NEW RELEASES - First semester 2016 - Outhere Music

The high Road To KilKenny Gaelic sonGs and dances of the 17th & 18th centuries

les Musiciens de sainT-Julien FRanรงois lazaReviTch with RobeRT geTchell

NEW RELEASES 2016 // 1 WWW.OUTHERE-MUSIC.COM

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Alpha Classics

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Ricercar 15 Fuga Libera

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Arcana 25 Phi 31 RamĂŠe 34 Aeon 38 Outnote 41 Instinct Collection

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ALPHA CLASSICS

From the Renaissance to the music of the twenty-first century, with new or established talents, Alpha is committed to ambitious projects of the highest artistic standard that often stray far from the beaten track.

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Paris-based Alpha Classics is the principal label of the Franco-Belgian group Outhere Music. Building on its history of more than fifteen years and its reputation founded on early music, ALPHA acquired new momentum in 2015 by opening its catalogue to all repertories and welcoming important new artists from exceptionally diverse horizons: the soprano Véronique Gens, the pianist Anna Vinnitskaya, the conductor Hervé Niquet, the Quatuor Voce, the violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja, the company La Tempête, the Ensemble Intercontemporain under Matthias Pintscher, and many more still to come, notably new talents, discovery and accompaniment of whom are a key priority for the label.

Alongside all these new projects, ALPHA remains faithful to the artists who have made its history and its reputation: Vincent Dumestre and Le Poème Harmonique, Bruno Cocset, François Lazarevitch, Lucile Boulanger, Arnaud De Pasquale, Thomas Dunford, Alexis Kossenko, Céline Frisch, Café Zimmermann, Olivier Fortin, and Giovanni Antonini and Il Giardino Armonico.

In order to create a stronger and more prominent label on the international scene, ALPHA now brings together all the artists who previously recorded under its name along with those who recorded for ZIG-ZAG TERRITOIRES, among them the Belcea Quartet, Doulce Mémoire and Denis Raisin Dadre, Nelson Goerner, Tedi Papavrami, Amandine Beyer, Marco Ceccato, Alexei Lubimov, and Jos Van Immerseel and Anima Eterna Brugge.

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More than ever, ALPHA aims to establish long-term relationships with artists, to release projects that have come to artistic maturity, to give the fullest attention to the conditions of recording, editorial content, manufacturing and communication, whether its releases are physical or digital.

DMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH

BY THE QUATUOR DANEL

COMPLETE STRING QUARTETS BOXED SET REISSUE

ALPHA 226 JANUARY 2016

Well known for the intensity and profundity of its interpretations, the Quatuor Danel has made a name for itself on the international classical scene (winning such awards as the Diapason d’Or, Choc du Monde de la Musique, and CD of the Month in BBC Music Magazine) in the great cycles that form the basis of the quartet literature, from Haydn, Beethoven and Schubert to Weinberg.

Since Russian composers occupy a key position in the Danels’ repertory, it was logical for them to champion the quartets of Shostakovich by recording them complete in 2005. Today Alpha Classics reissues this boxed set, which is among the reference recordings of the composer’s works: ‘What staggering impact, what a monument! The Borodin Quartet has found its successor.

The Quatuor Danel takes up the torch and carries it still further, thanks to the quartet’s sound. This is not just one more excellent complete set; it is, in the true radical and exclusive sense, the benchmark version of the Shostakovich quartets.’ Christophe Huss, ClassicsToday

5 CDS

DARDANUS CONDUCTED BY RAPHAËL PICHON AVAILABLE AGAIN JEAN-PHILIPPE RAMEAU

ENSEMBLE PYGMALION RAPHAËL PICHON

ALPHA 964 JANUARY 2016

To get the New Year off to a great start, Alpha reissues Ensemble Pygmalion’s version of Dardanus, conducted by Raphaël Pichon and recorded in the majestic acoustics of the Opéra Royal at Versailles Palace. This set won multiple awards on its first release: ‘Rameau, a flinty-hearted composer lacking in imagination?

Rameau, a cold mathematician in his chord progressions and a severe draughtsman in his vocal lines? One need only listen, in Dardanus, to the melancholy laments of Princess Iphise, splendidly sung by the soprano Gaëlle Arquez, to realise the treasures of tenderness and invention that still remained in the youthful heart of the fifty-six-year-old composer! . . . This version, which fills an important gap in the discography, possesses all the assets needed to speak to us today, and to last.’ Gilles Macassar, FFFF Télérama

2 CDS

With: Bernard Richter, Gaëlle Arquez, Benoît Arnould, Joao Fernandes, Alain Buet, Sabine Devieilhe, Emmanuelle De Negri

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BEETHOVEN/LISZT

SYMPHONY NO.9 PIANO TRANSCRIPTION BY LISZT

YURY MARTYNOV, PIANO BLÜTHNER 1867

ALPHA 227 JANUARY 2016

After four previous discs devoted to Franz Liszt’s transcriptions of the Beethoven symphonies, the pianist Yury Martynov completes the cycle with the transcription of the Ninth Symphony. The reduction of this complex work for a single piano and two hands – he had already adapted it for two pianos – constituted a genuine challenge for Liszt, who was obliged to omit certain inner parts. Yet he succeeded in reproducing the symphony’s prodigious character and revealing its incredible power. The piano combines the orchestra, the soloists and the chorus, unifying these disparate voices in a single instrument.

The work’s energy and its textures are displayed to the full in Yury Martynov’s performance on a Blüthner piano dating from 1867 and belonging to the Edwin Beunk collection.

1 CD

RESOUND BEETHOVEN VOL.2

SYMPHONY NO.7 IN A MAJOR OP.92 WELLINGTON’S VICTORY OR THE BATTLE OF VITORIA OP.91

ORCHESTER WIENER AKADEMIE MARTIN HASELBÖCK

ALPHA 473 JANUARY 2016

The Austrian conductor Martin Haselböck and the Wiener Akademie orchestra pursue their adventurous ‘Resound’ project, which presents the symphonies of Beethoven in the venues where they were first performed. After a volume containing the First and Second Symphonies, this second release features the Seventh. The recording took place in the Banquet Hall of the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna, built in 1756 and used for concerts since the early nineteenth century. For this disc, the Wiener Akademie has also recorded Beethoven’s ‘Battle Symphony’ Wellington’s Victory, as well as two marches by Dussek and Pleyel played by a modern reconstruction of Mälzel’s ‘Mechanical Trumpeter’ with orchestral accompaniment. This programme provides a judicious follow-up to the first volume in what is becoming a fascinating series.

1 CD

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ALEXEI LUBIMOV PARIS JOYEUX & TRISTE, PIANO DUETS

BY STRAVINSKY AND SATIE ALEXEI LUBIMOV, SLAVA POPRUGIN PIANO PLEYEL 1920, PIANO GAVEAU 1906, PIANO BECHSTEIN

ALPHA 230 FEBRUARY 2016

In Paris Joyeux & Triste, Alexei Lubimov and Slava Poprugin alternate pieces by Igor Stravinsky and Erik Satie, two composers who became friends in the early years of the twentieth century despite their very different musical personalities. Stravinsky made his own two-piano arrangement of the ‘Dumbarton Oaks’ Concerto, while Satie’s Socrate and Cinéma are heard here in arrangements by John Cage and Darius Milhaud respectively.

Pieces for two pianos, for piano four hands and for prepared piano combine on this disc which mingles music and theatre – for it is the theatrical element that unites the two composers. As Diaghilev said to Cocteau: ‘Astonish me!’ With this programme, these instruments and his extremely diverse musical experiences, Lubimov continues to make that his credo today.

1 CD

GRIEG - WOLF - STRAUSS GRØNDAHL

LIEDER & SONGS

MARI ERIKSMOEN ALPHONSE CEMIN

ALPHA 207 FEBRUARY 2016

In the framework of our partnership with the Academy of the Festival of Aix-en-Provence, Alpha presents a song recital by a Norwegian soprano already well known in the opera house, especially for her interpretations of the Mozartian heroines whom she has sung under the baton of today’s leading conductors, including Nikolaus Harnoncourt and René Jacobs. For this first recital, which she has recorded with another distinguished alumnus of the Aix Academy, the pianist Alphonse Cemin, she has chosen a programme that couples music from her own roots – Grieg, but also several songs by the little-known pianist and composer Agathe Backer Grøndahl (1847-1907) – with two great masters of the lied, Richard Strauss and Hugo Wolf, for whose music her pure and luminous voice is the ideal instrument.

1 CD

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ANNA VINNITSKAYA

BRAHMS CHACONNE (AFTER BACH’S PARTITA), KLAVIERSTÜCKE, RHAPSODIES, FANTASIES

ALPHA 231 FEBRUARY 2016

Anna Vinnitskaya’s discography to date has been FrancoRussian. Here she tackles Brahms, whom she has frequently played in concert, notably this summer at the Festival of La Roque d’Anthéron. Here is what ResMusica had to say about that recital: ‘True to her reputation, the Russian pianist genuinely illuminated the scene, impressing us with the control and depth of her artistry . . . Each piece obeyed a flawless architectural rigour, focusing on melodic line and diversity of tone. Right from the first bars of Bach’s Chaconne transcribed by Brahms for the left hand, she produced a sound so full and nuanced as to make us forget that we were listening to just one hand. . . . There is always a great temptation to slide into Romantic emphasis, but the Russian artist achieved emotion with sobriety, using very little pedal. In the Klavierstücke of Brahms, this ability to penetrate the score down to its slightest inflections resulted in a version at the opposite pole from what one so often hears. Only the great Brahms interpreters possess the gift of not overloading a text already sufficiently dense in sentiments.’

This recording was made some weeks later, at the famous, indeed legendary concert hall of Neumarkt near Nuremberg.

1 CD

THE HIGH ROAD TO KILKENNY

GAELIC SONGS AND DANCES FROM 17TH & 18TH CENTURIES

LES MUSICIENS DE SAINT-JULIEN FRANÇOIS LAZAREVITCH ROBERT GETCHELL

The high Road To KilKenny

After the success of For ever Fortune, early music from Scotland, François Lazarevitch continues his exploration of the ‘Celtic’ repertories with a new programme devoted to early Irish music. This repertory of old airs from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries consists of dances, songs in Gaelic and varied instrumental pieces: they tell tales of wars, of love, of strong drink and tobacco, of children and bards. A leading specialist in the flute and bagpipe families, François Lazarevitch opens out new horizons of colours and sounds. He has gathered around him here a number of distinguished performers of early music (including the fabulous Baroque violinist and fiddler David Greenberg) and invited the American tenor Robert Getchell, who cuts a very credible figure as a singer going back to his roots.

Gaelic sonGs and dances of the 17th & 18th centuries

les Musiciens de sainT-Julien FRançois lazaReviTch with RobeRT geTchell

ALPHA 234 MARCH 2016

1 CD

With: David Greenberg, Violin Bill Taylor, Clàrsach, clàrsach (Irish harp) Marie Bournisien, Baroque harp Lucile Boulanger, Viola da gamba Bruno Helstroffer, Theorbo

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THREE CONCERTOS

BY PETER EÖTVÖS

DOREMI, VIOLIN CONCERTO NO.2 (2013) CELLO CONCERTO GROSSO FOR CELLO AND ORCHESTRA (2011) SPEAKING DRUMS, CONCERTO FOR PERCUSSION (2013)

ORCHESTRE PHILHARMONIQUE DE RADIO FRANCE PETER EÖTVÖS

ALPHA 208 MARCH 2016

In November 2014, Radio France inaugurated its new auditorium with a programme giving carte blanche to one of the most eminent composers of our time, Peter Eötvös, who was then celebrating his seventieth birthday. On this occasion, three of his concertos were given their world premiere recordings under his direction with three soloists of the front rank. The violin concerto DoReMi, played here by its dedicatee Midori, is followed by Cello Concerto Grosso, a triangular dialogue between the solo cello, the cello section, and the full orchestra. The spectacular Speaking Drums concludes the programme on a highpoint: the orchestra (around forty musicians) prolongs the performance – theatrical as much as musical – of the percussionist, who declaims texts by the poets Sándor Weöres (in Hungarian) and Jayadeva (in Sanskrit)) and moves from point to point on the platform, thus creating links with various instruments of the orchestra. The stunning Martin Grubinger lends his voice and his percussion playing to this piece, which ends in highly virtuosic polyrhythm.

1 CD

With: Midori, Violin - Jean-Guihen Queyras, Cello Martin Grubinger, Percussion

KRZYSZTOF URBANSKI AND THE NDR SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA (NEW SIGNINGS) WITOLD LUTOSŁAWSKI (1913-1994) MAŁA SUITA - SYMPHONY NO.4 CONCERTO FOR ORCHESTRA

ALPHA 232 MARCH 2016

Since 2015, Krzysztof Urbański has been principal guest conductor of the NDR Symphony Orchestra in Hamburg, one of the leading German orchestras. They are currently preparing together the inauguration in January 2017 of Hamburg’s new concert hall, the Elbphilharmonie, a major musical event in Germany with which Alpha Classics will be associated. Krzysztof Urbański is also music director of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra and principal guest conductor of the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra. A resolutely international career for a young conductor who recently earned praise from the Chicago Tribune for ‘his keen musical instincts and vigorous way of translating his ideas into orchestral sound that has both shape and meaning’.

For this first recording, he was keen to celebrate a great composer, one of the most eminent of the twentieth century and a Pole like himself, who, like Stravinsky, Bartók, Berg, Prokofiev and Shostakovich, gloried in the sound material of the orchestra and displayed boundless imagination. Though less well known than his illustrious colleagues for the moment, Lutosławski amply deserves to meet a wider public, for his music can speak as directly to connoisseurs as to simple music-lovers. We hope that this programme will help to further his reputation.

1 CD

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THE COMPLETE CONCERTANTE WORKS OF ÉDOUARD LALO CONCERTANTE WORKS FOR VIOLIN CELLO AND PIANO

SOLOISTS OF THE QUEEN ELISABETH MUSIC CHAPEL - LIÈGE ROYAL PHILHARMONIC JEAN-JACQUES KANTOROW

ALPHA 233 MARCH 2016

Édouard Lalo made his mark on French music with his opera Le Roi d’Ys, but his instrumental output also has considerable historical importance, with its resolutely innovative aims for its time. More specifically, his concertante music rewards the attentive ear with a brilliant, skilfully constructed style, studded with fresh rhythmic and harmonic inventions that renew the melodic and orchestral language of the genre.

Under the direction of Jean-Jacques Kantorow, himself a violinist and extremely familiar with this repertory, the Liège Royal Philharmonic places itself at the service of the virtuoso fingers of six young soloists from the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel: this anthology provides an opportunity, notably, to renew acquaintance with the violinist Lorenzo Gatto – who recently released a recording of the Beethoven Concerto – in the famous Symphonie espagnole for violin and orchestra. Works such as the powerful Cello Concerto, the elegant Piano Concerto, the folk-influenced Concerto russe and Fantaisie norvégienne, and the sparkling Introduction and Scherzo on themes from Namouna complete this set, which highlights both the work of the prestigious and internationally renowned Belgian nursery for young talent, recently renovated, and a repertory championed by the Palazzetto Bru Zane, which contributed to the realisation of the project.

3 CDS

NEVERMIND (NEW SIGNING) CONVERSATIONS

JEAN-BAPTISTE QUENTIN (1690-1742), LOUIS-GABRIEL GUILLEMAIN (1705-1770) SONATAS FOR FLUTE, VIOLIN AND CONTINUO

ALPHA 235 MARCH 2016

NEVERMIND is made up of four young musicians and friends whose passion for early music and for the influence of jazz and traditional music stimulated them to form an ensemble whose virtuosity is equalled only by their youthful impetuosity and their love of fine music . . . For its first disc, Nevermind tackles the treasures of the Baroque in the shape of two totally neglected French composers.

The first one, Jean-Baptiste Quentin, a dessus de violon at the Académie Royale de Musique (forerunner of the Paris Opéra), was a habitué of the Parisian salons, where he frequented Rameau among others. The second, Louis-Gabriel Guillemain, studied in Italy before joining the court musicians at Versailles.

Sometimes whimsical and often very complex in Guillemain, invariably lucid and classical in Quentin, their style nonetheless presents a common feature: the dominance of the Italian idiom.

Alpha Classics continues its discovery of young talents with this project conceived by the inspired musicians of Nevermind. Their credo is to introduce the widest possible audience to the riches of music that has been too long ignored.

1 CD

Anna Besson (flute), Louis Creach (violin), Robin Pharo (viola da gamba), Jean Rondeau (harpsichord).

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TE DEUM FOR THE VICTORIES OF LOUIS XV HENRY MADIN (1698-1748)

LES CRIS DE PARIS ENSEMBLE STRADIVARIA DANIEL CUILLER (ALPHA/CHÂTEAU DE VERSAILLES COLLECTION)

HENRY MADIN TE DEUM POUR LES VICTOIRES DE LOUIS XV ANNE MAGOUËT ROBERT GETCHELL ALAIN BUET LES CRIS DE PARIS ENSEMBLE STRADIVARIA DANIEL CUILLER

For the first time since its premiere in the eighteenth century, Henry Madin’s Te Deum for the victories of Louis XV rang out in 2015 in the Chapelle Royale at Versailles. Stradivaria, the Baroque ensemble of Nantes directed by Daniel Cuiller, and Les Cris de Paris, the chamber choir conducted by Geoffroy Jourdain, here revive the work of this composer born in Verdun in 1698 who was sous-maître de la Chapelle du Roi from 1738 onwards. The performance of the Te Deum, the longest setting composed during the Ancien Régime, is coupled with Diligam te, Domine, one of Madin’s principal works in the style of the grand motet for large chorus. At the single concert immortalised here, the two works came back to life in a highly symbolic historic venue.

They are presented today in the Alpha/Château de Versailles Collection, which now includes more than ten titles.

COLLECTION CHÂTEAU DE VERSAILLES

ALPHA 963 APRIL 2016

1 CD

LUXEMBOURG PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA, EMMANUEL KRIVINE

ALEXANDER VON ZEMLINSKY (1871-1942) RICHARD STRAUSS (1864-1949)

DIE SEEJUNGFRAU FANTASY FOR ORCHESTRA TILL EULENSPIEGELS LUSTIGE STREICHE

ALPHA 236 APRIL 2016

In this new recording devoted to the symphonic poem, Emmanuel Krivine and the Luxembourg Philharmonic Orchestra couple two of the finest composers in the genre, Alexander von Zemlinsky and Richard Strauss.

Die Seejungfrau follows the narrative of Andersen’s tale The Little Mermaid: the realm of the Mer-king, the storm and the Prince’s fall into the waters and rescue by the Little Mermaid; her transformation into a woman by the Sea Witch; the Prince’s admission that he does not love her and marriage to another woman; the Mermaid’s death. It is said that this work was Zemlinsky’s way of exorcising his grief after Alma Schindler, with whom he was madly in love, decided to marry Gustav Mahler.

Richard Strauss may be said to have taken the style of the symphonic poem to its peak. Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks, which revives the world of a character from north German literature – a vagrant trickster who supposedly lived in the Middle Ages – transcends the genre with its orchestral and melodic verve and a constant renewal of the form itself. This supremely virtuosic, Romantic score, a sarcastic work that mocks bourgeois conventions, set the seal on the composer’s international success.

1 CD

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JÉRÉMIE RHORER CONDUCTS DIE ENTFÜHRUNG AUS DEM SERAIL

MOZART

LE CERCLE DE L’HARMONIE, JÉRÉMIE RHORER (RECORDED AT THE THÉÂTRE DES CHAMPS-ÉLYSÉES, PARIS)

© CDoutre

The conductor Jérémie Rhorer is today regarded as one of the finest interpreters of the music of Mozart in general and his operas in particular. After conducting Die Entführung aus dem Serail at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence in 2015, he performed it again at a memorable concert at the Théâtre des ChampsÉlysées in Paris last September with his orchestra, Le Cercle de l’Harmonie. The following day, Gilles Macassar wrote on Concert Classic: ‘One has rarely heard an Entführung aus dem Serail of such grandeur of tone (notably in the last act), such richness of accents and colours. . . . Jérémie Rhorer, at the age of forty-two, establishes his claim among the conductors of his generation as the Mozartian par excellence. He instinctively places each opera in the full zodiac of Mozart’s theatrical output. In the background of his interpretations there is always a hint of a memory or a premonition, a reminiscence of an earlier opera or a sign prefiguring a work still to come . . .’

It is this rare moment that Alpha Classics offers a chance to share today. This recording launches a collaboration with Le Cercle de l’Harmonie and Jérémie Rhorer, who will continue to place their excellence at the service of the great masterpieces of Mozart – and of other composers: watch this space!

ALPHA 242 MAY 2016

2 CDS

HAYDN 2032 VOL. 3

L’ISOLA DISABITATA, OVERTURE SYMPHONIES NOS. 4, 42, 64 ‘TEMPORA MUTANTUR’ ARIAS INCLUDING ‘SOLO E PENSOSO’

FRANCESCA ASPROMONTE IL GIARDINO ARMONICO GIOVANNI ANTONINI

ALPHA 672 MAY 2016

Looking ahead to the 300th anniversary of the birth of Haydn in 2032, the Joseph Haydn Foundation of Basel has joined forces with the Alpha Classics label to record all of the composer’s 107 symphonies. This ambitious project is placed under the artistic direction of Giovanni Antonini, who now presents the third volume, after two previous issues that attracted great attention and received numerous awards, including the Echo Klassik Prize 2015 for the ‘best orchestral recording’ of the year.

Since he sees the music of Haydn as ‘a kaleidoscope of human emotions’, Giovanni Antonini has decided to approach the symphonies not chronologically, but thematically; the theme here is Haydn the philosopher. The Italian conductor has chosen in each of the programmes to make connections between the symphonies and other works. For this volume, he calls on the magnificent soprano Francesca Aspromonte to perform a number of arias including the famous ‘Solo e pensoso’.

1 CD

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NELSON GOERNER PLAYS BEETHOVEN

SONATA NO. 29 ‘HAMMERKLAVIER’ BAGATELLES OP. 126

NELSON GOERNER

ALPHA 239 JUNE 2016

He is nicknamed ‘the poet of the piano’, an epithet confirmed by each of his appearances in concert or on record, most recently with his multi-award-winning Debussy and Chopin CDs. Nelson Goerner already has an imposing discography, but this is the first time he has tackled Beethoven on a recording: he has chosen the ‘Hammerklavier’, a work of unparalleled dimensions, complexity and profundity . . . But is this artist, whom a Buenos Aires newspaper praised after a recital at the famous Teatro Colón for his ‘ability to combine intellectual lucidity, undeniable depth, and a technical ease that enables him to express his ideas’, not the perfect interpreter for that monumental composition? ‘Here is a sonata that will make pianists work hard’, said Beethoven to his publisher after labouring on it for almost three years, at a time when his deafness was constantly worsening. Forty-five minutes of immense difficulty for the performer (and also the listener?): between a first movement as fiery as Beethoven ever wrote and a finale that seems to foreshadow jazz improvisations, comes a splendid and deeply moving slow movement that Goerner renders with deep emotion. He then invites us to move from the monumental to the miniature, with the Six Bagatelles op.126, subtle gems of late Beethovenian style, constructed with formidable skill.

1 CD

JAN VAN HOECKE, PRIZEWINNER OF THE MAFESTIVAL BRUGES JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH SONATAS BWV 525, 527-530

JAN VAN HOECKE JOVANKA MARVILLE

ALPHA 237 JUNE 2016

Always keen to show its commitment to helping talented young musicians to develop their professional careers, Outhere Music has for several years been the partner of the Musica Antiqua International Competition in Bruges, offering one of the prizewinners the chance to make a recording. In the 2014 finals, the choice fell on the young recorder player Jan Van Hoecke, who convinced the entire jury of the record label with his expressive playing and his inventive and colourful sound palette.

1 CD

A passionate and exciting interpreter of early and Baroque music, Jan Van Hoecke presents a transcription for recorders and harpsichord or fortepiano of J. S. Bach’s Trio Sonatas for organ BWV 525 and 527-530. His talent is ideally complemented by that of Jovanka Marville, herself a former prizewinner of the competition. With sure-footed mastery of their art, always at the service of the music, they invite us on a captivating journey, shedding new light on these masterpieces by the master of Leipzig.

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OLIVIER CAVÉ RECORDS THREE MOZART CONCERTOS PIANO CONCERTOS NOS. 5 K175, 13 K415, 25 K503

OLIVIER CAVÉ ORCHESTRE DIVERTISSEMENT RINALDO ALESSANDRINI

© Stefan-Meyer

Olivier Cavé has already made several acclaimed discs for AEON (Clementi, Haydn, Bach, Scarlatti). This student of Nelson Goerner, Maria Tipo and Aldo Ciccolini always strikes listeners with the refinement of his playing. Today he presents a programme of three piano concertos with a conductor whose incursions into Mozart are always crowned with success: Rinaldo Alessandrini.

They met at a concert in Toulouse and decided to record these masterpieces. Rinaldo Alessandrini has formed an orchestra for the occasion, which he has christened ‘Divertissement’, and together they will embark on a European tour focusing on this programme and symphonies by Mozart at the time of the CD’s release.

ALPHA 243 JUNE 2016

1 CD

THE BUSCH TRIO BEGINS A DVORÁK CYCLE PIANO TRIOS OP.65 & 90

TRIO BUSCH

© Richard Lewisohn

This young trio that takes its name from the legendary violinist Adolf Busch (1891-1952) has already made its name on the international scene as one of the most talented of the new generation, picking up on its travels enthusiastic reactions from public and press – as well as several prizes at the major competitions. ‘ . . . what impressed most was the group’s effortless musicianship and unity of thought and attack. The threesome even seemed to be breathing in synch’, wrote The Times after one of their concerts at the Wigmore Hall.

Under the auspices of Alpha Classics and the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel, the ensemble has set itself a challenge: to record the complete chamber music with piano of Antonín Dvořák. With the monumental Trios no.3 op.65 and no.4 op.90, these Londonbased musicians get the saga off to a flying start, in deeply felt interpretations that penetrate to the heart of the great Czech composer’s poetic universe.

ALPHA 238 JUNE 2016

1 CD

With: Omri Epstein, Mathieu Van Bellen, Ori Epstein

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RICERCAR

RICERCAR was founded by Jérôme Lejeune in 1980 and the label swiftly became one of the major players in the rediscovery of early music.

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Each RICERCAR recording documents a moment in the history of music, one that can be experienced not only by listening but also by reading informative liner notes written with the general public in mind. RICERCAR’s aim has always been to seek out and make available unusual and unpublished works, although they have also recorded certain well-known works when new musicological discoveries have inspired their artists to a new style of performance or interpretation.

Each recording is made with the greatest respect possible for the history and origins of the work concerned; this goes from the use of the most authentic sources possible for the score to the choice of the musicians and the instruments that are most suited to the particular type of repertoire.

RICERCAR’s recordings are produced by Jérôme Lejeune, its artistic director, who takes meticulous care that there is always a perfect symbiosis between the players themselves and the space in which the recording is made; this including the choice of natural acoustics according to their character and their suitably to the repertoire being recorded. RICERCAR fully respects the acoustic of its recording space and the particular timbres of its voices and the instruments: it has never used any form of sound filtration or artificial reverberation.

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RICERCAR is supported by the Ministère des Arts de la Scène du Ministère de la Fédération Wallonie Bruxelles.

ARNOLD & HUGO DE LANTINS

SECULAR WORKS

LE MIROIR DE MUSIQUE BAPTISTE ROMAIN

RIC 365 JANUARY 2016

Composers Arnold and Hugo de Lantins were originally from the episcopal principality of Liège, but it was in Italy, primarily in Pesaro and Venice, that we have evidence of their presence in the period of the 1420s and ‘30s. Like those of Johannes Ciconia, another Liège native who preceded them to Italy, their secular and sacred compositions are preserved in manuscripts copied there.

Rubbing shoulders with their illustrious contemporary Guillaume Dufay, the writing of the De Lantins brothers combines archaic features with the earliest characteristics of the Renaissance.

Le Miroir de Musique offers us a wide selection of French and Italian songs that enrich our view of the cultural refinement at Italian courts in the early 15th century.

1 CD

MARIN MARAIS PIÈCES FAVORITES

FRANÇOIS JOUBERT-CAILLET L’ACHÉRON

RIC 364 FEBRUARY 2016

As a prelude to the vast enterprise represented by the release of Marin Marais’ complete five Books of Pièces de Viole, François Joubert-Caillet proposes this anthology of some of the most famous pieces that the illustrious gambist of La Chambre du Roi wrote for the delight of the Sun King’s private concerts. François Joubert-Caillet studied the viola da gamba at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis with Paolo Pandolfo, with whom he also studied early improvisation, and also with Rudolf Lutz. Winner of the First and Audience Prizes at the Bruges International Chamber Music Competition, he gives concerts, recitals and master classes in Europe, Asia and Latin America. François Joubert-Caillet also directs L’Achéron, an ensemble with which he appears in various formations, in particular the consort of viols. L’Achéron’s CDs, devoted to Anthony Holborne’s The Fruit of Love and Samuel Scheidt’s Ludi Musici, were released by Ricercar for which François Joubert-Caillet also recorded a CD in duo with Wieland Kuijken: Johannes Schenck’s Le Nymphe di Rheno.

1 CD

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ANTONIO BERTALI

LA MADDALENA (1663)

SCHERZI MUSICALI NICOLAS ACHTEN

RIC 367 MARCH 2016

Through the combination of sacred and profane that she embodies, the profoundly human personality of Mary Magdalene greatly inspired artists of the Baroque era, whether painters, poets or composers. It was in the sphere of influence of Italian oratorios, highly prized at the court of Vienna, that Antonio Bertali devoted a most moving sepolcro to her in 1663, a genre traditionally played during Holy Week. In 1617, in Mantua, it was in the form of theatrical interludes that she was honoured by court composers such as Salomone Rossi, Muzio Effrem and Claudio Monteverdi, who wrote the prologue for this other Maddalena.

1 CD

JEHAN DE LESCUREL THE LOVE SONGS OF JEHAN DE LESCUREL

ENSEMBLE CÉLADON PAULIN BÜNDGEN

RIC 366 APRIL 2016

Many mysteries surround the life of Jehan de Lescurel, beginning with his date of birth. Probably the son of middle-class Parisians, cleric, musician and poet, he was most likely trained at NotreDame. His oeuvre consists of some thirty songs written in the waning tradition of the art of the Parisian troubadours and even broaches polyphony. In them, he describes several amorous situations, sometimes depicting the emotions of the rejected suitor, sometimes those of the beautiful misunderstood lady, in a game of love and feelings that range from nostalgia to ecstasy, and not excluding humour. In this complete recording, the three voices of Céladon are backed up by richly coloured instruments.

1 CD

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MATTHIAS WECKMANN COMPLETE WORKS

RICERCAR CONSORT LA FENICE BERNARD FOCCROULLE SIEBE HENSTRA

RIC 369 APRIL 2016

Matthias Weckmann is doubtless the most fascinating Hamburg composer of the mid-17th century. A disciple of Schütz, nurtured on Italian music and, in particular, that of Claudio Monteverdi, he shone in all genres, achieving an impressive blending of these two worlds. His concerts spirituels are characterised by the important role they give to the instruments, veritable accomplices of the singers. His sonatas espouse the Venetian models with their original instrumentation uniting violin, cornett, trombone and bassoon. His organ music constitutes the veritable transition between the generations of Sweelinck and Buxtehude.

And in his harpsichord pieces, he also tries his hand at the French suite style. Over the years, Ricercar has recorded his complete works, and the year of the 400th anniversary of his birth imposed itself for bringing together the first complete release of these recordings.

RICERCAR PLEÏADES 5 CDS

GIOVANNI LEGRENZI SONATE & BALLETTI

CLEMATIS STÉPHANIE DE FAILLY

RIC 356 MAY 2016

After Carlo Farina and the Vitalis, Clematis continues its exploration of the Italian Baroque instrumental repertoire with Giovanni Legrenzi. The Sonatas taken from the collections he published in Venice between 1655 and 1673 feature highly diverse forms ranging from the trio sonata up to larger forms for 4, 5, or 6 parts and even double choir. His final collection of instrumental music, Balletti e Correnti, published in 1691, offers us a very different view of instrumental music in which certain French influences cannot be denied. Here, Clematis gives us the first complete anthology of his instrumental works. The variety of forms and forces ensures this disc with a fine diversity of styles from sonatas still close in spirit to those of Biagio Marini up to those for four violins foreshadowing the generation of Vivaldi.

Recorded in two different locations, this anthology lets us discover these compositions in the sonority either of the church with its choir organ or , more intimate, the chamber.

1 CD

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JOHANN JOSEPH FUX JOHANN CASPAR KERLL KAISER REQUIEM (FUX) MISSA PRO DEFUNCTIS (KERLL)

VOX LUMINIS SCORPIO COLLECTIF L’ACHÉRON

RIC 368 JUNE 2016

This recording presents two Austrian requiems of totally different character. Johann Joseph Fux wrote his Requiem in 1720 for the funeral of Eleonora Magdalena , widow of the Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I. Composed by a musician reputed for his theoretical skill, it impresses with the quality of the polyphonic writing combined with a very rich instrumental fabric comprising cornetts, trombones and bassoon in addition to violins, instruments also benefiting from concertante interventions.

This requiem was played on numerous occasions for official ceremonies, including again for the funeral of Karl VI in 1740.

On the other hand, Johann Caspar Kerll’s version is presented in a much more intimist way. To tell the truth, we do not know for what circumstances it was written. It is scored for an ensemble of five voices backed up by a quartet of viols. In a more archaic style, its intense emotion is doubtless influenced by the music of his Roman master, Giacomo Carissimi.

1 CD

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FUGA LIBERA With a repertoire stretching from late baroque to contemporary music, and supported by eminent actors of the European musical life Fuga Libera’s catalogue presents a growing collection of publications mixing classical music with other music genres.

“

Fuga Libera was founded in 2004. With its catalogue of more than 80 titles, it is one of Belgium’s most lively and active labels. The catalogue reaches from the baroque to the romantic repertoire. Fuga Libera invests in the future by profiling itself explicitly as a platform for young musicians. Creative and durable collaborations with musicians who are at the beginning of their professional careers, as well as with musicians who already developed an international reputation form the heart and the soul of the label. Through an open dialogue with partners such as festivals, concert halls, and music schools Fuga Libera plays an important role in the development of musical talent. Moreover Fuga Libera is a platform for experiment, where different musicians can meet each other, exchange musical ideas, and develop new musical alliances.

Fuga Libera has become a digital-only label since fall 2014.

While conserving the criteria of musical and editorial quality that have made the label’s reputation, the new direction taken by Fuga Libera looks resolutely towards the future. This new challenge is firmly rooted in projects of excellence which invite the public to discover that new technologies and quality are perfectly compatible elements.

“

FLOR PEETERS, PROSPER VAN EECHAUTE, GODFRIED DEVREESE, MARCEL POOT, PETER CABUS, …

THE FLEMISH SONATINA IN THE 20TH CENTURY

DANIEL BLUMENTHAL

© Alvaro Yanez

If throughout its history, Flanders has seen some of the most beautiful musical works of all times composed within its boundaries, the 20th century is no exception to the rule.

Between 1930 and 1960, a vast quantity of sonatinas for piano were composed, these being commissioned or encouraged by music schools and publishers with the student in mind.

These works, though essentially intended for pedagogical use, present a definite musical interest. It is through this prism that Daniel Blumenthal, renowned musician and pedagogue, makes us discover, in a manner combining tranquil ease and poetic purity, a varied mosaic of this repertoire by Flemish composers of the last century - such as Flor Peeters, Prosper Van Eechaute, Godfried Devreese, Marcel Poor, Peter Cabus...

FUG 733 FEBRUARY 2016

3 CDS

An exploration of little-known but fascinating works to discover absolutely!

LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN STRING TRIO, OP. 3 & SERENADE, OP. 8

TRIOFENIX

FUG 734 MARCH 2016

Five years after the release of their complete recording of Mozart’s string trios, TrioFenix returns with a new album devoted to this repertoire that is less well-known than the quartet but equally demanding, lending their refined, natural playing to another master: Ludwig Van Beethoven. Although the String Trio, Op. 3 is the work of a maturing composer who seems to have modelled its six movements on Mozart’s Divertimento, K. 563, it already demonstrates this authentic Beethovenian power that makes us overlook any chronological consideration of the composer’s works and perceive each score’s intrinsic value: here, we are already dealing with a masterpiece. The Trio takes us even further into Beethoven’s early Viennese years, also giving us a rich, sensitive reading of the Serenade, Op. 8.

1 CD

Follow these musicians in the discovery of a less well-known facet of the composer’s music!

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LUCIEN GOETHALS PLURIVERSUM OVER LUCIEN GOETHALS

PLURIVERSUM - OVER LUCIEN GOETHALS

SPECTRA

1

FUGA LIBERA

Spectra

FUG 735 APRIL 2016

It has been ten years since Lucien Goethals, the composer from Ghent with an Argentine soul, left us. In the 1950s, this essential personality of the Belgian musical landscape came into contact with the European musical avant-garde through the intermediary of Norbert Rosseau and Louis De Meester. At its founding in 1962, the composer worked for IPEM, the research centre and electro-acoustic music studio of the University of Ghent.

Ever concerned with defending contemporary Flemish music, the Spectra Ensemble and its conductor Filip Rathé pay a vibrant homage with this album to the composer whose modern, colourful music reflects his passion for South American literature and poetry. This extraordinary musician and his multifacetted musical personality will be honoured simultaneously with the publication of his biography in March and in the framework of an exhibition at MATRIX, the new music centre of Ghent.

1 CD

JEAN-BAPTISTE DE BOUSSET AIRS SÉRIEUX

LE JARDIN SECRET ELIZABETH DOBBIN

© Lieven Dirckx

In 1724, Sébastien de Brossard hailed Jean-Baptiste Drouard de Bousset as ‘indisputably the best of our composer-authors’.

Although, at the beginning of the 18th century, the Master of Music at the Académies des Sciences et des Inscriptions imposed himself as the unquestionable leader of the genre, his 875 airs sérieux are ill known nowadays and deserve to be brought back into the light. Such is the desire of Elizabeth Dobbin and her ensemble Le Jardin Secret, who recreate with aptness and artistic intelligence the ‘noble, pleasant and natural’ songs of the composer, described by Titon du Tillet in his Parnasse françois (1732). Reflecting the traditions of the 17th and 18th centuries, the musicians have included improvised passages in their performance of these airs and, in particular, chosen to accompany the voice with theorbo and viola da gamba, instruments that Bousset owned when he died.

FUG 736 MAY 2016

1 CD

With: Elizabeth Dobbin, Mike Fentross, Jadran Duncumb, Romina Lischka, Nicholas Milne, Takeshi Sudo

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ARCANA Founded in 1992 by the legendary Michel Bernstein, Arcana is devoted to the exploration of lesser-known composers from the Medieval to the beginning of the twentieth-century mostly focusing on Italian repertoire and interpreters.

“

Hidden, secret, mysterious… the word Arcana, from Latin arcanus, clearly summarizes the mission of the label: to broaden our knowledge of the repertoire and unearth what is still concealed and forgotten within it, from the Middle Ages to the early 20th century, distinguishing masterpieces form trivial works, and involving some of the biggest names on the historically informed performance.

But Arcana has also succeeded in making an important contribution to the standard repertoire, particularly Viennese, most notably the first complete recording on period instruments of Joseph Haydn’s string quartets (performed by Festetics Quartet) and Franz Schubert’s piano sonatas (Paul Badura-Skoda).

Often based on ground-breaking research; each release is meticulously studied, the liner notes feature contributions of leading experts in each field. Not to mention the sound quality, one of the trade-marks of the label founded by Michel Bernstein.

Since the beginning, Arcana has also shown a clear focus on both Italy, with its huge and multifaceted musical heritage (yet to be explored and discovered), and the Italian performers: Fabio Biondi, Rinaldo Alessandrini, Fabio Bonizzoni yesterday; La Reverdie, Ensemble Zefiro, Gaetano Nasillo and an impressive line-up of new talents from the younger generation, today.

“

CLAUDE DEBUSSY

CHAMBER MUSIC

KUIJKEN ENSEMBLE

A 392 JANUARY 2016

One quartet, three sonatas, Syrinx, and that basically sums up Claude Debussy’s chamber music, as the rest does not amount to much. Pioneers of the historically informed practice movement, the Kuijken clan is mostly known for their excellent Baroque and Classical recordings, and it is therefore quite astonishing to find them tackling the chamber music of Claude Debussy, in what represents indeed the most advanced incursion in their extensive discography. In his performance remarks, Sigiswald Kuijken rejects any form of “historic or historicising or historically authentic Debussy”, but the instruments that they have chosen are all either originals from his lifetime or copies thereof, and one has only to listen to the well-known Syrinx, performed by his younger brother Barthold on an Auguste Bonneville instrument of 1910 to realize that these don’t come off sounding like ‘modern’ performances. After a long time out-of-print, we’re happy to announce that this album is back with new artwork.

1 CD - RE-RELEASE

LI DUE ORFEI GIULIO CACCINI & JACOPO PERI

MARC MAUILLON ANGÉLIQUE MAUILLON

© Jean-Baptiste Millot

Florence, 1600: Giulio Caccini and Jacopo Peri, two virtuoso singers and rival composers. Striving to rediscover the expressive powers of ancient Greek tragedy, they revolutionized the art of singing and created a new style, which eventually would give birth to opera. In reaction to Renaissance polyphony, these monodies were intended to be sung with the simple accompaniment of a plucked intsrument in order to express the full range of human passions. Peri and Caccini would often accompany themselves but they would also perform with certain family members. Thus brother and sister in this duo follow most naurally a tradition passed on by those great musicians.

A 393 FEBRUARY 2016

1 CD

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JAN DISMAS ZELENKA SONATE A DUE HAUTBOIS ET BASSON CON DUE BASSI OBLIGATI

ENSEMBLE ZEFIRO

© Arnold Ritter

Zelenka’s instrumental music represents only a small part of his output, when compared to the imposing amount of sacred music which he composed. His Sonate a due Hautbois et Basson con due bassi obligati, composed in Vienna in the years 1715-16, were the first step in the rediscovery of the Czech composer, since their publication by Camillo Schönbaum around 1956; in the meantime they represent one of the most significant milestones in the repertoire of every oboist and bassoonist, because of their high virtuosistic demands and inherent quality, which is superior to that of most contemporary pieces for the same instrumentation. Oboe and bassoon are exploited in their most extreme expressive and technical capacities; this may be seen in the brilliant character of the fast movements, and the melancholy or sweetness in the slow ones.

A 394 MARCH 2016

2 CDS - RE-RELEASE

After a long absence, the first ever recording by the ensemble Zefiro is newly made available, for the first time in a single double album. The oboists Alfredo Bernardini and Paolo Grazzi, and the bassoonist Alberto Grazzi, are surrounded by a dream continuo: Rinaldo Alessandrini, Rolf Lislevand, Lorenz Duftschmid...

DALMATICA CHANTS OF THE ADRIATIC FROM ORAL TO WRITTEN TRANSMISSION

© Johannes Ritter

DIALOGOS KATARINA LIVLJANIC KANTADURI JOSKO CALETA

A 395 APRIL 2016

Behind the hundreds of islands and history of wars, the Croatian coastal region of Dalmatia hides endless musical treasures. In this powerful musical fresco, four female singers of Dialogos and six traditional cantors from Croatia explore the richness of Dalmatian musical traditions, at the boundaries of Roman Catholic and Byzantine worlds since the Middle Ages. Between the rare gems from Latin manuscripts, and the polyphonic Glagolitic chants from the coastal, insular and hinterland regions of Croatia, this recording reveals a tradition of the liturgical year going from Advent to the Holy Week and invites us to discover this small country on the Adriatic Sea, with its rich and ancient musical roots born between the Western and Eastern Roman Empires.

1 CD

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ALESSANDRO STRADELLA SANT’EDITTA VERGINE E MONACA, REGINA D’INGHILTERRA – THE STRADELLA PROJECT VOL. 3

© Gabriela Torres Ruiz

VERÓNICA CANGEMI FRANCESCA ASPROMONTE GABRIELLA MARTELLACCI FERNANDO GUIMARÃES SERGIO FORESTI ENSEMBLE MARE NOSTRUM ANDREA DE CARLO

A 396 MAY 2016

With this third installment of the Stradella Project, Andrea De Carlo and Ensemble Mare Nostrum continue the exploration of the oratorio output, following the recent rediscovery of San Giovanni Crisostomo.

An historical figure from the 10th century, Edith of Wilton was an English nun of noble birth, and legend has it that she refused the opportunity of taking the throne, causing the aversion of a faction of nobles.

The title role of Stradella’s oratorio, Edith is disputed between various allegorical characters: on the one hand Humiltà, pushing her to a chaste monastic life, on the other hand the mundane figures of Grandezza, Bellezza, Nobiltà and Senso, all inviting her to become Queen and enjoy the pleasures of life. In the end, Edith will ignore the strong arguments submitted by the latter in favour of the advice from an arrogant Humiltà, a sort of alter ego of the Queen who was not to be.

The Argentine soprano Verónica Cangemi offers us an emotional portrayal of the title role, surrounded by a distinguished cast, including Francesca Aspromonte as Nobility, Gabriella Martellacci as Greatness, Fernando Guimaraes as Beauty, Sergio Foresti as Sensuality, and Claudia Di Carlo as Humility.

As in previous installments, recording was made within the framework of the Alessandro Stradella International Festival in Nepi, the composer’s birthplace.

1 CD

GIOVANNI ZAMBONI L’ULTIMO ROMANO SONATE D’INTAVOLATURA DI LEUTO

SIMONE VALLEROTONDA

© Matteo Casilli

Giovanni Zamboni Romano, originally from Rome, was a fine expert in musical counterpoint and virtuoso on the theorbo, lute, harpsichord, diminished guitar, mandola and mandolin , and also a good professional sharpener of oriental stones for jewels”.

In that way our lute player is described by Ranieri Busoni. The Sonate d’Intavolatura per Leuto of 1718 are the last Italian work for lute, printed in tablature. Maybe written by himself on the sheets, being skilled in handling stones and jewelry, the style of these sonatas, reveals a deep knowledge of counterpoint, typical of the Roman school, to which he claimed to belong, adding the epithet «Roman» after his surname. Inheriting the knowledge passed on by Lorenzino, Kapsberger, and Colista, Zamboni, the last «Roman», brings to life the lute in the 18th century, fusing traditional Roman writing, made up of virtuous gighe, ciaccone and correnti, with the new melancholy sarabande and gravi in the galant style.

AD 1 JUNE 2016

1 CD - DIGITAL ALBUM

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LEONARDO LEO, ALESSANDRO SCARLATTI, LEONARDO VINCI, JOHANN ADOLPH HASSE CANTATE PER ALTO E CONTINUO NEL REGNO DI NAPOLI

© Renskaphotography

LEANDRO MARZIOTTE DIEGO LEVERIC LUIGI ACCARDO NICOLA BROVELLI

AD 2 JUNE 2016

First jury and audience prizes at the International Händel Competition 2014 in Göttingen, Germany, countertenor Leandro Marziotte performs regularly as a soloist with groups such as Le Parlement de Musique (Martin Gester), Ricercar Consort (Philippe Pierlot), and the Chamber Choir Namur (Leonardo García Alarcón). Here he releases his debut solo album with a programme devoted to the most widespread genre of Neapolitan music of the first half of 18th century, that of the continuo cantata.

This very important genre is still largely unexplored: indeed all the cantatas featured here are first recordings, with just one exception. From Alessandro Scarlatti (1660-1725), the founder of the Neapolitan school, to three composers from the next generation – Leonardo Vinci (1690-1730), Leonardo Leo (16941744) and Johann Adolph Hasse (1699-1783) –, the six cantatas encompasse a broad range of affetti, highlighting the qualities of the gifted Uruguayan singer, about whom we will be hearing a lot more.

1 CD - DIGITAL ALBUM

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PHI

Philippe Herreweghe assumes the artistic direction of this catalogue which holds exclusive rights for his recordings with Collegium Vocale Gent, l’Orchestre des ChampsElysées and deFilharmonie.

“

Philippe Herreweghe takes responsibility for the artistic direction of the label Phi which holds exclusive rights over his recordings with Collegium Vocale Gent and l’Orchestre des Champs-Elysées. By creating this collection, Philippe Herreweghe wanted to freely materialize the fruits of a long career of musical research and experiences. Outhere Music enthusiastically supports him in this endeavour. The output covers important romantic choral works, Flemish polyphony, the great Bach and a smattering of recording produced by Philippe’s friends and disciples, all to great press and public acclaim.

“

IGOR STRAVINSKY THRENI - REQUIEM CANTICLES

COLLEGIUM VOCALE GENT ROYAL FLEMISH PHILHARMONIC PHILIPPE HERREWEGHE

© Michiel Hendrickx

Although Igor Stravinsky is a major personality of the 20thcentury musical landscape, it would be reductive to view him solely through the prism of his works best known by the general public, such as The Rite of Spring or The Firebird. Driven by a constant desire to share with the public his perpetual need for exploration, Philippe Herreweghe invites us to discover one of the composer’s last serial works, ‘sublime but demanding’.

Threni (1957-58) is his longest, most ambitious and complex dodecaphonic score, and probably one of its summits. A work like the Requiem Canticles (1966) goes even further in this direction: the composer’s last masterpiece, it seems to summarise in itself the evolution of an entire lifetime, combining elements from the different stylistic periods that punctuated his career – whilst marking a highpoint in the spiritual quest that became increasingly important in Stravinsky’s life.

LPH 020 MARCH 2016

1 CD

In this major album, Philippe Herreweghe reveals with conviction his love for the composer’s music, and under his sure, inspired direction, the Collegium Vocale Gent and the Royal Flemish Philharmonic reveal their pure poetry.

Music-loving friends, be curious!

JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH LEIPZIG ORGAN WORKS (1723-1750)

MAUD GRATTON

© Florence Grandidier

The talented organist and harpsichordist Maud Gratton is an artist constantly seeking perfection. A graduate of the Paris Conservatoire, she trained with such great masters as Pierre Hantaï (harpsichord) and Louis Robilliard (organ), as well as with Olivier Baumont, Blandine Rannou, Kenneth Weiss, Michel Bouvard, Olivier Latry, and Olivier Trachier.

LPH 021 MAY 2016

It was quite natural that Philippe Herreweghe, concerned with promoting the talent of promising young musicians, should invite her to record an album in the ‘Amis de Phi’ (Friends of Phi) collection. On this disc, the young organist has chosen an ideal programme for demonstrating her art, proposing an intelligent panorama of organ works by Johann Sebastian Bach: between the Preludes and Fugues in E minor and E flat major, BWV 548 and 552, Jesus Christus, unser Heiland, BWV 665, the Canonic Variations on ‘Vom Himmel hoch’, BWV 769, and the Organ Sonata no. 4, BWV 528, come and discover well-known and less well-known pieces by the Kantor of Leipzig.

1 CD

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RAMÉE

RAMÉE creates albums as complete objets d’art, because they believe the ear’s pleasure is intimately tied together with that of the eye and the hand. A collection for connaisseurs!

“

The RAMÉE label was founded in 2004 by Rainer Arndt. In only four years, RAMÉE has established itself as a greatly respected label on the Early Music scene. Many releases from its limited catalogue have been highly acclaimed by public and press alike, several receiving numerous awards. Each year sees the production of only six to eight recordings, featuring »hand-picked«, quality repertoire seldom or never-before recorded, or more well-known works in new and exceptional interpretations. The small company maintains extremely high standards not only in the aural aspect of the recording itself, but also in the musicological, literary, graphic and tactile quality of the jacket and liner notes. RAMÉE creates cds as complete objets d’art, because they believe the ear’s pleasure is intimately tied together with that of the eye and the hand. A collection for connaisseurs!

“

GEORGE FRIDERIC HANDEL ARIE PER LA CUZZONI

HASNAA BENNANI LES MUFFATTI PETER VAN HEYGHEN

RAM 1501 JANVIER 2016

When one looks at the biographies of famous prima donnas, the suspicion sometimes arises that opera is not really an art form but a way of life. At any rate, for many of its protagonists, the theatrics, the scheming and the scandalmongering of the stage appear to flow seamlessly into real life. And the situation in the eighteenth century was no different from today. Among the most famous and also the most notorious stars of European opera houses was the Italian diva Francesca Cuzzoni, whose extravagance must have been as phenomenal as her singing talent. Had there already been a gutter press in her time, La Cuzzoni would certainly have been one of the most reliable suppliers of headlines. But, even without tabloids, news of La Cuzzoni’s affairs got around quickly, and indeed seem to have played no small part in the fascination she exercised over her audience. Her early success, her fairytale fame and eventually her dramatic fall caught the imagination of the musical world. This CD features some of the most beautiful and breathtaking arias, composed for the diva by Handel.

1 CD

JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH GOLDBERG VARIATIONS

PASCAL DUBREUIL

© All rights reserved

The Goldberg Variations followed the three parts of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Clavier-Übung. The title page presents the work as a ‘Keyboard exercise consisting of an Aria with diverse variations for harpsichord with two manuals…’ Forkel, in his biography of the composer, relates that these variations were composed at the request of the Count von Keyserling so that his harpsichordist, Johann Gottlieb Goldberg, might play a few of them during the insomnias that often disturbed the Count’s nights. But no concrete element has come down to us to verify Forkel’s remarks. The exceptional virtuosity required by this work also leads one to think that it was perhaps a sort of response to Domenico Scarlatti’s publication of 30 of his Essercizi in 1738, which also exploit, but to a lesser degree, aspects of keyboard technique not yet in common use at the time. These technical aspects as well as the sublime eloquence, the genius of the counterpoint and the inexhaustible variety of the variations combine to make this one of the summits of the genre.

RAM 1404 FEBRUARY 2016

1 CD

With his captivating interpretation, Pascal Dubreuil completes the release of the four parts of the Clavier-Übung for Ramée (CÜ1 RAM 0804, CÜ2 RAM 1002, CÜ3 RAM 1305).

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THE LION’S EAR LA MORRA

© All rights reserved

In 1512, Giovanni di Lorenzo di Piero de’ Medici (1475-1521) was the eldest surviving male member of the senior line of the celebrated Medici family of Florence, the eldest surviving son of the mythic Lorenzo “il Magnifico.” Giovanni had inherited his family’s refined interest in and zealous support of the arts: literature; painting, sculpture, and architecture; and music. But of all of these, Giovanni – perhaps due in part to his poor eyesight – favored music, for which his passion was legendary among contemporaries. The musical life of Leo’s court was unimaginably rich and vibrant, as innumerable eyewitness accounts confirm.

Our CD aims to bring that world acoustically to life, to revive the soundscape of the Leonine court and illustrate the range of practices typifying Leo’s own musical experiences. It is intended as a tribute to a rare and extraordinary patron of music (himself a composer and musician), who occupied that singular position at the very summit of the universal ecclesiastical hierarchy.

RAM 1403 MARCH 2016

1 CD

JOHANN CHRISTOPH PEPUSCH VENUS & ADONIS

© All rights reserved

CIARA HENDRICK PHILIPPA HYDE RICHARD EDGAR-WILSON THE HARMONIOUS SOCIETY OF TICKLE-FIDDLE GENTLEMEN ROBERT RAWSON

RAM 1502 APRIL 2016

Johann Christoph Pepusch’s (1667–1752) English-language masque Venus and Adonis premiered at London’s Theatre Royal on 12 March 1715— inspired by the operas of composers like Bononcini and A. Scarlatti, it was the most substantial effort of the period to ‘reconcile Musick to the English Tongue.’ As part of the battle for supremacy amongst London’s theatres, Pepusch recruited ‘a select Band of the best Masters of Instrumental Musick’ and two of the city’s leading singers, the ‘Italian lady’ Margarita de l’Epine (c1680–1746) en travesti as Adonis and the contralto Jane Barbier (d.1757) and Venus. The work bristles with Italian virtuosity and dynamism and unlike most English-language dramatic music at the time, Venus and Adonis makes ample use of dramatic recitative (secco, arioso and accompagnato). A clear model for Handel’s later Acis and Galatea, this world-premiere recording of Pepusch’s wonderful masque reestablishes the work as a milestone in the history of English opera.

1 CD

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AEON

A the cutting edge of contemporary and medieval music.

“

As the present catalogue attests, our record label, ĂŚon, from Notre Dame Mass by Machaut to Patterns In A Chromatic Field

by Morton Feldman, is characterized by our love of music and our passion for musical creation. Founded by Kaisa and Damien Pousset in 2001, the catalogue is including today more than 120 albums. Our label is patiently pursuing an editorial approach based on developing two complementary collections: one, strictly contemporary, devoted to monographs on 20th- and 21st-century composers; the other, open to a broader repertoire, mainly medieval music, and based on the singularity of selected artists, thoroughly involved with the life of the label.

“

THIERRY PÉCOU LES LIAISONS MAGNÉTIQUES

ENSEMBLE VARIANCES ENSEMBLE RESONANZ JONATHAN STOCKHAMMER

AECD 1546 MARCH 2016

To all those who want to listen to him, Thierry Pécou tells about the world, its expanse and its beauty, as well as its chaos with the suffering of men and their mutilated memories. The trance of the Bahia candomblé, the Mozartian melodic sweetness, the virtuoso craftsmanship of the orchestration, the pre-Columbian musical archaeology: all these differences intertwine without getting lost in the Tout-monde that Thierry Pécou gives us to hear. With the virtuosos of his Ensemble Variances, he leads us into his Tout-monde, to borrow the fine expression of the Martinique-born writer Edouard Glissant, cultivating its relations with the Other or the Elsewhere, without diluting itself. That is the real significance of the homage he pays to Henri Dutilleux in Les liaisons magnétiques, to pre-Columbian Mexico with Soleil-Feu, or to Gilles Deleuze’s vitalistic philosophy that is backdrop for Les Machines désirantes. He visits the Indonesian gamelan in his Sextet, not to overlook a festive, sensual detour in the Caribbean with Salsa d’Elissa and Dominica Reggae.

1 CD

RICHARD BARRETT CELLO WORKS, ŒUVRES POUR VIOLONCELLE

ARNE DEFORCE YUTAKA OYA

AECD 1648 APRIL 2016

The name of British composer Richard Barrett is associated as much with the New Complexity movement as with free improvisation, which he practices in particular with Paul Obermayer. Most of his pieces require live electronics, which he realises and performs himself. His works are quite often concentrated in large cycles of literary or visual inspiration, as well as scientific, mythological, philosophical or political. The works brought together in this anthology are the fruit of a very long collaboration with Arne Deforce, who is their inspirer and founder. All of them attest magnificently to the composer’s evolution over nearly 20 years.

2 CDS

40

OUTNOTE Embracing contemporary musical expression throughout the entire contemporary landscape of creative music, OUTNOTE aims to transcribe the stimulating aesthetic vitality of our age faithfully and in the finest detail...

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OUTNOTE Records, a label devoted to jazz, reflects all the vitality of creation today with the highest standards in terms of artistic choices and realisation, combined with the openness to innovation that constitutes the very essence of this ‘most learned type of popular music’.

For OUTNOTE Records, recording still represents the medium by which a musician propels his inspiration from the development stage to that of an elaborated work, captured in a particular moment of vast time without, for all that, being rigid.

The label has given voice to some of the most creative pianists in the jazz sphere: Richie Beirach, Bill Carrothers, Joachim Kuhn, Philippe Le Baraillec, Ronnie Lynn Patterson, Eric Watson, and Kenny Werner, in particular in the ‘Jazz & The City’ collection. It has proposed creative groups such as Dave Liebman’s legendary Quest or the electro group After In Paris, and launched the young singer Leila Martial, particularly well received by the media.

This desire for openness and plurality is also manifest in the realisation of projects such as drummer Stéphane Galland’s ‘Lobi’, which takes inspiration from world music, and strong works of the jazz of this early 21st century by the quintet of bass player Stéphane Kérécki or Jean-Paul Celea’s trio. An important place is also reserved for young musicians who will be tomorrow’s ambassadors of this jazz that no longer recognizes boundaries and quite naturally rubs shoulders with a multitude of different styles in current music (electro, hip-hop, rock, pop), of which the group LABtrio is an excellent example.

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THE HOWLS ARE NOT WHAT THEY SEEM LABTRIO FEATURING CHRISTOPHER HOFFMAN & MICHAËL ATTIAS

The LABtrio is back on Outnote Records! After Fluxus, their first album, released in 2013 and critically acclaimed («»Révélation!»» of Jazz Magazine), the trio returns, accompanied by two distinguished guests whom they met in New York: saxophonist Michaël Attias and cellist Christopher Hoffman. This new group allows the three young musicians to explore a repertoire that continues to be enriched through contact with new sonorities.

OTN 623 FEBRUARY 2016

From their beginnings in 2007, the LABtrio has gone through a dazzling evolution and now, more than ever, represents the new generation of very great European jazz talents. They create music that is constantly nourished by current influences such as HipHop or electronic music without every betraying the heritage of the past. The members of the trio are also active in several other groups in the forefront of their style (STUFF., Septych…) and are very much in demand as sidemen (or -woman…).

1 CD

Bram De Looze (BE) : Piano, Fender Rhodes Anneleen Boehme (BE) : Double bass Lander Gyselinck (BE) : Drums Featuring Christopher Hoffman (USA) : Cello & Michaël Attias (USA) : Saxophone

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NASA NA : LIVE

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PIERRE VAN DORMAEL FABRIZIO CASSOL MICHEL HATZIGEORGIOU STÉPHANE GALLAND

OUT 659 MAY 2016

The group NASA NA, made up of Pierre Van Dormael, Fabrizio Cassol, Michel Hatzigeorgiou and Stéphane Galland (and occasionally Eric Legnini), was formed in 1989 at the time of the opening of ‘De Kaai’, the legendary Brussels jazz club. There, all risks were permitted, and a series of musicians experimented together with a new kind of music. Initially called NASA NA GROUP, which means ‘I have a group’, NASA NA developed naturally, creating great cohesion between its members. Each one had the same responsibility vis-à-vis rhythm, melody or harmony and constantly contributed to a flow of ideas in the course of improvisation.

1 CD

When the group broke up in 1992, Fabrizio Cassol, Michel Hatzigeorgiou and Stéphane Galland formed AKA MOON, and Pierre Van Dormael would join them on a few occasions for concerts and recordings.

Despite the public’s expectations at the time, this laboratory group would not release an album, even though its members all had a major career, especially as regards recordings. This absence is now made good at last thanks to the release of this disc event based on live recordings from 1991! A must for all the fans from the beginning and an extraordinary discovery for everyone else. It is also an homage to the late, great musiciancomposer Pierre Van Dormael and a unique sound document attesting to his genius.

It’s a knock-out (N.S.D. Carmen) Mike Stern Can I play this tune with my band? (Bruit) Steve Coleman

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