This release takes the listener through a special journey. Guided by the cello, you will be traversed across history through what you hear but also what you read. Bruno Cocset writes: "With these Cello Stories, our intention is to show you how an instrument and it's repertoire have taken shape whilst retaining the imprint and memory of diverse origins. I have selected the musical programme from my recordings for Alpha- some of them previously unreleased- to complement the text by Marc Vanscheeuwijck and numerous contemporary illustrations." Bruno Cocset founded Les Basses Reunies in 1996 alongside Pascal Monteilhet and Richard Myron. All three musicians studied at renowned international music schools, and have appeared as continuo players or soloists with many prominent European Baroque ensembles. The group's aim is to promote the repertoire specific to bass isntruments.

The songs of Bernart de Ventadorn (or Bernard de Ventadour) presented on this recording are found in the 'Manuscrit du Roi' (Paris, Bnf fr.844) which contains a group of sixty-one troubadour songs along with six hundred or so songs by various trouvères and a number of motets and lays. This is the earliest 'chansonnier' that gives the melodies with the songs. It was compiled around 1250, i.e almost a hundred years after the 'cansos' were created. Copied in northern France, the manuscript was probably prepared for Charles d'Anjou (1226-1285), brother of Louis IX. Since the troubadour songs in the volume are written in a unique hybrid language that one might call Franco-Occitan, we have used the texts as they are given in other manuscripts.

The Franco-American cellist Sonia Wieder-Atherton has always sought to make music a language open to the world. A prizewinner in the Rostropovich Competition at the age of twenty-five, she is the interpreter of choice for many contemporary composers, among them Pascal Dusapin and Wolfgang Rihm, while the voice of her cello also encounters the voices of actresses such as Fanny Ardant and Charlotte Rampling, as well as the film director Chantal Akerman. Sonia Wider-Atherton has now signed an editorial partnership with Alpha Classics which starts out with a recording of Bach's Cello Suites, inaugurated by the Suites nos. 1 and 2 presented here. This volume and the two others that will follow features photos by the great Sarah Moon. "For me, playing Bach's Suites is always at some point or another seeing the image of Giacometti's hands tirelessly moulding clay until a face appears... To get to grips with the Bach Suites is an experience very close to that. It's a question of digging into the string until the phrase is born, as well as the right way to breathe it... And then came the encounter with Sarah Moon. When my desire to record the Bach Suites was born I dreamt of her images. Because, when I look at them, I imagine the creation of the world, the separation of the waters, the appearance of the earth, before history begins.

Les Ambassadeurs launch a series of recordings devoted to the repertory of the Dresdner Hofkapelle at the time of Bach, with the aim of rediscovering the splendid sound of an ensemble then regarded as the orchestral ideal. Although the concertos compiled by Les Ambassadeurs bear no explicit dedication to the Dresden orchestra, they feature the instrumentation typical of the court Kapelle.

During his lifetime, Rameau enjoyed a glittering reputation and was admired by all Europe, while Debussy’s Hommage à Rameau proves that his fame survived down the centuries. But what do we know about the rest of the Rameau family? After a highly acclaimed album devoted to the Forqueray family (ALPHA247, Gramophone Editor’s Choice, Choc of the year 2016 in Classica, Grand Prix de l’Académie Charles Cros), our harpsichordist-genealogist Justin Taylor sets out on the trail of Jean-Philippe’s son Claude-François and his nephew Lazare. To be sure, Rameau’s genius dwarfs all around him, as is demonstrated by such pieces as La Livri, La Poule and L’Égyptienne, not to mention the magnificent Nouvelle Suite in A minor, but the music of his descendants has its own interest. Justin Taylor introduces us to a work by Claude-François Rameau (La Forqueray) and the Sonata no.1 in E major by Lazare Rameau. He switches from the splendid harpsichord of the Château d’Assas (a two-manual instrument of the first half of the eighteenth century, attributed to the Lyon-based maker Donzelague) to the 1891 Érard piano of the Musée de la Musique in Paris for Debussy’s tribute to his great predecessor.

Beethoven’s piano concertos are a precious source for understanding the history of the practice of this instrument, which, in the early nineteenth century, permanently replaced the harpsichord in the hearts of composers. Thus one can still hear the gallant influence of Mozart in the First Concerto (1795-1800), whereas the Fourth (1805-06) reveals the introspective personality, at once vigorous and generous, of a Beethoven at the height of his artistic maturity. In the second installment of his recording of the complete concertos, the German pianist Martin Helmchen performs these two contrasting works with Andrew Manze and the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin.

Alpha continues to explore its catalogue and this year again offers a wide variety of combinations. After a box assembling the gems of the Baroque era (Masters of the Baroque - Alpha 372), the piano is now given pride of place. The box set Masters of the Piano brings together 10 albums in which great contemporary interpreters (Nelson Goerner, Alexander Lonquich, François-Frédéric Guy, Eric Le Sage, Edna Stern, Anna Vinnitskaya) retrace three centuries of creation on the piano, from Bach to Shostakovich, by way of Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, Liszt, Chopin, Brahms, Rachmaninoff and Debussy. The piano will also be at the heart of a 7-release box set devoted to Alexei Lubimov’s recordings. Fortepiano, piano, prepared piano . . . the Russian musician has distinguished himself in every repertoire. Finally, to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the birth of Beethoven, the Beethoven Rediscovered box highlights 16 albums that offer a chance to rediscover his symphonies, concertos and sonatas on period instruments, the fortepiano, etc.

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Excerpts from select reviews of previously released albums included in this set:

Haydn: The Seven Last Words Of Christ / Lubimov

Listeners will never hear the work quite the same way again after experiencing this recording, and even if Haydn didn’t intend it this way, most may well end up wishing he had.

– All Music Guide

Schubert: Impromptus / Lubimov

Lubimov lets the music and the instruments speak for themselves, with tempos that are straightforward but characterful and rubato that is vocally inspired and never artificially applied.

– Fanfare

Beethoven: Piano Sonatas Op. 109, 110, 111 / Lubimov

There is a deep humanity expressed in this playing. In a way, these readings are incomparable. Musicians and listeners worship this music and so there have been many fine performances over the years. I wonder if anyone will ever match the depth of Schnabel’s interpretations, now more than three quarters of a century old. Among many excellent modern recordings, I especially admire Uchida. I will now add this very special recording to an exalted short list.

– Fanfare

Fifth and final volume of Alpha's Faure chamber music series. French master composer and pedagogue whose harmonic advancements greatly influenced later generations of composers, including those of the famed 'Les Six'. Renowned pianist Eric Le Sage completed an internationally acclaimed Robert Schumann cycle for Alpha in 2010. Violinist Daishin Kashimoto is presently concertmaster of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. Mr. Le Sage and Mr. Kashimoto have collaborated often in concert.

This Blu-ray Disc is only playable on Blu-ray Disc players and not compatible with standard DVD players.

This Handelian diptych, the brainchild of the director Pierre Audi, was conceived in a style of great purity, right down to the costumes, the decors and the sumptuous chiaroscuro lighting. In order to replicate this aesthetic, reminiscent of Renaissance paintings, with the greatest possible fidelity, the performances, filmed in high resolution, are being released on BLU RAY only. Christophe Rousset and his orchestra convey exceptional fervor in this music, here served by the finest Handelian voices imaginable, foremost among them Sandrine Piau, who enjoyed a genuine triumph in the stage production. Nor can one forget the dramatic performance of Jeremy Ovenden in Tamerlano, or the beauty of the voices of Ann Hallenberg, Sophie Karthauser, Delphine Galou and the countertenor Christophe Dumaux. Christophe Rousset writes of this production: “…In Alcina, Handel gives us one of his most dramatically accomplished scores, in which each character follows a wholly individual trajectory, and the different “stages” of love are delicately handled.”

This recording of Mozart’s Requiem, made by Teodor Currentzis in 2011, attracted great attention and soon became a benchmark in the work's discography! In its incredible ardour and sweeping inspiration, it demonstrates the full talent and interpretative freedom of the Greek-born Russian conductor, who has since become a major player on the international musical scene. At the head of his period-instrument orchestra music Aeterna, the Perm Opera Chorus and a line-up of soloists in total osmosis with his conception–Simone Kermes (soprano), Stephanie Houtzeel (alto), Markus Brutscher (tenor) and Arnaud Richard (bass)- Currentzis chose to present the complete version of the Requiem, as completed by Mozart’s pupil Franz Xaver Süssmayr.

After the success of the first fourteen reissues, which restored to the limelight some of the gems of the early music repertory in the catalogues of our labels, here are fourteen new titles to allow listeners to renew acquaintance with further treasures of the Renaissance and Baroque (and even a journey through time thanks to Raphaël Imbert’s album Bach Coltrane), performed by some of the leading interpreters of the genre; most of these discs won one or more awards on their first release. As with the first series, the artists have been asked to contribute to the booklets, in which, with a few years’ hindsight, they talk about their conception of the works and how they went about recording them. The photographers of the Magnum agency illustrate the covers of the series with their work; this time the common design element is the colour yellow.

The tenor Julian Pregardien joins ALPHA for several recording projects that will showcase every facet of his talent, notably lieder and oratorio. His first album on the label is devoted to one of the greatest masterpieces in the history of music, Winterreise, but in a version with orchestra composed by Hans Zender in 1993. He scored the work for orchestral forces very differently from the ensembles used in the nineteenth century. Hans Zender describes his work as a ‘creative transformation’: “My own reading of Winterreise does not seek a new expressive interpretation, but systematically takes advantage of the freedoms that performers normally allow themselves in an intuitive way: slowing down or accelerating the tempo, transposition into different keys, emphasizing and nuancing colors.” Following a staged production of this version of the work, Christian Merlin wrote in Le Figaro in 2018: “A spellbinding Winterreise . . . The tenor Julian Pregardien, at once an exceptional singer and a committed actor, gives an incendiary performance combining vocal expressiveness, loving attention to the words and theatrical presence with sensitivity and intelligence in equal measure.”

Why yet another Messiah? ‘I went through the different scores that exist and decided on the very interesting 1754 version, which features five soloists. You must remember that, when Handel arrived somewhere to perform his oratorio, he had soloists of varying standards available to him. So he quickly revised his score accordingly... All this is directly related to the reality of Handel’s situation as a concert promoter. In those days, to earn a living from his music, a composer absolutely had to get his works performed and make a profit on the evening. The idea of not retouching a work to avoid “spoiling” or “distorting” it is a much more modern one. There must be around a dozen versions of Messiah (I won’t list them all). The 1754 version is rarely played because it calls for five soloists: two sopranos, alto, tenor and bass... I’ve opted here for an operatic interpretation, taking its cue from the drama inherent in this account of the life of Christ.’ (Herve Niquet) This deluxe edition also includes a fascinating portrait of Herve Niquet, an interview organised around thirty keywords (from ‘Dance’ to ‘Nerves’) that sheds new light on one of the most atypical conductors on today’s musical scene.

This deluxe package presents the oratorio on two CDs, issued in a hardcover book that explains not only the background of Messiah, but also Niquet’s quasi-operatic interpretation, which emphasizes the spiritual drama of the work and removes it from the overly reverent tradition that prevailed from the 19th century until the 1980s. Highly recommended.

– All Music Guide

14 distinct titles introduce this exciting new series uniting the finest Alpha and ZZT Baroque recordings. Discover - or rediscover - universally known works as well as world premiere recordings of rarities. Newly conducted artist interviews allow for fresh perspectives on their recordings. All releases, digipak in format with trilingual booklets, feature photographs by great (Magnum Cooperative) contemporary artists adorning the covers and a strong 'queen of colors' scheme, bringing to mind gods, kings, warriors, the devil, life, violence and death... Themes omnipresent in Baroque art!

After the success of the first fourteen reissues, which restored to the limelight some of the gems of the early music repertory in the catalogues of our labels, here are fourteen new titles to allow listeners to renew acquaintance with further treasures of the Renaissance and Baroque (and even a journey through time thanks to Raphaël Imbert’s album Bach Coltrane), performed by some of the leading interpreters of the genre; most of these discs won one or more awards on their first release. As with the first series, the artists have been asked to contribute to the booklets, in which, with a few years’ hindsight, they talk about their conception of the works and how they went about recording them. The photographers of the Magnum agency illustrate the covers of the series with their work; this time the common design element is the colour yellow.In addition to the 13 titles shown below, the album FIRENZE 161 by LE POEME HARMONIQUE, VINCENT DUMESTRE, will also be reissued.