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NEW RELEASES 2018 // 1 WWW.OUTHERE-MUSIC.COM

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Alpha Classics

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Arcana 32 Aeon 38 Fuga Libera

RamĂŠe 44 Collection Instinct

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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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Over the last fifteen years Alpha has established its reputation with music firmly anchored in the Baroque period; more recently however, the French record label has been opening its doors to artists and repertoire from very varied horizons. Alpha is ready to take risks in exploring programme ideas that are off the beaten track, never forgetting the fresh new talents that are a priority for the label. Favouring bold artistic projects and long-term relations with its musicians, Alpha is in the process of forming a family of artists of international repute, all driven by the same desire for artistic freedom and excellence.

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Alpha is one of the main independent classical music producers in the world today, yet it still remains committed to the core values of craftsmanship.

BLACK IS THE COLOUR BERIO FOLK SONGS RAVEL HISTOIRES NATURELLES (ARR. ARTHUR LAVANDIER) AND INTRODUCTION ET ALLEGRO

FALLA PSYCHÉ

ANNA STÉPHANY SOPRANO LABYRINTH ENSEMBLE

ALPHA 384 JANUARY 2018

Alpha continues its collaboration with the Festival d’Aix-enProvence and its Academy, which will celebrate its twentieth anniversary in 2018. We invite you to discover artists of great talent who take us on a trip to Auvergne, Sicily, Armenia and Azerbaijan thanks to Luciano Berio’s Folk Songs, to Andalusia with Falla’s Psyché on a poem of Georges-Jean Aubry, and to the world of Jules Renard with Ravel’s Histoires naturelles. The last-named are recorded in a version for chamber ensemble: ‘Since Ravel gave Manuel Rosenthal to make an arrangement for large orchestra which we found rather overblown, we set out to find a “chasseur d’images” (to quote the title of one of Renard’s Histoires naturelles poems) who could transcribe the work without losing its intimate, delicate aspect... We hope you will be as charmed as we are by Arthur Lavandier’s work, which beautifully conveys the immensely refined timbres and nuances of Ravel’, says the oboist Clément Noël, a member of the Swiss Ensemble Labyrinth. Anna Stéphany is a true revelation, performing this programme with the technique, the sensuality and the emotional impact that earned her a huge triumph in Mozart at last summer’s Glyndebourne Festival.

1 CD

BEETHOVEN DIABELLI VARIATIONS

MARTIN HELMCHEN PIANO

ALPHA 386 JANUARY 2018

The pianist Martin Helmchen has now joined Alpha for several recordings. Acknowledged as one of the leading pianists of his generation, an eminent interpreter of the German repertoire, Helmchen will explore various periods and composers (including Messiaen!), but Beethoven will have a preponderant place in his forthcoming recording projects. Before the complete concertos, planned for 2020, he tackles the Diabelli Variations, ‘a climax in the life of a pianist’. He sees these variations as ‘a voyage to the very heart of the infinity of human feelings and moods, by turns profound, philosophical, satirical’. He regards the cycle as a visionary work that heralds future developments in music, containing the first stirrings of twentieth-century minimalism, atonality and abstraction. This recording is the end result of a long personal association and numerous concerts; a powerful version in which each variation emerges as a masterpiece in its own right.

1 CD

NEW SIGNING

SHOSTAKOVICH SYMPHONY NO. 6, OP. 54 SINFONIETTA, OP. 110B

ARRANGED FOR STRING ORCHESTRA AND TIMPANI BY ABRAM STASEVICH

ESTONIAN FESTIVAL ORCHESTRA PAAVO JÄRVI CONDUCTOR

ALPHA 389 FEBRUARY 2018

The Järvi family is a pillar of Estonian musical life. Paavo is now director of the Pärnu Festival, held in August each year, which brings together the finest Estonian musicians, joined by the cream of European orchestras: members of the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, the Berliner Philharmoniker, the Orchestre de Paris etc. Paavo Järvi (recently appointed music director of one of the world’s leading formations, the Tonhalle Orchester Zürich) frequents all these instrumentalists regularly, and now works alongside them, ‘unpretentiously, in a warm, collegial manner’ for a series of highly convivial concerts on the shores of the Baltic: ‘magical and incredibly appealing’, says Die Welt. Paavo Järvi has now decided to record with this outstanding orchestra. For this first release, he has chosen Shostakovich, a key figure of the twentieth century, for both the region and the Järvi family: Paavo used to meet him as a child when the composer came to visit his father Neeme! The programme consists of Symphony no.6 and the Sinfonietta op.110b, a rare arrangement of the String Quartet no.8 by Abram Stasevich for string orchestra and timpani. This first release in 2018 will also coincide with the centenary of the independence of the Estonian Republic and a tour that will take the orchestra to several major European cities.

1 CD

HAYDN PIANO SONATAS HOB. XVI:48 & HOB. XVI:32

BEETHOVEN PIANO SONATAS OP. 2 NOS. 1 & 2 - OP. 10 NO. 2

OLIVIER CAVÉ PIANO

ALPHA 385 FEBRUARY 2018

Ludwig van Beethoven was just twenty years old when he first met Joseph Haydn, in 1790. Two years later, the young composer joined the Viennese master’s numerous pupils. But, weary of his teacher’s frequent absences and stung by his criticisms, he soon broke off his lessons, declaring bitterly some years later ‘I never learnt anything from Haydn’. It is this distance, this difference of style and ambition between Beethoven and his former teacher that are to be heard in this new recording by Olivier Cavé, the award-winning Swiss pianist who is a regular guest at the leading festivals. Whereas Haydn’s Sonata Hob.XVI:32 (1776) aims for a classical but vigorous style, Hob.XVI:48, composed only four years later, is more subdued and academic. Beethoven sought to break with this classicism, allowing himself greater expressive scope and replacing the traditional third-movement minuet with a scherzo in his Sonata no.2, a clear sign of his revolutionary spirit.

1 CD

CLÉRAMBAULT CANTATES FRANÇAISES

REINOUD VAN MECHELEN HAUTE-CONTRE A NOCTE TEMPORIS ANNA BESSON TRAVERSO EMMANUEL RESCHE VIOLIN MYRIAM RIGNOL VIOLA DA GAMBA BENJAMIN ALARD HARPSICHORD

ALPHA 356 JANUARY 2018

After a Bach album, the tenor Reinoud Van Mechelen and his ensemble A Nocte Temporis present a programme of French music devoted to Nicolas Clérambault (1676–1749), a precociously gifted composer who published four volumes comprising a total of twenty-one cantatas. Reinoud van Mechelen offers us an anthology of these Cantates Françaises – Le Jaloux with its final air ‘Dieu des Amants’, Apollon, L’Amour guéri par l’amour and Pirasme et Thisbé (based on Ovid’s Metamorphoses) – set as a succession of recitatives, airs and simphonies, as in a tragédie lyrique. The young Beglian tenor, now aged thirty, pursues an intensive solo career with the leading Baroque conductors (Christie, Pichon, Niquet) but is also keen to develop his personal projects and his ensemble: ‘I’m a purist but without elitism. Music has to appeal to people. Perhaps that requires them to make an effort and depends on different criteria from the somewhat sensationalist criteria of society, politics and money. But music must be more than a simple distraction, and many people actually want it that way’, he told the Belgian newspaper Le Soir in 2017, when the Prix Caecilia named him ‘Artist of the Year’.

1 CD

STRAVINSKY LE SACRE DU PRINTEMPS

NDR ELBPHILHARMONIE ORCHESTRA ´ KRZYSZTOF URBANSKI CONDUCTOR

ALPHA 292 FEBRUARY 2018

One of the big events of 2017 was the opening of the Hamburg Philharmonie. Krzysztof Urbański and the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra gave inaugural concerts there that made a lasting impact on audiences and critics alike. On this occasion, the Polish conductor chose to record one of the works closest to his heart, The Rite of Spring: ‘Stravinsky invented a new language. For me, The Rite is not a score, but a painting: on each page, I see Matisse, Gauguin, the Fauve painters... It’s an explosion of colours, emotions, and surprises too: if you don’t know the piece, you never know what’s going to happen. It’s so suggestive that you don’t need to do all that much with the orchestra, the magic is written into the music... When I conduct The Rite, I don’t think: the music penetrates your backbone, it’s inside you... It’s a ballet, and perhaps it’s because I was a dancer when I was younger that I can’t control my body when I hear and conduct this piece. It’s a mystical experience for me!’ The audio recording was made in sessions in the brand new Philharmonie, and the BD that accompanies the CD includes the film of the concert given in February 2017 in this superb building designed by the Swiss architects Herzog and de Meuron.

1 CD + 1 BLU-RAY

DEUX RAVEL TZIGANE DEBUSSY | POULENC | BARTÓK VIOLIN AND PIANO SONATAS

PATRICIA KOPATCHINSKAJA VIOLIN POLINA LESCHENKO PIANO

ALPHA 387 MARCH 2018

For her third album on Alpha, Patricia Kopatchinskaja is joined by a highly talented pianist whose approach to music is as extremist as hers, Polina Leschenko. Together they explore pieces that have many points in common. The Hungarian violinist Jelly d’Arányi, grandniece of Joseph Joachim, was a ‘muse’ to both Bartók and Ravel. In 1922 and 1923, she premiered the two Bartók sonatas for violin and piano and Ravel dedicated Tzigane to her. He wrote to Bartók: ‘You have convinced me to compose for our friend, who plays so fluently, a little piece whose diabolical difficulty will bring to life the Hungary of my dreams; and since it will be for violin, why don’t we call it Tzigane?’ Of course, Tzigane by Patricia Kopatchinskaja, who has been playing and dancing this music since her childhood in Moldova, does not sound like salon music... After a much-fêted recital at Wigmore Hall in 2017, the Financial Times wrote: ‘In another life, Patricia Kopatchinskaja might have been a rock star. This is a violinist who loves taking risks... But the final reward was worth waiting for: a denouement of astonishing force.’ Debussy’s Sonata, with its Arab and Javanese influences, completes this voyage, along with a piece for piano solo by Dohnányi, the Valse Coppélia after Léo Delibes, another symbol of the relations between France and Hungary.

1 CD

GYPSY BAROQUE IL SUONAR PARLANTE ORCHESTRA VITTORIO GHIELMI VIOLA DA GAMBA & CONDUCTOR

Vittorio Ghielmi, one of today’s most admired viola da gamba soloists, comes from a family of musicians (his brother founded Il Giardino Armonico with Giovanni Antonini). In parallel with his erudite and virtuoso readings of Marais or Graun, Vittorio Ghielmi is an artist who enjoys crossing borders. With his ensemble, Il Suonar Parlante, he seeks new musical languages and collaborates with leading figures of jazz (Uri Caine) and the masters of traditional music (Khaled Arman, Dhruba Ghosh). With Gypsy Baroque, he and his gypsy friends present a dazzling album bubbling over with life. He has gone to Transylvania in search of the gypsy music of the eighteenth century that was played on the frontiers of the Ottoman and Austrian Empires – music that influenced composers like Mozart and Haydn for their famous ‘Janissary’ pieces. For this recording, he places these gypsy tunes (only the melody is written) in perspective with orchestrations of the period. The Baroque specialists of his ensemble are joined by longstanding guest artists (the soprano Graciela Gibelli and the recorder player Dorothee Oberlinger) and traditional musicians like the Slovak violinist Stanislav Palúch and Marcel Comendant, a virtuoso exponent of the cimbalom and of improvisation. Going beyond the ‘documentary’ aspect, already fascinating, here is a genuine musical recreation!

ALPHA 392 FEBRUARY 2018

1 CD

RESURRECTION TEARS

SCHÜTZ AUFERSTEHUNGSHISTORIE

SCHEIN FONTANA D’ISRAEL

GEORGES ABDALLAH EVANGELIST CLAIRE LEFILLIÂTRE SOPRANO LA TEMPÊTE SIMON-PIERRE BESTION CONDUCTOR

ALPHA 394 MARCH 2018

In 1623, when the Thirty Years War was raging, Europe was torn apart by the confrontation between Protestant and Catholic peoples. Schütz and Schein, close friends with a deep-rooted Lutheran faith, were thoroughly in accordance with the spirit of their time when they wrote these works imbued with frugality, humility, even austerity. Yet these two great minds were still driven by a burning passion, paradoxically very attached to Italianate style, which is very evident here. With his ensemble La Tempête, Simon-Pierre Bestion has now become established as one of the most creative interpreters on today’s musical scene, revisiting the repertory, juxtaposing works in varying styles and from different periods, as he demonstrated in his first two recordings for Alpha (The Tempest – Diapason d’Or – and Azahar – Choc de Classica). At the head of an exceptional group of performers, equally at home in medieval and contemporary music, he presents here a ‘rewrite’ for a large and colourful orchestra, featuring a Lebanese singer specialising in Byzantine chant in the role of the Evangelist: a radical new take on the ardent mysticism buried in this music, bringing it unexpected vitality and warmth.

1 CD

SCHUMANN STRING QUARTETS NOS. 2 & 3

ELIAS QUARTET

ALPHA 280 MARCH 2018

The Elias Quartet has already recorded a complete cycle of Beethoven quartets at Wigmore Hall that was extremely well received by the critics. Now Sara Bitlloch, Donald Grant, Martin Saving and Marie Bitlloch present on Alpha an album devoted to Schumann: ‘We have always had a special affection for Robert Schumann’s Third Quartet. It’s one of the first works we played together. Since then we have often come back to it, as if to a splendid and familiar region that we think we know thoroughly, but which yields up new secrets with each visit. The Second Quartet, on the other hand, was a much later and more complicated discovery for us. The writing is so personal, so unidiomatic for the instruments, so full of nuances, that to begin with we found it hard to come up with a unanimous voice for this work. The enthusiasm of the first movement can easily turn into anxiety if you push it a bit too far. In the slow movement, the texture is sometimes so bare that to convey its tenderness you have to sustain it with great fervour. The capricious Scherzo is bristling with rhythmic pitfalls and requires a diabolical mastery of the instruments, while the Finale is an endless explosion of joy!’

1 CD

LES BOYS

FRANCIS POULENC DAVE BRUBECK BAPTISTE TROTIGNON

DUO JATEKOK ADELAÏDE PANAGET & NAÏRI BADAL

TWO PIANOS & PIANO FOUR HANDS

ALPHA 388 MARS 2018

The piano duo formed by Arthur Gold (1917–90) and Robert Fizdale (1920–95) enjoyed immense fame in the post-war years. Poulenc wrote a piece for them, as did Darius Milhaud, Samuel Barber, Luciano Berio and John Cage. They recorded with Leonard Bernstein. Nicknamed ‘The Boys’, they played all over the world and were praised for their ‘seamless perfection and an inimitable joie de vivre’ (New York Times). The Boys were also famed for their bestselling books and television programmes on cooking, their other passion! Duo Jatekok (játékok = ’games’ in Hungarian) was formed in 2007. Like The Boys and unlike most current piano duos, Adélaïde Panaget and Naïri Badal are not siblings, but childhood friends. ‘They have everything going for them: dynamic rigour and expressive energy, exuberant keyboard skills and multilingual touch, and more than anything else, a sort of jubilatory osmosis’, wrote Le Monde. For this first recording on Alpha, they have decided to pay tribute to The Boys with a programme of works written for them, Poulenc’s Sonata for two pianos and Élégie and a composition by a legend of jazz, the American pianist Dave Brubeck, Points of Jazz. Duo Jatekok also wanted to include music by one of their contemporaries: Baptiste Trotignon’s Trois Pièces (including one dedicated to Poulenc!) complete the programme.

1 CD

ELGAR CELLO CONCERTO IN E MINOR, OP. 85 PIANO QUINTET, OP. 84

MARIE-ELISABETH HECKER CELLO ANTWERP SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA EDO DE WAART CONDUCTOR CAROLIN WIDMANN VIOLIN DAVID MCCARROLL VIOLIN PAULINE SACHSE VIOLA MARTIN HELMCHEN PIANO

ALPHA 283 MARCH 2018

After making several discs of chamber music by Brahms and Schubert, the cellist Marie-Elisabeth Hecker now records a large-scale concerto, showing the full range of her talent. Composed between 1918 and 1919, Elgar’s Concerto op.85 was poorly received at its first performance but has since become established as one of the key works in the cello repertoire. To complete the programme, Marie-Elisabeth Hecker rejoins her chamber music partners, the violinists Carolin Widmann and David McCarroll, the violist Pauline Sachse and the pianist Martin Helmchen, in Elgar’s Piano Quintet, composed at the same time as the Concerto and premiered in London in 1919.

1 CD

BACH SUITE, PARTITA & ARIAS FROM CANTATES

JULIETTE HUREL TRAVERSO MAÏLYS DE VILLOUTREYS SOPRANO ENSEMBLE LES SURPRISES LOUIS-NOËL BESTION DE CAMBOULAS

After a Mozart release with the Quatuor Voce, Juliette Hurel has devised a programme focusing on Bach, featuring two staples of the flute repertoire: the Suite for orchestra no.2 with its famous Badinerie and the Partita for solo flute, his only work for the unaccompanied instrument. To complement this, she has chosen to assemble the most celebrated arias with a prominent part for solo flute, very rarely played outside the works for which they were written: the Easter Oratorio (‘Seele, deine Spezereien’), the St Matthew Passion (‘Aus Liebe will mein Heiland sterben’), the Coffee Cantata (‘Ei wie schmeckt’) and the Cantata Ich habe genug. For this recording, she plays a modern wooden flute and was keen to work with a Baroque ensemble performing on period instruments and a soprano well versed in this music, Maïlys de Villoutreys, a rising vocal star of French scene. The magnificent Trio Sonata BWV 1038 completes the programme in the spirit of chamber music.

ALPHA 358 MARCH 2018

1 CD

BUXTEHUDE ABENDMUSIKEN

ENSEMBLE MASQUES OLIVIER FORTIN CONDUCTOR VOX LUMINIS LIONEL MEUNIER CONDUCTOR

ALPHA 287 APRIL 2018

The Abendmusiken were a legendary concert series organised by Buxtehude in Lübeck. Even Johann Sebastian Bach travelled a long way to attend these concerts of sacred and instrumental music and met the master Dietrich Buxtehude, the most famous organist in Europe. To mark the 500th anniversary of the Lutheran Reformation, Vox Luminis and the Ensemble Masques have come together to perform a programme of cantatas (Gott hilf mir, denn das Wasser geht mir bis an die Seele, BuxWV 34 | Befiehl dem Engel, dass er komm, BuxWV 10 | Jesu, meine Freude, BuxWV 60 | Herzlich lieb hab ich dich, o Herr, BuxWV 41) and instrumental pieces (Sonatas BuxWV 255 and 261). The recording assembles leading specialists of this repertory, with the expert voices of Vox Luminis combining with the vitality of the instrumentalists of Ensemble Masques.

1 CD

BRAHMS PIANO CONCERTO NO. 2

NELSON GOERNER PIANO NHK SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA TADAAKI OTAKA CONDUCTOR

ALPHA 395 AVRIL 2018

Recorded live in Tokyo on 20 May 2009 with the NHK Symphony Orchestra conducted by Tadaaki Otaka, this concert provides a new opportunity to take the full measure of the poetry deployed by Nelson Goerner, the poetic approach has come to be seen as the pianist’s trademark in his recordings of Chopin or Debussy. Yet his interpretation also shows unfailing virtuosity, with a precision and power that place him among the most eminent pianists of our time. This recording is one that Nelson Goerner was particularly keen to make, for he views Brahms’s Second Concerto as an immense masterpiece. Premiered in Budapest in 1881 with Brahms himself at the piano, the work enjoyed immediate success with critics and public alike.

1 CD SPECIAL PRICE

MAJESTÉ LALANDE GRANDS MOTETS LE POÈME HARMONIQUE VINCENT DUMESTRE CHÂTEAU DE VERSAILLES COLLECTION

ALPHA 968 APRIL 2018

In 1683, Michel-Richard de Lalande entered the Chapelle Royale as a sous-maître after receiving the support of Louis XIV in a formidable recruitment competition. Still only twenty-five years old, the young composer was swiftly to become established as the King’s favourite and accede to the most coveted posts at court in a career spanning almost forty years. Above all, Louis included him in the consultations for the construction of the new Chapelle Royale, adjacent to Versailles Palace. As the arches gradually rose skywards, Lalande composed and revised his motets, which give expression to the then-peerless grandeur of the realm, while at the same time testifying to the chapel’s incomparable acoustics. His works – settings of psalms, hymns, the Te Deum – record the atmosphere at court in the liturgy, in times of both trouble and rejoicing. Following their earlier recording of Te Deum settings by Lully and Charpentier at the Chapelle Royale, Vincent Dumestre and Le Poème Harmonique have now returned to Versailles to tackle the music Lalande composed for that extraordinary place. Alongside the grands motets Deitatis majestatem and Ecce nunc benedicite, with their synthesis of royal pomp and the language of opera, they offer the deeply moving Miserere and the most grandiose Te Deum performed in the reign of Louis XIV, the Te Deum of the King himself.

1 CD

CHIMÈRE SONGS BY SCHUMANN, DEBUSSY, WOLF, POULENC, BARBER, ANDRÉ PREVIN, CARL LOEWE, IVOR GURNEY AND ROBERT BAKSA

SANDRINE PIAU SOPRANO SUSAN MANOFF PIANO

ALPHA 397 APRIL 2018

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

CD + BOOK

NEW SIGNING

SHOSTAKOVICH

STRING QUARTET NO. 3 PIANO QUINTET

BELCEA QUARTET PIOTR ANDERSZEWSKI PIANO

ALPHA 360 APRIL 2018

Formed in 1994 at the Royal College of Music in London, the Belcea Quartet has recorded the complete string quartets of Beethoven, Brahms, Bartók and Britten. For this new Alpha release it has chosen two works by one of the leading composers of twentieth-century chamber music, Dmitri Shostakovich. The Quartet no.3, of historic importance, was initially censured by the Soviet regime, then revised by Shostakovich for its first performance in 1946; the refined playing of the Belcea Quartet brings out all its contours. The Piano Quintet is among its composer’s most famous works and significantly contributed to his success on the international scene and with the Soviet authorities. The Belcea Quartet performs it in the company of the Polish pianist Piotr Anderszewski: the result is a musical encounter at the highest level of excellence.

1 CD

RESOUND BEETHOVEN VOL. 6 SYMPHONY NO. 8 PIANO CONCERTO, OP. 61A

ORCHESTER WIENER AKADEMIE MARTIN HASELBÖCK

ALPHA 477 MAY 2018

The Orchester Wiener Akademie and its conductor Martin Haselböck continue the Resound Beethoven series, performed on period instruments and scrupulously respecting the orchestral layout of 200 years ago. Volume 6 is devoted to the Eighth Symphony, premiered in 1814, and the Piano Concerto in D major op.61a, first performed in 1808. Beethoven made this piano arrangement of his Violin Concerto at the request of Clementi, who wished to publish it in London. The recording took place in the Austrian Academy of Sciences (Old University) in Vienna, where many important works by Beethoven received their first performance. The Austrian pianist Gottlieb Wallisch is the soloist in this rarely performed concerto.

1 CD

ORAZIO BENEVOLO TRÉSORS DU VATICAN

LE CONCERT SPIRITUEL HERVÉ NIQUET

Hervé Niquet possesses two constant character traits: he is an indefatigable excavator of forgotten music, and he loves polyphony and ‘large forms’. A few years ago, he caused a sensation by exhuming the monumental music of Striggio. To mark the thirtieth anniversary of his ensemble, Le Concert Spirituel, he now tackles a new peak of polyphony: a mass by Orazio Benevolo (1605–72) performed by eight choirs of four singers, accompanied by fifteen continuo players. In concert, the choirs are spread out around the nave, with the audience in the middle. Benevolo was born to a Burgundian confectioner father who had emigrated to Rome. Educated at the choir school of San Luigi dei Francesi, he became one of the greatest geniuses of polychorality, a prolific composer who represented the splendours of French art in Rome. He ended his career as maestro di cappella at the Vatican. This music has been resurrected thanks to the work of the great musicologist Jean Lionnet, who spent many years copying out by hand the music of numerous Italian composers in the Vatican archives, from which it was impossible to borrow documents. As a result of his labours the Missa ‘Si Deus pro nobis’ has now been recorded, accompanied by vocal and instrumental pieces by Monteverdi, Frescobaldi and Palestrina.

ALPHA 400 JUNY 2018

1 CD

HAYDN2032

NO. 6 “LAMENTATIONE” SYMPHONIES NO. 26 “LAMENTATIONE” NO. 30 “ALLELUJA” AND NO. 41

KAMMERORCHESTER BASEL GIOVANNI ANTONINI

ALPHA 678 MAY 2018

The year 2017 was a vintage one for Giovanni Antonini: he was awarded an Echo Klassik, two Gramophone Awards and a Diapason d’Or of the Year for his recent releases. Two of these prizes distinguished ‘Il Distratto’, volume 4 of the complete recording of the Haydn symphonies on which he embarked for Alpha in 2014. For the sixth volume, released in 2018, the Milanese conductor is again joined by the Kammerorchester Basel, which shares the project with Il Giardino Armonico and which he knows very well, since he conducts it regularly and they have made many recordings together, including volume 5 of the Haydn series. This volume focuses on symphonies with a ‘sacred’ inspiration: the Symphony no.26, ‘Lamentatione’, was composed in 1768 for Holy Week, and no.30 was nicknamed ‘Alleluja’ after the plainchant melody Haydn uses in it. Symphony no.41 was written in 1769.

1 CD

ALSO AVAILABLE ON VINYL!

HAYDN2032 NO. 6 “LAMENTATIONE” SYMPHONIES NO. 26 “LAMENTATIONE” NO. 30 “ALLELUJA” AND NO. 41

KAMMERORCHESTER BASEL GIOVANNI ANTONINI 2 LPs + CD + DOWNLOAD CODE LIMITED EDITION NUMBERED FROM 1 TO 1000

ALPHA 679 MAY 2018

2 LPs + CD

BACH SUITES AND CHACONNE

THOMAS DUNFORD LUTE

Thomas Dunford continues to expand his discography on Alpha with a programme of solo lute works by J. S. Bach, recorded in the ideal surroundings of the Salle de Musique of La Chaux-deFonds in Switzerland. He performs an original composition by Bach for lute, the Suite in G minor BWV 995, as well as his own arrangements of the (Cello) Suite BWV 1007 and the famous Chaconne from the Partita BWV 1004 – the latter piece has a notorious reputation for being (virtually) unplayable, at least on the violin!

ALPHA 361 MAY 2018

1 CD

CONTINUUM SCARLATTI & LIGETI

JUSTIN TAYLOR HARPSICHORD

ALPHA 399 MAY 2018

Following his First Prize at the Bruges Competition and his first album, devoted to the Forqueray family (‘Choc’ of the Year in Classica, Editor’s Choice in Gramophone, Grand Prix de l’Académie Charles Cros), the Franco-American harpsichordist Justin Taylor has recently been awarded the ‘Révélation Musicale’ Prize of the French Critics’ Circle. His career has developed rapidly, both as soloist (harpsichordist and also fortepianist) and as director of his ensemble, the Taylor Consort, with which Alpha will soon be recording... For his second recital, Justin Taylor juxtaposes Scarlatti and Ligeti, two composers whose periods and universes seem so remote from each other, yet who show numerous affinities: in their inventiveness, the virtuosity of their respective languages and their common urge to push the keyboard to its very limits. Continuum builds a bridgehead between these two hypersensitive composers by intertwining Ligeti’s three emblematic (and spectacular!) pieces for solo harpsichord with sonatas by Scarlatti.

1 CD

ˇ DVORÁK PIANO QUINTETS NOS. 1 & 2 BAGATELLES, OP. 47

BUSCH TRIO MARIA MILSTEIN VIOLIN MIGUEL DA SILVA VIOLA

After two earlier Dvořák releases, the Trios nos.3 and 4 (Dumky) and the two Piano Quartets, Omri Epstein, Mathieu van Bellen and Ori Epstein are joined by one of their teachers at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel, the violist Miguel da Silva (founder member of the famous Quatuor Ysaÿe) and the violinist Maria Milstein, who was also an artist in residence at the Music Chapel from 2011 to 2014. Together they continue this recording of the Czech composer’s complete chamber music with keyboard, this time in the two Piano Quintets and the Bagatelles. There is an obvious close rapport between these musicians, who share with us their passion for this repertory and their enjoyment of playing together. A gap of fifteen years separates Dvořák’s two Piano Quintets, which have few features in common except a shared home key: the First marks the debut of a youthful composer, while the Second shows him at the peak of his art. The Bagatelles, originally scored for two violins, cello and harmonium, are among his bestknown short pieces. A recording scheduled for release in autumn 2018 will complete this quadriptych of Dvořák’s piano trios, quartets and quintets.

ALPHA 403 JUNY 2018

1 CD

CALLING THE MUSE EARLY AND RECENT PIECES FOR THE THEORBO

BRUNO HELSTROFFER THEORBO

ALPHA 391 JUNE 2018

The theorbo was an accompanying instrument in the Baroque period. The aim of this release is to reveal this little-known form of lute and demonstrate all its possibilities. The programme features repertory pieces (Piccinini, Castaldi, Kapsberger), chosen for their beauty and virtuosity, and because they are rarely performed and recorded. But Calling the Muse is also a creative project, since half the programme was composed by Bruno Helstroffer himself. ‘My compositions are inspired by various traditional cultures and have a kinship with minimalist chamber jazz. My Muses have several origins: Greece, the Balkans, West Africa, India. Bach himself starts to play in irregular metres and have tea with me while Satie interferes on my strings. A dialogue between composers of yesterday and today emerges from the alternating arrangement of the pieces, with the aim of paying fervent tribute to the theorbo.’

1 CD

With the exceptional participation of Rosemary Standley in a song for which she wrote the words, to music by Bruno Helstroffer.

SIBELIUS AND RAUTAVAARA VIOLIN CONCERTOS

TOBIAS FELDMANN VIOLIN ORCHESTRE PHILHARMONIQUE ROYAL DE LIÈGE JEAN-JACQUES KANTOROW CONDUCTOR

ALPHA 357 JUNE 2018

Following his Alpha recording of sonatas by Prokofiev, Ravel and Strauss, the violinist Tobias Feldmann now turns to the concerto form, performing the two major works of the Finnish repertoire for the instrument: the violin concertos of Jean Sibelius and Einojuhani Rautavaara. Premiered in Helsinki in 1904, the Sibelius Concerto proved to be exceptionally difficult technically for the soloist. Sibelius revised his score, but subsequently composed for violin and orchestra only in shorter forms, the serenade and the humoresque. It was not until nearly seventy years later that a Finnish composer wrote another large-scale work for violin and orchestra, with the Concerto of Rautavaara, which in all respects equals the degree of virtuosity demanded by the earlier work.

1 CD

HINDEMITH DAS MARIENLEBEN

JULIANE BANSE SOPRANO MARTIN HELMCHEN PIANO

The German soprano Juliane Banse has sung the Lieder of Brahms, Schubert, Wolf, Ullmann, Strauss, Schumann, Loewe and Berg, earning a reputation for both the quality of her interpretations and the warmth of her timbre. She and her regular partner Martin Helmchen, who has just joined Alpha, have chosen to record Paul Hindemith’s song cycle Das Marienleben, composed in 1923 and revised by the composer in 1948. A bewitching, sometimes disturbing cycle whose texts, taken from the great poet Rainer Maria Rilke, retrace the life of the Virgin Mary. Fifteen poems, fifteen episodes tinged with mysticism and lyricism. They proved to be the ideal inspiration for Hindemith, whose compositional style here draws on both the power of Wagner’s operas and the subtle nuances of Debussy.

ALPHA 398 JUNE 2018

1 CD

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 it has also recorded certain well-known works when new musicological discoveries have inspired its 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 includes 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.

RICERCAR OPENS UP ITS ARCHIVES...

Since it was founded in 1980, Ricercar has made nearly 400 recordings, some of which have been unavailable for many years now. Its artistic director Jérôme Lejeune conceived this ‘research’ label as a wide-ranging exploration of the music of the past, considering each disc as a ‘page of history’, though this has not prevented him from tackling better-known repertory on occasion when it has been revisited in the light of an innovative interpretation. In order to give its back catalogue a new lease of life, Ricercar now presents a new series at an attractive price: RICERCAR IN ECO, a name that suggests its twin aspects – an ‘echo’ from the label’s past and an ‘economical’ way of getting to know a wealth of fascinating music!

COLLECTION RELEASE: JANUARY 2018

- RIC 125 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH - Toccaten & Passacaglia - Bernard Foccroulle - RIC 126 MARC-ANTOINE CHARPENTIER - Messe pour le Port Royal - Capella Ricercar - RIC 127 The French Romantic Horn - Claude Maury - Ricercar Academy - RIC 128 JOHANN CHRISTIAN BACH - Gloria - Les Agrémens - Chœur de chambre de Namur - RIC 129 GIOVANNI GABRIELI - In Festo Sanctissimae Trinitatis - Choeur de chambre de Namur - La Fenice - Jean Tubéry - RIC 130 ANTONIO VIVALDI - Concerto per flauto Op. X / Concerti da camera - La Pastorella - Frédéric de Roos (2 CD) - RIC 131 JOHANNES OCKEGHEM - Missa mi-mi - Cappella Pratensis - RIC 132 LUIGI BOCCHERINI - Stabat Mater - Les Folies Françoises - Sophie Karthäuser - RIC 133 GIAOCHINO ROSSINI - Operatic Overtures in Transcriptions for Wind Ensemble - Ricercar Academy - RIC 134 Troubadour Songs & Jongleur Dances - Millenarium - RiC 135 VIVALDI, ZIANI, TUMA, MARCELLO - Mottetti ad alto solo - James Bowman - Ricercar Consort - RIC 136 MICHAEL PRAETORIUS - Terpsichore Musarum - La Fenice - Ricercar Consort

FRANÇOIS COUPERIN LES MUSES NAISSANTES

BRICE SAILLY HARPSICHORD EMMANUELLE DE NEGRI SOPRANO LA CHAMBRE CLAIRE

RIC 387 MARCH 2018

This reverie offered by Brice Sailly in homage to François Couperin is presented in the guise of a trip to Arcadia, that utopian land which lies hidden in the heart of European geography. The selected harpsichord pieces, most of them evoking childhood and the birth of love, sit beside excerpts from the Concerts royaux that set the scene rather as Watteau might have done, leaving to the less well-known airs de cour the task of describing sentiments in words. Couperin discreetly whispers the most luminous of truths. Here all is benevolence, a smile on the lips, a light heart, and melancholy is gently dismissed in favour of consolation.

1 CD

IN SECULUM VIELLATORIS THE MEDIEVAL VIELLE

BAPTISTE ROMAIN LE MIROIR DE MUSIQUE

Baptiste Romain, director of the ensemble Le Miroir de Musique, has just been appointed professor at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis. To mark this occasion, he enriches the ‘Instruments’ series on the Ricercar label with a recital devoted to the medieval vielle (bowed fiddle): troubadour songs and dances and polyphonic compositions from the thirteenth to the fifteenth centuries illustrate the various stages in the evolution of this instrument, the ancestor of the violin.

RIC 388 MARCH 2018

1 CD

CLAUDIO MONTEVERDI LETTERA AMOROSA

MARIANA FLORES SOPRANO CAPPELLA MEDITERRANEA LEONARDO GARCÍA ALARCÓN CONDUCTOR

After the success of their album of music by Francesco Cavalli, the same performers now return in a programme devoted entirely to works a voce sola by Claudio Monteverdi, from the famous Lamento d’Arianna to the sublime (and much less well-known) Voglio da vita uscir. Mariana Flores embodies here the most touching personalities of this section of Monteverdi’s output.

RIC 390 APRIL 2018

1 CD

VATER UNSER IM HIMMELREICH GERMAN SACRED CANTATAS WORKS BY J. R. AHLE, D. POHLE, J. THEILE, C. GEIST, J. C. BACH, J. M. BACH, F. TUNDER…

PAULIN BÜNDGEN COUNTERTENOR CLEMATIS

German sacred music of the seventeenth century is among the repertories of choice for Ricercar. Here is a programme of sacred concertos, some of them receiving their world premiere recording. It couples well-known composers like Schütz and the uncles of Johann Sebastian Bach with other more neglected figures like Pohle, Ahle, Franke, Tunder and Theile. All these works call for a five- or six-part string ensemble, which punctuates the programme with compositions related to the liturgical repertory. RIC 389 MAY 2018

1 CD

LINN RECORDS Linn’s philosophy combines a love of music with a passion for quality.

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We capture the finest performances from favourites such as Robin Ticciati, Dunedin Consort, Francesco Piemontesi and Thomas Søndergård so you can experience music the way the artist intended from the comfort of your own home. Linn’s credentials as a leading classical label have been cemented by multiple industry accolades; notable awards from Gramophone (Label of the Year) and BBC Music Magazine (Disc of the Year), in addition to GRAMMY® and Latin GRAMMY® nominations, demonstrate the continued dedication of a team striving to bring you the very best music. With a catalogue brimming with quality and diversity, you will be sure to find so much music to enjoy. ‘…another one of those delicious Linn recordings that ensures the label’s output is always worth exploring.’ Gramophone ‘Linn Records has always been a company that does things differently.’ Hi-Fi News

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‘Renowned for the care and attention it devotes to the quality of its releases.’ Hi-Fi World

LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN MUSIC FOR WINDS

SCOTTISH CHAMBER ORCHESTRA WIND SOLOISTS

All around the world, critics cheered the SCO Wind Soloists’ previous album of Mozart Divertimenti: ‘superb in every way’ (Fanfare), ‘a joy from start to finish’ (Europadisc), ‘sparkles with joy and chuckles with good humour’ (BBC Radio 3 ‘Record Review’). Continuing to explore the Harmoniemusik repertoire, the Wind Soloists’ new recording features youthful, entertaining and brilliant music by a young man who took Vienna by storm in the 1790s: Ludwig van Beethoven. The underrated Octet is a technically challenging concert piece in the Mozart tradition, but with the flair and unpredictability of the young Beethoven. In the Sextet, Beethoven exploits the differing characteristics of each instrument to great effect with the SCO’s legendary interplay on full display. Another gem is the short but sweet Rondino, which is full of subtle details, exquisite melodies and exhilaratingly highspeed horn playing. The SCO Wind Soloists are: Maximiliano Martín and William Stafford (clarinet), Peter Whelan and Alison Green (bassoon), Alec Frank-Gemmill and Harry Johnstone (horn), Robin Williams and Rosie Staniforth (oboe).

CKD 572 FEBRUARY 2018

1 CD

SAMUEL ADLER ONE LIVES BUT ONCE: A 90TH BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION

March 4th 2018 marks the 90th birthday of one of the twentyfirst century’s most influential and prolific composers: Samuel Adler. This three-disc boxed set provides a cohesive overview of his output and includes many premiere recordings. A pupil of both Paul Hindemith and Aaron Copland, Adler is a phenomenal symphonic writer (who, quite literally, wrote the book on orchestration) whose style merges twenty-first century ebullience with an almost classical economy and balance. The first two discs feature the Brandenburgische Staatsorchester Frankfurt under conductor Dr Emily Freeman Brown performing the First and Second Symphonies, a dance suite for orchestra, plus three concertos: the Concerto for Violin and Orchestra, featuring Siwoo Kim, the award-winning violinist who originally premiered the work; the Concerto for Woodwind Quintet and Orchestra; and the first Piano Concerto, featuring the prizewinning young pianist Michael Brown. The third disc features the highly talented young players from the Eastman School of Music. This is especially fitting since Adler taught at Eastman for nearly thirty years and these students represent the continuation of his prodigious legacy.

CKD 590 FEBRUARY 2018

3 CD BOXED SET

JOHANNES BRAHMS THE SYMPHONIES

ROBIN TICCIATI SCOTTISH CHAMBER ORCHESTRA

As Robin Ticciati enters his final season with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Linn celebrates his memorable tenure as Principal Conductor with a recording of four of the most sublime orchestral masterpieces ever written. The recording legacy of these revolutionary and distinctive works serves to underscore the confidence Ticciati has, not only in his own vision for these symphonies, but also in his partnership with the musicians of the SCO, who relish Brahms’ highly virtuosic orchestral writing. The SCO’s renowned recordings of Mozart Symphonies are a natural predecessor to Brahms, who advances the form’s classicism into the Romantic era. Ahead of the SCO 15/16 Season, in which all four symphonies were performed, Ticciati set out his aims: ‘The challenge…is to find a Brahms sound with the orchestra. To find something so unbelievably dark, autumnal, and yet steeped in counterpoint.’ By 2017, that Brahms sound was perfected; Ticciati’s interpretations are both muscular and energized, with detail and life in every line. Ticciati’s meticulous control of tempo, phrase shape and balance results in performances of extraordinary transparency and colour. This recording marks a major landmark in Ticciati’s career.

CKD 601 MARCH 2018

2 CDs

GUILLAUME DUFAY THE DUFAY SPECTACLE

GOTHIC VOICES

Following its Linn debut which saw the ‘revitalisation of an iconic group’ (Choir & Organ), Gothic Voices presents The Dufay Spectacle, featuring special guest Andrew Lawrence-King. In a pageant of versatility featuring France’s greatest pre-Renaissance composer we enter the world of a grand New Year’s Day wedding feast, full of optimism and vision, tempered by playful emotional hardship, the music teasingly exploring the relationship between both, solemnized with some of Guillaume Dufay’s greatest motets and a festive use of instruments to mark the splendour of the occasion. From this final flourish of the mediaeval era we hear in Dufay’s quintessential Burgundian virtuosity how its musical richness has reached the point when it is about to burst into the new artistry and ideas of the Renaissance. The Dufay Spectacle celebrates this artist’s genius with an eclectic show of frolicking and passionate robustness, plaintive devotional ardour, now with slow, dark rhythms, now upbeat cascades of melody, and thrilling complex rhythms. As the central chanson rings out its New Year’s promise ce jour de l’an is indeed a day to celebrate.

CKD 568 MARCH 2018

1 CD

GIOVANNI GABRIELI GABRIELI FOR BRASS: VENETIAN EXTRAVAGANZA

ROYAL ACADEMY OF MUSIC & JUILLIARD SCHOOL BRASS

CKD 581 MARCH 2018

This fascinating transatlantic musical collaboration between the brass players of London’s Royal Academy of Music and New York’s Juilliard School presents enduring masterpieces by Giovanni Gabrieli and his Venetian contemporaries. Under the direction of Reinhold Friedrich, renowned trumpet soloist and Principal Trumpet of the Lucerne Festival Orchestra, the players blend modern instruments and intellect with sixteenth-century technique and tuning to excel in this profoundly challenging repertoire. The beautiful acoustic of St Jude’s, Hampstead results in a gloriously sonorous soundscape; burnished waves of rich, warm trombones alternate with the brilliant, crystalline articulation of trumpets. Academy Principal Jonathan FreemanAttwood, who produced the recording, states: ‘We’re hoping it will show Gabrieli as the composer of great intimate music as well as wonderfully grandiloquent Venetian polyphony.’ This remarkable recording features some of the most compelling and attractive instrumental music of the late Renaissance era and boasts performances worthy of Gabrieli’s extraordinary legacy and the reputation of these two outstanding institutions.

1 CD

HEINRICH IGNAZ FRANZ VON BIBER THE MYSTERY SONATAS

BOSTON BAROQUE MARTIN PEARLMAN CHRISTINA DAY MARTINSON

Heinrich Biber’s astonishingly powerful and deeply emotional Mystery Sonatas represent a triumph of Baroque invention. Boston Baroque’s Christina Day Martinson delivers a technical tour de force, as she navigates the virtuosic challenges presented by the fiendishly demanding changing scordatura. Boston Classical Review described her live performance as ‘a flourish of technical complexity and musical wizardry’, whilst the Boston Globe wrote, ‘Day Martinson…didn’t just survive, she triumphed.’ The adventurous use of six Baroque violins in fifteen different tunings creates otherworldly soundscapes that result in a deeply moving and glorious listening experience. This highly disorientating practice reaches its pinnacle in Sonata XI (The Resurrection) where the middle two strings are crossed over each other both in the peg box and behind the bridge, so that one can literally see a cross on the violin. The fifteen sonatas have been traditionally grouped into three sets of five: five joyful mysteries, five sorrowful mysteries, and five glorious mysteries. Boston Baroque’s founder Martin Pearlman plays organ and harpsichord, with Michael Leopold on theorbo and guitar and Michael Unterman on cello.

CKD 501 APRIL 2018

2 CDs

JEAN SIBELIUS & SERGEI RACHMANINOV SONGS

JACQUES IMBRAILO ALISDAIR HOGARTH

Following critically acclaimed Glyndebourne performances in Michael Grandage’s Billy Budd and Brett Dean’s Hamlet, Jacques Imbrailo has established himself as one of the most exciting young baritones on the world stage. His debut solo recital for Linn sees him perform with fellow Prince Consort alumni, Alisdair Hogarth, in a mouth-watering programme of Sibelius and Rachmaninov songs. Among the selection is In the Silent Night, one of Rachmaninov’s best-loved songs and one of the composer’s greatest achievements in this genre. Rachmaninov’s trademark melodicism is met with a perfect partner in Imbrailo’s lyric baritone, whilst his expressive and highly intricate accompaniments find a worthy partner in Hogarth. Providing a welcome contrast to the intensity of Rachmaninov is the Nordic sentimentality that Sibelius brings to his highly romantic songs. The pearl of the Opus 37 collection is Var det en dröm, which the composer himself described as ‘my most beautiful song’. Together the duo perfectly communicates the passions and anxieties of a poet’s lost love; the rich tone of Imbrailo’s final note provides an immensely satisfying close.

CKD 482 APRIL 2018

1 CD

JEAN SIBELIUS FINLANDIA

THOMAS SØNDERGÅRD BBC NATIONAL ORCHESTRA OF WALES

Described as ‘one of the great new Sibelian teams’ (The Herald), Thomas Søndergård and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales continue their shared fascination with the orchestral music of Sibelius. Released one month after BBC NOW celebrates its ninetieth anniversary, this recording includes many of Sibelius’ most famous masterpieces. Sibelius established his credentials early on with the tonally adventurous En Saga, which brings to mind the excellence of Berlioz’ orchestral writing. Sibelius’ successful foray into the impressionistic tone world of Debussy resulted in the haunting seascape of The Oceanides. Sibelius wrote it was ‘pure inspiration’ that led to the composition of the perpetually popular Finlandia, with its world-famous hymn motif. The wonderfully descriptive Swan of Tuonela finds Sibelius at his mystical best as he casts the cor anglais as the majestic swan from Finnish mythology. Sibelius: Finlandia is a fitting finale to this Sibelius series which also includes critically acclaimed recordings of four of Sibelius’ symphonies.

CKD 566 MAY 2018

1 CD

WILLIAM BYRD ONE BYRDE IN HANDE

RICHARD EGARR

Richard Egarr’s impressive career, both as a solo keyboardist and conductor (notably with the AAM), has cemented his reputation as one of the UK’s most compelling musicians. In his debut solo recording for Linn, Egarr charts the extraordinary breadth of invention at play in works by William Byrd. One of English music’s most influential figures, Byrd’s innovative style is evident throughout this well-chosen programme of preludes, grounds and fantasies. The Fantasia in a demonstrates the unlimited scope of Byrd’s imagination; intricate rhythms, surprising modulations and changing textures precede a finale requiring a previously unequalled level of dexterous virtuosity. Egarr similarly relishes the technical demands of Byrd’s descriptive masterpiece, The Bells. This incredible composition begins with a single toll before developing into an elaborate and thrillingly complex showpiece of pealing bells. Egarr’s elegant phrasing, infectious enthusiasm and rich embellishments result in insightful performances.

CKD 518 MAY 2018

1 CD

VARIOUS AN ENGLISH SETT FOR TRUMPET

JONATHAN FREEMAN-ATTWOOD DANIEL-BEN PIENAAR

Trumpeter Jonathan Freeman-Attwood and pianist DanielBen Pienaar continue their ‘ear-ticklingly imaginative’ series of musical reinventions with a celebration of the golden era of English music. Featuring heavyweights of the 16th and 17th centuries, such as Byrd, Gibbons, Tomkins, Lawes and Locke, the pair inspire arrangements by Timothy Jones which bring this music alive in a thrilling, entertaining and intimate chamber medium. Performing on modern trumpet and Steinway piano, Freeman-Attwood and Pienaar relish the opportunity to challenge the established interpretation of these works. They succeed by drawing on interpretative instincts, inclinations, and inflections gleaned from their wide performance experience, whilst deliberately referencing their accumulated knowledge of performance practices of the period. Comprising mesmerizing dances, songs, fantasies and variations, this is a journey which re-ignites our appreciation and love for forgotten gems from the Elizabethan, Jacobean and Caroline worlds. This is another must-have recording in Freeman-Attwood’s critically acclaimed ‘boundary-busting’ series.

CKD 588 JUNE 2018

1 CD

PHI The Phi label, created by Philippe Herreweghe in 2010, is noted for its eclecticism, its audacity and its high production standards.

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Under the artistic direction of the Ghent-based conductor Philippe Herreweghe, Phi boasts among its artists such major ensembles as Collegium Vocale Gent, the Orchestre des Champs-Élysées and the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra. Thanks to the unwavering and enthusiastic support of Outhere, Philippe Herreweghe enjoys creative freedom that enables him to present recordings commensurate with his artistic ambitions. The Phi catalogue is the fruit of its founder’s vast experience and incessant explorations. It offers a wide repertory ranging from the Romantic symphony to Renaissance polyphony, not forgetting chamber music.

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CLAUDIO MONTEVERDI VESPRO DELLA BEATA VERGINE

PHILIPPE HERREWEGHE COLLEGIUM VOCALE GENT

LPH 029 MAY 2018

Philippe Herreweghe and Collegium Vocale Gent present a highly accomplished version of one of the masterpieces of seventeenth-century sacred music. Composed shortly after Lâ€™Orfeo and dedicated to Pope Paul V, Monteverdiâ€™s Vespers constantly surprise us with their audacity and their great emotional power. Stile antico and stile moderno combine here to wonderful effect, with Renaissance-style polyphony, accompanied monody and concertato style coexisting harmoniously. The importance accorded to the text (a key feature in Monteverdi), the virtuosity of the vocal writing and the independence of the part-writing are among the characteristics of this astonishing work. Philippe Herreweghe and Collegium Vocale Gent prove themselves to be Monteverdi interpreters of the first rank. Their lively, refreshing reading, enhanced by the presence of eight internationally renowned soloists, will ensure the success of this release.

2 CDs

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

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Hidden, secret, mysterious… the word Arcana, from Latin arcanus, clearly sums up 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 scene. 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 trademarks 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 (still to be fully explored), and 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.

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JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH AN ITALIAN JOURNEY

LUCA OBERTI HARPSICHORD

A 443 FEBRUARY 2018

After his first solo album of music by Marchand and Clérambault, released in 2015 and nominated for a Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik, the harpsichordist Luca Oberti, who has performed on the international scene for years alongside such figures as Marc Minkowski and Christophe Rousset, presents a new CD on the theme of Bach’s imaginary journey to Italy. Schütz, Froberger, Muffat, Handel, Hasse, Mozart and Wagner are merely the most famous of the many musicians who crossed the Alps to immerse themselves in the world of Italian music and grasp its atmospheres and its secrets. Yet the composer who most fully assimilated the Italian style was Johann Sebastian Bach, who never even set foot in Italy. His journey was a virtual one: the scores of the Italian masters, which he avidly studied and absorbed from childhood onwards, guided him on an ideal itinerary from Vivaldi’s Venice to Frescobaldi’s Rome. Beginning with the transcriptions of concertos by Vivaldi and Marcello, and continuing with pieces of Italian inspiration like the Aria Variata alla maniera italiana, the Capriccio sulla lontananza del fratello dilettissimo and the Fantasia and Fugue BWV 904, the journey culminates in the celebrated Italian Concerto.

1 CD

CLAUDE DEBUSSY PIANO WORKS STANY DAVID LASRY (ÉRARD PIANOS, 1874 & 1921) MÉLODIES THIERRY FÉLIX BASS-BARITONE STANY DAVID LASRY (ÉRARD PIANO, 1874)

A 445 A 446 FEBRUARY 2018

The centenary of Debussy’s death provides an opportunity to (re)discover some hidden treasures from the Arcana catalogue, which have been unavailable for many years. Debussy’s piano works make up a vast corpus of such outstanding quality that it can rightly be considered to be the most important produced in the last century. He completely renewed the art of piano playing; at the same time, he gave a decisive new direction to the very idea of structure in music. Both these aspects are found in the works here played by Stany David Lasry on two restored Érard pianos, covering the period from the works of his youth to the two great sets of Préludes, which constitute a veritable compendium of twentieth-century piano writing. The French pianist also appears in the recording of mélodies featuring bass-baritone Thierry Félix, which includes Debussy’s last sixteen songs (all those composed after he completed Pelléas et Mélisande) preceded by Mandoline and four songs composed in his early maturity. Also available: Claude Debussy, Chamber Music, Kuijken Ensemble (A 392).

2 CDS 1 CD

PERGOLESI REDISCOVERED MASS IN D MAJOR, MOTTETTO DIGNAS LAUDES

MARLIS PETERSEN SOPRANO MARTA FUMAGALLI CONTRALTO GHISLIERI CHOIR & CONSORT GIULIO PRANDI CONDUCTOR

A 444 MARCH 2018

New light on Pergolesi! This CD sheds light on a lesser-known aspect of the great Italian composer, offering two masterpieces in their first modern edition and first recording: the Mass in D major and the mottettone Dignas Laudes. Both editions are the outcome of recent musicological research carried out by the Centro Studi Pergolesi in Milan, and show a facet of Pergolesi – his energetic and solemn character – that complements and amplifies the dramatic and introspective moods of his most renowned sacred works. This Arcana release inaugurates a collaboration with the Ghislieri Choir & Consort and celebrates the fifteenth anniversary of the ensemble, which specialises in eighteenth-century sacred repertory and has already recorded works by Galuppi, Jommelli, Perez (Il Mattutino de’ Morti) and Handel (Handel in Rome 1707) for Sony-DHM. The soloists on this recording, conducted by Giulio Prandi, are the soprano Marlis Petersen, one of the leading sopranos on the international scene, and a quintet of young Italian singers who already perform in the most important and prestigious European venues.

1 CD

CLAUDIO MONTEVERDI A SAN MARCO

ODHECATON PAOLO DA COL CONDUCTOR

A 447 MARCH 2018

Following its CD largely devoted to sacred polyphonic works composed for the basilica of Santa Barbara during the period in which Claudio Monteverdi worked for the Gonzagas in Mantua (Diapason d’Or of the Year, Grand Prix International de l’Académie du Disque Lyrique, Critics’ Choice in Gramophone), Odhecaton now presents sacred compositions from the composer’s later years, written for St Mark’s basilica where he became maestro di cappella in 1613. This new recording presents both sides of Monteverdi’s sacred style: the stile antico or strict contrapuntal style, exemplified in the Mass for four voices published posthumously in 1650; and the stile moderno, that is, concertato and solo vocal writing. The concertato style, which combines and intertwines voices and instruments in dialogue, characterises the monumental Gloria a 7, which was conceived for a cappella rich in virtuoso singers and instrumentalists. But in this city of theatres, in the heyday of the canto a voce sola, Monteverdi transformed the famous Lamento d’Arianna (from his lost opera Arianna) into a sacred piece (Iam moriar mi fili). The Litanies to the Virgin Mary, published in three collections between 1620 and 1650, represent the expression of a gentle Marian style, dominated by a cappella choral invocations alternating with brief solo passages.

1 CD

SUITECASE VIOLIN DUOS FROM VIVALDI TO SOLLIMA

STEFANO BARNESCHI VIOLIN CHIARA ZANISI VIOLIN

Underplayed, under-recorded, and quite underappreciated, the repertory for two unaccompanied violins rose in popularity in the first decades of the eighteenth century. But few listeners are aware that Antonio Vivaldi was among the first to experiment with this genre, in a little-known set of four sonatas which, according to a fascinating hypothesis, he might have composed for performance in tandem with his father during his tour of central Europe in 1729-30. The leader of Il Giardino Armonico, Stefano Barneschi, and Chiara Zanisi, who has already appeared on the Arcana label (Bach’s violin and harpsichord Sonatas with Giulia Nuti), take us on a journey through this relatively small literature, from Vivaldi to Berio by way of Leclair, Telemann, Tessarini and others. The programme is framed by a piece by the brilliant Italian cellist and composer Giovanni Sollima, written especially for this project. Its last movement, Alleluia, is a tribute both to the finale of Mozart’s Exsultate, jubilate and to the church of Sant’Antonio Abate (Milan), where the premiere of Mozart’s early piece took place and where this programme was recorded.

A 448 APRIL 2018

1 CD

LUCA MARENZIO L’AMOROSO & CRUDO STILE. MADRIGALS

ROSSOPORPORA MASSIMO LONARDI LUTE MICHELE PASOTTI LUTE WALTER TESTOLIN CONDUCTOR

Luca Marenzio was the most brilliant representative of the sublime art of the madrigal during the last twenty years of the sixteenth century. Whereas the style of his early works is light, fluid and transparent, in his maturity Marenzio’s language turned towards a more complex, introspective attitude that made him the most emblematic musical exponent of Late Renaissance melancholy. L’amoroso & crudo stile brings together some of Marenzio’s finest madrigals, aiming to reproduce the most intimate expressive facets of a music of extraordinary beauty and profound humanity. With the emotional intensity and deep respect for the poetic text that distinguishes the ensemble, RossoPorpora begins in this debut recording its personal exploration and celebration of the madrigal, the earliest and still unsurpassed representation of Italian musical identity.

A 449 APRIL 2018

1 CD

GIACOMO GORZANIS THE BLIND LUTE VIRTUOSO OF THE RENAISSANCE LA BARCA DEL MIO AMORE

PINO DE VITTORIO LA LYRA BOR ZULJAN CONDUCTOR

Giacomo Gorzanis (c.1530-c.1575), ‘il Cieco Pugliese’, was one of the great lute virtuosos of the sixteenth century. Born in Apulia, by 1557 he had settled in Trieste, where he soon established close contacts with the nobility of Carinthia and Carniola. His travels also took him to Graz, where he performed for Charles II, Archduke of Austria and brother of the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian II. Four books of his lute music and two books of napolitane were published in Venice between 1561 and 1579. Of particular interest is his manuscript of 1567, containing twentyfour pairs of dances in all the ‘major’ and ‘minor’ modes. From intimate lute fantasias to lively dances and playful villanelle alla napolitana, this original and colourful programme is the first to present the full range of his works. Full of little-known treasures, it is enriched by the extraordinary voice and presence of the charismatic Puglian singer Pino De Vittorio.

A 450 MAY 2018

1 CD

UNWRITTEN BACH | BIBER | CORELLI | MARINI FROM VIOLIN TO HARP

FLORA PAPADOPOULOS BAROQUE HARP

J. S. Bach, Biber, Marini, Corelli: four leading figures of Baroque music that no one would associate with the harp. However, they worked in environments where there is ample evidence that harpists were active, and where a solo harp repertory certainly existed, even if it was never written down. This ambitious project starts out from that premise, and is the result of in-depth research into original sources. It suggests that the repertory for violin, an instrument that shares many idiomatic features with the harp, was long a source of inspiration for harpists. Hence, here some of the best-known and most virtuosic pieces for the violin have been arranged for harp, giving these compositions a new lease of life and shedding light on new and unexpected nuances and reflections. Flora Papadopoulos, after significant collaborations with ensembles such as Cappella Mediterranea/L. García Alarcón, Concerto Italiano/R. Alessandrini, Matheus/J-C Spinosi and Laboratorio ‘600/F. Pavan, now makes her first solo album. Exploring personal, highly experimental and empirical paths, she revives a fascinating musical practice that has been long lost.

A 451 MAY 2018

1 CD

JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH BRANDENBURG CONCERTOS NOS. 1-6 ORCHESTRAL SUITE NO. 2

ZEFIRO ALFREDO BERNARDINI CONDUCTOR

A 452 JUNE 2018

Following its highly acclaimed album featuring the three most richly scored Ouvertures (Gramophone Editor’s Choice – shortlisted for the 2017 Gramophone Awards), Zefiro comes full circle with the famous collection of Concerts avec plusieurs instruments, that kaleidoscope of colours that seems almost tailor-made to highlight the salient qualities of the ensemble founded by the three historical wind specialists Alfredo Bernardini and Paolo and Alberto Grazzi. Thanks to experience gained in countless performances and recordings with the leading conductors and ensembles, but also to thorough research into the most appropriate instruments and pitch (398Hz, i.e. the ‘authentic’ French pitch), this brand new recording exudes liveliness, flair and knowledge, and features some of the greatest names on the Baroque music scene, among them Cecilia Bernardini, Gabriele Cassone, Francesco Corti, Lorenz Duftschmid, Marcello Gatti, Gaetano Nasillo and Dorothee Oberlinger. Also included is the more intimate B minor Suite with flute (BWV 1067), thus filling the gap left by the earlier recording.

2 CDS

AEON On the cutting edge of contemporary and medieval music.

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With its rich catalogue of more than 150 titles, the æon label, founded in 2001, continues patiently to plough its furrow, without ever deviating from the attitude that led to its birth: love of creation. Our trademark: a resolutely refined object illustrated by the coloured and grained works of Dolorès Marat, our partner right from the start. An object conceived as a jewel box. An object as receptacle. Bearing within it sense and sound. And then, on the inside front cover, the oulipien poem by Frédéric Forte, a magician among poets whom we met once by chance on a street in Toulouse and who has never abandoned us since, a formidable listener. And then, at the heart, exposed, sculpted like a deafening jewel, the recorded work, that fragment of time stolen, wrenched from the formless sound, from the distracting flux of the world. Our world: monographs of composers of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Looking a little more closely, we realise that nothing has really changed with respect to our work as a record label. To be sure, our era produces a considerable volume of noise. To escape from the hubbub and harshness of markets is a perpetual combat, a sort of progression in which we are swimming against the tide. Stock-exchange prices and household consumption indexes have no place in the capital of promise and beauty of which our artists are the heralds, that utopia whither we are impelled by our deepest aspirations. And so we must resist, and persist, like the Capitol geese mentioned by Thomas Hobbes, in crying out against the noise of the assailants. Nothing to be changed, really? The world around us is alive with abundant tumults. Music is so little considered, so odiously misused. A glimmer of hope; nonetheless: resistance. That power whereby our infinite urge to influence the course of things may exert itself. Does not ‘æon’, in ancient Greek, signify duration? No, eternity!

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GÉRARD PESSON BLANC MÉRITÉ

ENSEMBLE CAIRN GUILLAUME BOURGOGNE CONDUCTOR

AECD 1649 FEBRUARY 2018

Lucid music. Vivacity, wit, intensity, foldings and unfoldings of the pointillist material, embracing the thing itself and its contradiction – sensuality, drollery, dances, abysses like sudden draughts of air. Movement and standstill... Music that slaps, pinches, bites, muffles, growls. Here Pesson reinvigorates what might (already) be his own classicism (Carmagnole); draws a pencil moustache on Mozart, who is more than willing to wear it (Transformations du Menuet K. 355); hounds his language so far into the corner that it seems different, and probably becomes so, in the intransigent light of Opałka (Blanc mérité); a language that ramifies and scintillates in Proust (Ne pas oublier coq rouge dans jour craquelé); grows geometric in Perec (Neige bagatelle); and denudes itself in ‘enfantines’ (Musica ficta). The Ensemble Cairn, a faithful partner of the label, under its director Guillaume Bourgogne, leads us into territories that could hardly be droller.

1 CD

ˇ ONDREJ ADÁMEK SINUOUS VOICES

ROMÉO MONTEIRO AIRMACHINE ENSEMBLE ORCHESTRAL CONTEMPORAIN DANIEL KAWKA CONDUCTOR ˇ ONDREJ ADÁMEK CONDUCTOR

AECD 1858 FEBRUARY 2018

Curious, open-minded, fascinated by other cultures, Ondřej Adámek assimilates every aesthetic whose path he crosses. His works reveal all these influences, stamping them with a very individual sound colour that, combined with a powerful rhythmic sense and solid formal solid architecture, creates highly personal music by no means exempt from dramaturgy. Adámek seeks out specific playing techniques for classical instruments and creates new and original instruments. Here the Ensemble Orchestral Contemporain under the direction of Daniel Kawka lays before us an eclectic panorama of his music, from the ritualised, even mechanised sinuosities of a lullaby to the disconcerting mechanism of the strange musical machines he invents, which he does not hesitate to place in front of the orchestra.

1 CD

FUGA LIBERA With a repertory 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 releases mixing classical music with other music genres.

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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 stretches from Baroque to contemporary repertory. 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 have 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.

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LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN SONATAS, RONDOS & BAGATELLES OPP. 13, 51, 57, 78, 110, 111, 119

PIET KUIJKEN

For his fourth release on the Fuga Libera label, the pianist and fortepianist Piet Kuijken, professor at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels and the Antwerp Conservatory, presents a programme of music by Ludwig van Beethoven. The starting point of this double album is an artistic approach that is both pedagogical and musical: the first CD contains pieces such as the Sonate Pathétique op.13 and the Sonata op.110 performed on a historical piano (a Tomkinson original from 1807), while the second invites you to compare this with pieces of the same magnitude – the Appassionata Sonata op.23 and the imposing op.111, amongst others – played on a modern piano. FUG 745 FEBRUARY 2018

2 CDs

A text written by the eminent musician highlights the differences in interpretation from a modern or historicising perspective, and invites you to follow the artist’s approach, forced to choose within the same type of repertory when faced with two instruments requiring different techniques and with different sonorities.

GABRIEL FAURÉ

VIOLIN SONATA NO. 1

EUGÈNE YSAŸE

POÈME ÉLÉGIAQUE, EXTASE

CAMILLE SAINT-SAËNS

CAPRICE EN FORME DE VALSE

SATÉNIK KHOURDOÏAN ALEXANDER GURNING

For his first recording Saténik Khourdoïan, concertmaster of the Orchestre Symphonique de la Monnaie and an enthusiastic and passionate violinist, joins forces with the gifted pianist Alexander Gurning, who has received numerous awards for his qualities as a chamber music performer. The two artists perform a subtle Franco-Belgian programme featuring the Sonata no.1 op.13 of Gabriel Fauré, Eugène Ysaÿe’s Poème élégiaque and Extase, and finally the Caprice en forme de valse of Camille Saint-Saëns. Fauré and Saint-Saëns found in Ysaÿe a virtuoso performer and an exceptional ally in getting their music known, who was on friendly terms with both men and was also a composer himself. They often played together in Paris, notably at the concerts of the Société Nationale, and in the Brussels salons of the XX and the Libre Esthétique.

FUG 747 MARCH 2018

1 CD

These masterful and elegant performances by the talented Khourdoïan-Gurning duo offer a blissful immersion in the key transitional period of the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries, so rich in musical transformations, through which the three composers lived.

THE ROMANTIC VIOLA HENRI VIEUXTEMPS: SONATA, OP. 36 ROBERT FUCHS: SONATA, OP. 86 CARL REINECKE: PHANTASIESTÜCKE, OP. 43 FRANZ LISZT: ROMANCE OUBLIÉE

DANIEL WEISSMANN VIOLA JEAN-LOUIS DELAHAUT PIANO

The Director of the Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège, Daniel Weissmann, is first and foremost a violist. In the company of the pianist Jean-Louis Delahaut, he presents a recital that illustrates the rich repertory of his instrument from the age of the Romantic composers and virtuosos.

FUG 750 APRIL 2018

1 CD

ROBERT SCHUMANN

MÄRCHENBILDER OP. 113 ROMANCES OP.94 FOR VIOLA AND PIANO ADAGIO AND ALLEGRO OP. 70

GYÖRGY KURTÁG

JELEK OP. 5 SIGNS, GAMES AND MESSAGES

HÉLÈNE DESSAINT VIOLA NATHANAËL GOUIN PIANO

Hélène Dessaint, a Laureate of the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel, presents her first disc: ‘In this recording project, I have chosen to juxtapose the music of Schumann and Kurtág. While seeking a very personal style of writing, Kurtág constantly and openly looks back to his predecessors. In fact, many of his works are homages to his peers. Among his favourite composers is Robert Schumann. My idea is to compare and contrast their discourse and their works, with the luminous and tortured Romanticism of the older composer haunting the innermost thoughts of the younger.’

FUG 751 JUNE 2018

1 CD

RAMÉE Ramée creates albums that are objets d’art in their own right, because the pleasure of the ear is closely linked with that of the eye and the hand. A collection for connoisseurs!

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The Ramée label was founded in 2004 by the violinist and sound engineer Rainer Arndt, and swiftly established itself as a greatly respected presence on the Early Music scene. Many releases from its catalogue have been highly acclaimed by public and press alike and have won prestigious awards. Each year sees the production of six to eight recordings, featuring handpicked, quality repertory seldom or never before recorded, or better-known works in highly original interpretations. The label maintains extremely high standards not only in terms of recorded sound, but also in the musicological, literary, graphic and tactile aspects of the booklet and packaging.

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JOHANN FRANZ XAVER STERKEL SONATAS FOR FORTEPIANO AND VIOLIN

ELS BIESEMANS FORTEPIANO MERET LÜTHI VIOLIN

A once-celebrated contemporary of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven, and a precursor of Schubert in the domain of the lied, Johann Franz Xaver Sterkel (1750–1817) is today almost unknown to the general public. Given the great success of his symphonies at the Concert Spirituel between 1777 and 1779, he was probably the composer most frequently performed in Paris. This famous and highly influential pianist and composer spent most of his working life at the court of Mainz, where his reputation attracted rising young talents like Beethoven and Weber, and wrote more than 700 works, including 400 lieder and Italian songs. Els Biesemans and Meret Lüthi present a world premiere recording of some of his sonatas for fortepiano and violin, utterly disarming in their charm, inventiveness and refinement.

RAM 1701 FEBRUARY 2018

1 CD

INSTINCT The Instinct collection (Outhere Music) showcases the multiple musical facets of saxophonistcomposer Fabrizio Cassol. Leader of the avant-garde jazz trio Aka Moon, this protean artist also works in the world of dance, opera, theatre and even hip-hop.

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The catalogue already contains several major releases. These include the double live album Aka Balkan Moon (music from the Balkans) / AlefBa (music from the Arabian world), a unique combination of jazz and Baroque music with The Scarlatti Book, and the exceptional Coup Fatal project which also draws on the Baroque repertoire but, this time, to blend it with Congolese music. Recent additions to the collection include a twentydisc box set tracing the recording career of Aka Moon (Constellations Box), along with the release of an allnew album by the trio entitled NOW.

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CONSTELLATIONS BOX AKA MOON

OUT 661 JANUARY 2018

Since 1992, the year Aka Moon was formed, a series of albums has marked the history of the legendary jazz trio, which this set of twenty CDs now gives you a chance to relive. After a journey of initiation in Central Africa with the Aka Pygmies, Fabrizio Cassol, Michel Hatzigeorgiou and Stephane Galland embarked on a wide-ranging musical exploration that was then totally innovative, notably in its rhythmic aspects. Very soon their music continued to grow through contact with a succession of eminent musicians from all over the world. The first big impact came from India; two albums were recorded there and the encounter with the great Carnatic percussionist U. K. Sivaraman (southern Indian music) left a lasting mark on the group. Then it was back to Africa and a meeting with the master of the Senegalese sabar Doudou N’Diaye Rose that created new musical ‘constellations’. And these were only the first of many. For example, there was the collaboration with a Big Band of DJs, with musicians from the Balkans, or the incursion of the sonatas of Domenico Scarlatti into a jazz quartet... To discover or rediscover this unique music is a very special experience, a cure for formalism and an inexhaustible source of inspiration. The twentieth disc in the box is a previously unreleased recording: Light Ship Trio.

20 CD BOXED SET

NOW AKA MOON

Alongside the long-awaited release of a box set of twenty CDs (Constellations Box, OUT 661) containing a whole series of mythic albums, Aka Moon celebrates its twenty-fifth anniversary with its new album NOW – a genuine return to their roots for the three companions Fabrizio Cassol, Michel Hatzigeorgiou and Stéphane Galland. The encounters and the friendships forged over the past quarter-century of experimentation with musicians from all over the world have left a deep impression on their playing, which today reaches heights of virtuosity, clarity and liberty. Within this ‘classic’ jazz combo of saxophone, bass and drums, we can detect flavours from the Orient, Africa and India, as if to invite us on a journey. OUT 662 JANUARY 2018

1 CD

HAT-HUT Musical projects as fresh and stimulating today as they were 40 years ago!

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In 1975, Werner X. Uehlinger founded HatHutRecords simply in order to document the artistry of a musician he heard through a chance encounter with saxophonist/ trumpeter Joe McPhee. Today, over forty years and more than 500 LP and CD releases later, HatHut stands as one of the most adventurous and important independent New Music labels in the world. It has grown from an out-of-pocket venture to an established enterprise, from small press runs of black vinyl to a line of beautifully (and ecologically responsible) packaged CD-only releases. From the beginning, the label has shown a high regard for graphic design, cover art, and programme notes, striving to create not just a musical artifact but a multifaceted work of art with each new release.

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MYRA MELFORD TRIO ALIVE IN THE HOUSE OF SAINTS, PART 2

MYRA MELFORD PIANO LINDSEY HORNER BASS REGGIE NICHOLSON DRUMS

hatOLOGY 708 JANUARY 2018

Myra Melford is a polystylist, who draws on and creates multiple playing styles. In Alive In The House Of Saints these include stomping classic jazz piano with a funky attack, gospel plangency, country and blues lyricism, and free jazz episodes. Though from quite early in her career, Alive In The House Of Saints, Parts 1 and 2 is one of her finest recordings – high on the musical power spectrum, and one of the most exciting albums of piano jazz. The members of the trio respond organically to one another – their creative empathy is clear throughout. Melford is alive to everything she hears, responding in the moment to her musical partners. – Andy Hamilton

1 CD

MICHAEL ADKINS QUARTET FLANEUR

MICHAEL ADKINS TENOR SAXOPHONE RUSS LOSSING PIANO LARRY GRENADIER DOUBLE BASS PAUL MOTIAN DRUMS

hatOLOGY 745 JANUARY 2018

There is a tendency to see jazz performance divided between uptempo numbers and ballads, but Adkins is perhaps concerned with something different, a thoughtful, alert, observant gait – Henry David Thoreau preferred to talk about ‘sauntering’ – that offers the player a new relationship with his surroundings. Adkins’ immediate surroundings are familiar enough, the group he unveiled on a previous hatOLOGY 660 recording Rotator; only the bassist is a newcomer. Saxophone, piano, bass fiddle and drums – nothing new there, one might think. Except that Adkins does propose a new relationship between the constituent elements...These themes invite the listener to join the company, take a stroll, ‘let him be drawn by the attractions of the terrain’ and the encounters he might find there. We walk. We listen. We’ll hear. – Brian Morton

1 CD

SAMUEL BLASER TRIO TAKTLOS ZÜRICH 2017

SAMUEL BLASER TROMBONE MARC DUCRET GUITAR PETER BRUNN DRUMS

hatOLOGY 747 JANUARY 2018

Parsed into four discrete pieces, the Taktlos performance is a fluid exercise in revolving roles from the jump. Ducret trades in jagged punctuations, mercurial arpeggios and swollen drone bursts on Stoppage, the first and longest. Blaser reacts as balm, his lubricious lines drawing a direct invisible lineage back suave and soothing bop purveyers. A reversal and it’s Blaser with low brass growls as Brunn colors the corners and edges keeping a rhythmic presence which bolsters and ornaments without drawing attention away from the colloquy of his colleagues. A drum solo filled with fluid, frothing beats works as both palate cleanser and reset into an ambling blues. Later, a froggy brass ostinato serves a similar purpose signaling first clean picking from Ducret and then feral, sharp-fanged blasts of distortion. – Derek Taylor

1 CD

MARKUS EICHENBERGER & DANIEL STUDER SUSPENDED

MARKUS EICHENBERGER CLARINET DANIEL STUDER DOUBLE BASS

hatOLOGY 748 JANUARY 2018

Improvisation assumes a fresh experience, an unfamiliarity with what is to come, a disruption of expectations. How much more intense and disorienting the experience becomes in the music of Markus Eichenberger and Daniel Studer. Each one has an impressive résumé of musical adventures, but as a duo their music expresses special qualities and asks challenging questions. Suspended offers no customary structures, no consistent prototypes; the titles are not instructions, illustrations, or explanations. Manipulating an abstract dialect of sounds, many of them in the grey area between recognizable pitch and expressive noise, they initiate a system of relationships that allows – requires – the listener to participate in the spontaneous search for meaning. – Art Lange

1 CD

JUNE ANTHONY BRAXTON - Quartet (Willisau) 1991 Studio, Part 1 [4-61001/2] hatOLOGY 2-735 MATTHEW SHIPP - Symbol Systems hatOLOGY 749 SILVAN SCHMID QUINTET - At Gamut hatOLOGY 751

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