickering runs at 2:35 in the first movement. Mark van de Wiel is equally convincing as the choleric Aage Oxenvad, responding angrily to the orchestra, and in the virtuoso cadenzas equally capable of picking a fight with himself. Unfortunately, the side drum, which frequently eggs him on, all but disappears from the balance at lower dynamic levels.

A rival account of the concertos by the New York Philharmonic with its principals under Alan Gilbert, on Dacapo, boasts equally fine solo and orchestral playing, but the recording shines more of a spotlight on the soloists (and on a larger-than-life trombone). That disc completes the set of Nielsen's concertos with an outstanding account of the Violin Concerto by Nikolaj Znaider. This one adds a colourful studio recording of the Suite from the music for the play Aladdin, with its Ivesian depiction of 'The Marketplace in Ispahan' in four superimposed, unrelated strands of music. (BBC Music Magazine)

Andreas Brantelid / Bengt Forsberg FAURÉ The Music for Cello & Piano

The young cellist Andreas Brantelid, often accompanied and perhaps guided by the much older Bengt Forsberg, has gained notice for sheer virtuoso chops. But in this recital covering all of Gabriel Fauré's music for cello and piano, it's his way with a sheer melody that impresses the most: the two Berceuses (cradle song), the flawless unfolding of the two sonata slow movements from simple opening material (sample that of the elegiac Cello Sonata No. 2 in G minor, Op. 117), the remarkable, 54-second Morceau de Lecture (originally for two cellos, and the only arranged work here). Brantelid certainly delivers a smooth performance of the popular Papillon, Op. 77, and all the music here -- some of it well known, but most of it not so much -- is a pleasure. Fauré was one of the few composers who had a real knack for writing for the cello and did so without complaining about it. The best is saved for last: the Andante for cello and harmonium is the original version of the opening Romance, Op. 69, and it's really an entirely different work, spooky and inward, with the harmonium contributing a unique wash of sound. The harmonium was an extremely common instrument in the second half of the 19th century, and it's good to hear a work played on the instrument for which it was intended. BIS contributes fine Swedish radio sound to this recommended cello recital. (James Manheim)

Quatuor Ebène / Gautier Capuçon / Matthias Goerne SCHUBERT String Quintet - Lieder

Recording Franz Schubert's String Quintet in C major, D. 956, is a major achievement for most string players, and Quatuor Ebène's performance with cellist Gautier Capuçon on Erato is a high point in their discography. Playing with great transparency and alertness, the quintet delivers a vital performance that captures the rarefied, almost mystical quality of Schubert's late masterpiece while maintaining a sense of urgency and, at times, explosive energy. This is to be expected of a world-class string quartet, and it's probably more than enough effort for a single CD. Yet the program continues with a set of five of Schubert's lieder, sung by baritone Matthias Goerne and accompanied by Quatuor Ebène and double bassist Laurène Durantel, in arrangements by Raphaël Merlin. These versions for voice and strings were conceived in the spirit of the Schubertiades, on the idea that string players likely were in attendance and eager to join Schubert in impromptu music-making. While these transcriptions are speculative, they are certainly enjoyable for their beautiful tone and subdued feeling, and Goerne sings with warmth and expressiveness to match the subtle moods of the arrangements. (Blair Sanderson)

Arabella Steinbacher FANTASIES, RHAPSODIES & DAYDREAMS

Until the 2016 release of this album on Pentatone, violinist Arabella Steinbacher had mostly explored heavy repertory of the 19th and 20th centuries on recordings of Strauss, Franck, Shostakovich. She shifts gears with this collection of virtuoso favorites that might easily have appeared on a concert program of a century ago, or nearly that long. It's not a program of encores, which is more common today. The works on this program are substantial and, with the exception of Massenet's famous Méditation, between nine and 15 minutes in length. The novelty here is the opening Carmen Fantasie by Franz Waxman, written for Jascha Heifetz and edited by that great violinist. Despite her disclaimer, Steinbacher takes after Heifetz stylistically with her soaring, Apollonian tone, and this work fits her well. Another highlight is an unusually light, agile performance of Vaughan Williams' The Lark Ascending, rather quick, but always seeming under control and not rushed. Steinbacher has plenty of competition here and elsewhere, but in the main, her performances have the refined quality that her classic models achieved, even in broadly popular repertory. She picks her material well, avoiding her polar opposite, Fritz Kreisler. Pentatone's spacious sound, recorded in an unspecified location, delivers on its audiophile claims, and Steinbacher's Booth Stradivarius sounds great. A recommended look back at the age of the star violin virtuoso. (James Manheim)

Les Talens Lyriques / Christophe Rousset JEAN-PHILIPPE RAMEAU Pygmalion

Christophe Rousset and the Talens Lyriques bring us to the stage of the Royal Academy of Music where Pygmalion, an act of ballet by Jean-Philippe Rameau inspired by an episode of Ovid’s Metamorphoses, was created in 1748. Love, showing empathy for Pygmalion’s despair of loving a statue, invigorates the sculpted woman who immediately falls in love with her creator. Very suggestive, the music of this tender and mischievous ballet deploys the grace of 18^th century dances. Like Ovid’s Love, Christophe Rousset instils life in this score, one of Rameau’s greatest successes in his day, and offers us, thanks to his sense of drama and his impeccable leadership, a new and essential reading of this ballet.

Gautier Capuçon / Gabriela Montero RHAPSODY

The nearly uninterrupted string of strong, successful albums produced by cellist Gautier Capuçon (and indeed his violinist brother, Renaud) demonstrates that the CD debut Face à Face was not just a fluke produced by child prodigies. Rather, Face à Face was a springboard for what has proven to be an enduring career and ever-improving musicianship. On this latest album without his brother, Gautier collaborates with pianist Gabriela Montero on the cello sonatas of Rachmaninov and Prokofiev. Fans of Capuçon's playing will recall that he had previously released a recording of the Rachmaninov sonata with pianist Lilya Zilberstein on the EMI label in 2003. While it may seem questionable to make duplicate recordings when he has recorded so little of the cello repertoire, it offers listeners an opportunity to see how his playing continues to mature even over a short span of five years. While some of the tempos are a little different than the 2003 recording, the most notable difference is that of sound, which has developed impressively with the help of his magnificent 1701 Gofriller cello. His command of sound is most obvious in the solo opening of the Prokofiev sonata. The immense depth and power of his sound on the lower two strings of the instrument is enough to mesmerize anyone. Power and projection permeate the album along with his stunning technique, deep understanding of the score, and pleasantly precise intonation. (Mike D. Brownell)

Eliane Rodrigues FRÉDÉRIC CHOPIN Notturno

Brazilian pianist Eliane Rodrigues has recorded the 21 Nocturnes by Chopin on her newest disc Frédéric Chopin – Notturno. The two-disc set also includes the Ballades No.1 in G Minor, Op.23 and No.4 in F Minor, Op.52.

Rodrigues teaches at the Royal Conservatoire in Antwerp, performs frequently and has more than 25 recordings in her discography. She traces her Chopin connection to her earliest years at the keyboard playing the Waltzes and Mazurkas. But her affection for the Nocturnes is more than wistful nostalgia. A passing reference in her notes suggests a very deep and personal experience made the sadness and melancholy of the Nocturnes profoundly meaningful to her. As if to underscore this, she uses quotations from a fictitious Chopin diary to capture the mood of each Nocturne.

The playing, however, is the proof of her ownership. Entirely consistent and sustained throughout both discs, her interpretations never stray from the beauty and tenderness that Chopin poured into these pieces. Rodrigues never rushes anything. Arching phrases, ornaments and grace notes are all critical to completing the composer’s every utterance, and she gives each one the time it needs to unfold. It’s an arresting and beautiful performance. (Alex Baran)

Il Seminario Musicale / Gérard Lesne CHARPENTIER Trois histoires sacrées

Marc-Antoine Charpentier composed about 35 histoires sacrées, essentially the same genre as the oratorio that had been developed by Giacomo Carissimi in Rome in the mid-seventeenth century. The texts were most frequently taken from the Hebrew Bible (although one of the works here has as its subject the Nativity), and most are relatively brief; the three included here last from about 12 to 37 minutes. The histoires sacrées primarily consist of solos and dialogues in the style of recitatives, in which singers take the roles of the characters in the drama, with a chorus acting as narrator. Only occasionally do soloists have what is conventionally understood as an aria, and when they do, the arias are not an excuse for showy vocalism, but have the purpose of advancing the drama, albeit with heightened melodic lyricism. For the listener who can put aside the expectations of the late Baroque oratorios of Handel or J.S. Bach, these intimate and deeply expressive works are immensely rewarding. Charpentier had a real gift for creating and managing dramatic tension through music, and these little gems have the character of brief operas. The longest of the three, Mors Saülis et Jonathae, has developed characters with musical individuality and a poignant story with an elegant dramatic arc. The ensemble Il Seminario Musicale, founded and conducted by French countertenor Gérard Lesne, performs these works with consummate musicality and sensitive attention to the subtleties of the texts. The soloists, including Lesne himself, sing with clear understanding of middle Baroque French performance practice and with robust, clean tone, and persuasively convey the emotion and theatricality of the stories. Naïve's sound is intimate, but with a nice sense of spaciousness. (Stephen Eddins)

Laure Favre-Kahn VERS LA FLAMME

Laure Favre-Kahn studied the piano at the Conservatoire in Avignon, before joining Bruno Rigutto's class at the Paris Conservatoire, where she was unanimously awarded a Premier Prix at the age of seventeen.

At the age of twenty, she made her first recording of works by Schumann, followed a year later by a CD devoted to Chopin, both on the Arion label.

In January 1999, she performed at the Midem Music Festival in Cannes as one of the ‘Revelations Classiques de l’ADAMI’. She makes regular appearances as a soloist or chamber musician in France, in Europe, in USA and in Asia. Her partner of predilection is the violonist Nemanja Radulovic.

She has taken part in many important festivals : Auvers-sur-Oise, Orange (Chorégies), Bagatelle (Chopin Festival), Antibes (Festival des Jeunes Solistes), Evian (Rencontres Musicales), Reims (Les Flâneries Musicales), Montpellier (Festival de Radio France), Rocamadour (Les Eclectiques), Nohant (Rencontres Internationales Chopin), etc...
Laure Favre-Kahn has guested with various orchestras: Orchestre Symphonique de Nancy, Orchestre Symphonique Français, Ensemble Orchestral de Normandie, Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo, Ensemble Orchestral de Paris, Hong Kong Sinfonietta, Orchestre Colonne, Orchestre de Bretagne, Ukrainian Philharmonic Orchestra…

In May 2001, she won the first price International Pro Piano to New York, and gave a recital to the Carnegie Recital Hall in october 2001.
After that, she’s selected as Pro Piano Artist of the Year and recording in 2003 a CD devoted to Reynaldo Hahn, for Pro Piano Records to New York (recognize by New York Times).

L'Arpeggiata / Christina Pluhar VÊPRES SOUS CHARLES VI À VIENNE

None of these works have been previously recorded, and most of them come from manuscripts that were discovered by Pierre Cao in the libraries of Kromeriz (Czech republic) and Vienna.