This ninth volume in the Next Generation Mozart Soloists series brings together four young soloists under conductor Howard Griffiths and reveals the sheer breadth of Mozart's creativity. Mozart most probably heard a sinfonia concertante - a work in which a group of solo instruments embarks on a dialogue with orchestra - for the first time in Paris in 1778. He composed such a work for violin, viola, and orchestra the following year: the Sinfonia concertante KV 364. It is recorded here by Johan Dalene and Eivind Ringstad, who are full of praise for how Mozart gave the viola equal footing with the violin. Mozart composed no fewer than four horn concertos in Vienna; the first that he composed is performed here by Alexandre Zanetta, who admits to being fascinated by it's finesse, it's complexity and it's humour. The pianist Ariel Lanyi describes the two rondos for piano and orchestra KV 382 and KV 386 recorded here as perfect examples of simplicity and variety, as well as of passages that are truly operatic in style.

A bestselling recording since it's first release in 2008, Amandine Beyer and Gli Incogniti's memorable performance of Vivaldi's Four Seasons has been reissued by Alpha Classics for a second time. Using both the Le Cene edition and the Manchester manuscript, Beyer's broad understanding of the composer's markings meant that she was able to fully respect the score whilst remaining curious and experimental. This approach prompted BBC Radio 3 to state: "I would stick my neck out and say I have never heard one that satisfied me better". Beyer describes the four concertos as "an infinite source of delights" and credits musicologist Olivier Foures for the addition of three rarely recorded, or previously unpublished, concertos to the programme. These superb pieces, which throw an intriguing light on Vivaldi's different modes of composition, are a fine addition to this performance of the famous Four Seasons, which established Gli Incogniti among the top reference ensembles for historically informed performance.

Singer Asmik Grigorian has chosen to record both versions of Richard Strauss's ultimate masterpiece, composed in 1948: the version with orchestra and the much rarer version with piano. For her, this work is associated with the idea of solitude, but not an unhappy solitude, rather a journey towards infinity: "Now all my senses long to sink into slumber. And the soul, unguarded, longs to soar up in freedom, so that, in night’s magic circle, it may live deeply and a thousandfold." writes Hermann Hesse in Beim Schlafengehen (Going to Sleep), the third song in the cycle. For this unique coupling, Asmik is joined by two long-time accomplices: conductor Mikko Franck, with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, and pianist Markus Hinterhauser, artistic director of the Salzburg Festival. The combination of the two versions opens up new sensations: after the well-known abundance of Strauss's orchestration an incredible sensitivity is revealed by the piano version.

Anna Vinnitskaya celebrates dance, or rather the dances of composers from very different periods and styles: Ravel, Shostakovich and Widmann. ‘In all these works, you can feel in some way transported to the world of childhood. Because I believe the childhoods of each of these three composers are reflected there’, says the pianist. In his Valses nobles et sentimentales, Ravel paid tribute to Schubert. A few years later, he transcribed for solo piano his ballet score La Valse, in which ‘billowing clouds part from time to time, allowing us to glimpse waltzing couples’. Shostakovich’s Dances of the Dolls make me think of the Soviet cartoons of my childhood’, says Anna Vinnitskaya. ‘They also remind me of Mozart: they are as bright as diamonds, sincere and beautiful.’ The Zirkustänze (Circus Dances) composed by Jörg Widmann in 2012, a brilliant kaleidoscope of emotions and parodies, round off the programme.

Young and foolish is the title Café Zimmermann has chosen for this program, which features music from the 1770s and 1780s by Mozart and Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, starting with Mozart’s famous and sparkling Divertimento KV 138. For this fascinating W.A.-C.P.E. face-off, Café Zimmermann has invited an exceptional musician: the fortepianist Alexander Melnikov. They perform the Concerto no.17 in G major KV 453, of which Mozart said in a letter to his father that (like his concertos KV 450 and KV 451) ‘they make you sweat’! Melnikov is joined by harpsichordist Céline Frisch, co-founder of the ensemble, in Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach’s Concerto for fortepiano, harpsichord, and orchestra, the only one of its kind ever composed, a work full of energy and mischief.

REVIEW:

This album hosts works by two of the greatest composers of the Classical Era, C.P.E. Bach and Mozart. The performances, featuring the outstanding solo artistry of pianist Alexander Melnikov and harpsichordist Céline Frisch, supported by the ensemble Café Zimmermann, are captivating, and the recording boasts a clear and intimate soundscape.

— The Classic Review (Tal Agam)

'Generally labelled as a Baroque instrument and thought to have disappeared with the French Revolution, the harpsichord flourished again in the first third of the 20th century and inspired original compositions': Justin Taylor offers us a 'personal' overview of the harpsichord in the 20th century. He has structured this album around four major concertos (Falla, Poulenc, Francaix, Gorecki) which are linked by pieces for solo harpsichord: Bartok, who, in his preface to Mikrokosmos, from which this Hommage to Bach is taken, suggests playing certain pieces on the harpsichord, Martinu and a new work by Stephane Gassot in reference to Ligeti... The programme concludes with a nod to Scott Joplin and his famous ragtimes. Always attentive and passionate about instruments, Justin Taylor chose to record the entire programme on a single instrument, a harpsichord built in the 1970s by Anthony Sidey, a hybrid model between Pleyel instruments and historical harpsichord making, which "gives a wide and highly varied range of colours". With this album, he follows in the footsteps of Wanda Landowska and Elisabeth Chojnacka, two pioneers who promoted the harpsichord in all it's modernity.

Arto Koskinen is a Finnish composer, pianist and harpsichordist who has devoted his musical life to establishing a dialogue between the Asian, European and Afro-American traditions. In the 1970s, he developed a passion for jazz, then went on to study Indian vocal music at a music and dance school in New Delhi. He also immersed himself in the study of polyphonic techniques from the Baroque era and sought to make them compatible with the melodic principles of oriental music. The result is this 'Indian fugue', composed between 1987 and 2000, whose main sources are North Indian classical music, traditional western polyphony and Afro-American improvisations. His compatriot Joonas Ahonen, a polymorphous pianist who has already recorded Le Monde selon George Antheil with Patricia Kopatchinskaja (ALPHA797), is a passionate advocate of Koskinen's music. This monograph at last spotlights the music of a composer with a highly original voice.

Bravo Mozart! exclaimed Emperor Joseph II as he stood up and tipped his hat at the end of the first performance of Piano Concerto No. 18 KV 456, played by Mozart himself on 30 September 1784. Less than a year later, the composer pens his iconic 21st concerto, which is performed here by the Mozarteumorchester Salzburg conducted by Howard Griffiths, and pianist Jonathan Fournel. Winner of the prestigious Queen Elisabeth Competition in 2021, the French pianist has already made a Brahms recording for Alpha (ALPHA851). At the age of 30, he is developing a highly promising career, impressing audiences at every one of his concerts.

Mozart always had a special affinity with wind instruments: for him they were essential components of his musical expression, claims French clarinettist Nicolas Baldeyrou, a globally renowned soloist who has performed with some of the greatest conductors and virtuosi: this album is the first volume of a complete set of Mozart's chamber and concertante music involving the clarinet, which he has chosen to record on period instruments, "an authentic and revelatory experience, despite the technical challenges it presents". He has enlisted the help of his musical friends, all of whom are recognised as adept practitioners of modern instruments, but sustain a strong passion for period instruments... The programme of this first release includes the Serenades KV 375 and 388 as well as Mozart's Gran Partita KV 361, a work on an exceptionally grand scale, with it's line-up of thirteen players, it's expansive duration, and it's supreme musical quality, "rising to the level of Mozart's greatest symphonies and operas".

Anyone who has seen the conductor Elim Chan on stage is familiar with the immense energy produced by her baton. With the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra, of which she has been Principal Conductor since 2019, she celebrates a genre dear to her heart, ballet music, which places the emphasis on both physical movement and orchestral power. More than a century of ballet music is presented here, with excerpts from Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet suites, oscillating between passionate love and fatal violence; Suite no.2 from Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloé, the fruit of his first collaboration with Diaghilev in 1912, which he described as a ‘choreographic symphony’; and finally a work by Elizabeth Ogonek, All These Lighted Things, premiered in 2017. Although the title of these ‘three little dances for orchestra’ comes from a poem that evokes a soothing union with the earth at the dawn of a sunny day, the piece ends with a sort of folk dance that degenerates into an orchestral storm.

REVIEWS:

Conductor Elim Chan’s remarkable ear for detail is the star of All These Lighted Things, her new, dance-themed album with the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra.

Its title comes from a short set of pieces by Elizabeth Ogonek, who wrote them in 2017 for Riccardo Muti and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Highly abstracted though Ogonek’s approach to dance forms here may be, All These Lighted Things’ three movements are highlighted by a constant sense of invention and blazing colors. Particularly striking are the languid textures of the murky middle one.

The Suite No. 2 from Maurice Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloé channels a similar sound world. Though Chan’s approach to the “Danse générale” reads a shade restrained, there’s no denying the clarity or warmth of the Antwerp ensemble’s performance. Indeed, “Lever du jour” is sumptuous and beautifully directed while the “Pantomime’s” flute solos sound fresh and improvisatory.

But it’s in Chan’s compilation of movements from the first two suites from Sergei Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet that her virtuosity as a conductor shines the brightest. A host of subtleties emerge, from the quietly suspended woodwind tones in “The Montagues and Capulets” to the marshmallowy textures in the middle of “Friar Laurence,” the burbling accompaniments and pattering flute figures in the “Balcony Scene,” and the luminous play of light and shadow during “Romeo and Juliet Before Parting.”

Taken with their judicious tempos and strong feeling for the music’s narrative character, Chan and the Antwerp SO provide a performance of this favorite that is revelatory in all the right and needed ways. Keep an eye on this pairing: they’re worth watching.

-- The Arts Fuse

Love, drama and betrayal under the Sicilian sun: this ‘pasticcio’ of folk melodies and music by ‘learned’ composers was born of the love of Leonardo García Alarcón and the singers and musicians of the Cappella Mediterranea for Calabrian, Sicilian and Neapolitan songs dating from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. We hear music by Alessandro Scarlatti and Sigismondo d’India, both born in Palermo, as well as works from the extraordinarily rich collection of St John’s
Co-Cathedral in Malta (notably by Vincenzo Tozzi). Leonardo García Alarcón even composed a five-part fugue on La canzone di Cecilia, associated with the heroine of the drama. The music was arranged by Quito Gato. This tribute to southern Italy by Cappella Mediterranea has triumphed on stage for years; now this recording immortalises it.

This is pianist Nelson Goerner’s twelfth recording for the Alpha Classics label. He devotes his new album to the solo piano works of Franz Liszt, with the famous Sonata in B minor as the centrepiece, nearly twenty years after his first CD of the sonata, he felt the urge to re-record it, following a series of critically acclaimed concerts. His talents as a storyteller and as a virtuoso with an eye for nuance are heard to marvellous effect in this monumental work, a veritable ‘musical action’ that undoubtedly belongs in the pantheon of the finest literature for piano. The programme is completed by excerpts from Liszt’s major cycles, including the Petrarch Sonnets from the Années de pèlerinage and the Hungarian Rhapsody No. 6, along with the spectacular concert étude La leggierezza.

REVIEWS:

Nelson Goerner made an excellent studio recording of Liszt’s Sonata in B minor that the Cascavelle label first released in 2007. This live all-Liszt recital from 2023 also features the Sonata. Although it benefits from fuller-bodied engineering, the interpretation offers surprisingly little change in regard to overall design, substance, and execution. Goerner’s tempo relationships remain judicious and unified, while themes are characterized with subtle yet telling contrast.

Forced to choose, I’d favor Goerner’s diversified voicings and greater dynamic projection in the remake’s Andante sostenuto. On the other hand, the earlier Allegro Energico fughetta gathers greater spontaneous momentum, followed by a more incisive yet less grand recapitulation. One could argue that there are fewer distinctly individual touches here in comparison with recent reference-worthy interpretations by Marc-André Hamelin, Benjamin Grosvenor, Joseph Moog, or Giovanni Bertolazzi. Yet that hardly matters, given Goerner’s intelligent mastery and total identification with the score.

If anything, Goerner’s readings of Liszt’s three Petrarca Sonetti offer even more fervent and poetic melodic projection, together with mellifluous legato chord voicings and prominent bass lines. If no one alive plays La Leggierzza with the feathery aplomb of Benno Moiseiwitsch’s unrivaled 1941 HMV recording, Goerner’s impassioned mobility comes pretty darn close to that paradigm, although he never plays softly enough when required.

Lightness and insouciance, however abound in the Valse oubliée No. 2. Goerner takes his sweet time over the Hungarian Rhapsody No. 6’s introduction, milking the music’s bardic implications without lapsing into vulgarity. Most pianists understandably treat the friska section as a high-wire right hand octave etude: think Horowitz, Cziffra, and Argerich. Goerner nails the notes, of course, yet presents both hands as equal partners, letting you hear a piano composition instead of a piano competition. I have no hesitation recommending such a satisfying and well-rounded Liszt program.

-- MusicWeb International (Jed Distler)

The air de cour has been with me for almost as long as I’ve been playing the flute... For me, it is one of the finest creations of French art. I have assembled these airs from the second half of the seventeenth century to complete the exploration begun with Et la fleur vole (early seventeenth century, ALPHA314) and À l’ombre d’un ormeau (early eighteenth century, ALPHA342),’ says François Lazarevitch in the introduction to this new release.

‘I am particularly interested in combining the qualities of sound and breathiness of the voice and the flute.’ Love songs, dance tunes, and brunettes on pastoral themes follow one another in a program at once moving and erudite. These miniatures are magnificently interpreted by the two outstanding singers who join the instrumentalists (lute, flute, musette, harp, viol) of Les Musiciens de Saint-Julien: the soprano Julie Roset and the mezzo Lucile Richardot.

Aaron Pilsan completes his recording of the Well-Tempered Clavier, five years after the first volume was praised by critics for it's ardent, accurate and fluid interpretation. Twenty years lie between the two volumes; whilst the first is better known, 'the second book is more playful, but also more accomplished. It goes further harmonically and also demonstrates extraordinary harmonic invention with original and often exotic harmonies. The best example of what differentiates the two books is the fugue in D sharp minor in the second book, a piece whose boldness and harmonic originality never ceases to enthral and astonish me,' says the Austrian pianist, who again demonstrates his fascination for the composer: 'What I love most about Bach's music is that he expresses everything that goes to make up our lives, but in perfect order.'

Soprano Barbara Hannigan and pianist Bertrand Chamayou unite to record the vocal music of Olivier Messiaen, presenting his two major song cycles from the 1930's. Existing in both the sensual and sacred realms, the Poèmes pour Mi are inspired by the precious relationship of Messiaen and “Mi” - the nickname of his first wife; violinist and composer Claire Delbos. Chants de terre et de ciel also emerges from Messiaen's marriage to Delbos, written just after the birth of their son, Pascal. Both cycles oscillate between hypnotic meditation and ecstatic songs of love, supported by Messiaen's intense spiritual faith. Inspired by Messiaen's words, "It is a glistening music we seek...", Hannigan and Chamayou delve into the composer's complex language to reveal a natural and flowing music, whose roots extend from the earth upwards to a shimmering realm. As a final work on the album, Hannigan and Chamayou included a rarely performed "scena" of Messiaen: La Mort du nombre (1929) is a dialogue between two souls, in which they are joined by the Canadian tenor Charles Sy and the Norwegian violinist Vilde Frang.

Vox Luminis has teamed up with the Freiburger Barockorchester again, and together they celebrate music for Ascension Day. This topic inspired great composers such as Johann Sebastian Bach, four of whose Ascension cantatas have been preserved. The festive and colourful Cantata BWV 128 was composed towards the end of Bach’s second year in Leipzig. The Ascension Oratorio BWV 11 was written for larger forces and ends with a triumphant chorus. In the case of Georg Philipp Telemann, more than thirty cantatas for Ascension Day alone have survived. The cantata Ich fahre auf zu meinem Vater (I ascend unto my Father) was composed in 1721. Lionel Meunier’s ensemble and the FBO give a fervent rendering of this captivating music with its texts focusing on the afterlife.

In this recital, Véronique Gens and Hervé Niquet bring back to life a neglected aspect of France’s Romantic heritage: songs with orchestral accompaniment. Aside from a few pieces by Debussy and Duparc, and Berlioz’s famous Nuits d’été, orchestral mélodies form a virtually forgotten continent. In collaboration with the specialists of the Palazzetto Bru Zane, Alpha now revisits these musical landscapes, taking us from Brittany (Hahn) to Persia, whose beauties Fauré and Saint-Saëns exalt in very different ways. Mélodies by Chausson, Gounod and Dubois and rarely heard instrumental pieces by Massenet, Fauré and Fernand de La Tombelle round out the journey with their musical reveries.

Carmina Burana, the staged cantata by Carl Orff, is a work unique in musical history, claims conductor Paavo Jarvi: 'The convergence of medieval texts with such daringly original orchestral colours creates a soundworld that is both archaic and yet beyond time, in which chorus, orchestra and soloists vie in splendour.' The work also has an unusual history: composed shortly after the Nazi takeover of Germany, it was at first rejected because of it's Latin texts and the erotic character of some of it's songs; yet Orff and his work subsequently became highly prized by the Reich. The composer (who was secretly 'a quarter Jewish') did not support the regime, but made the best of his success... Orff was 42 by the time he experienced this breakthrough with his Carmina, which he designated as his Op. 1, disowning all his previous compositions. Departing from the Romantic style, he now wanted to create music linked to rhythm, simple repeated melodies, and non-complex forms. This work's popular success confirmed that decision.

Whereas Prokofiev was captivated by Romeo and Juliet, Ravel had shut himself away a quarter of a century earlier in Levallois Perret to compose Gaspard de la nuit, inspired by Aloysius Bertrand's collection of poems subtitled Fantaisies à la manière de Rembrandt et de Callot. In 1973, the Uzbek composer Dilorom Saidaminova paid tribute to Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition and composed The Walls of Ancient Bukhara, which offers a sonic view of the historic centre of the Central Asian city founded four or five centuries before the common era. Her compatriot Behzod Abduraimov was keen to pay tribute to this little-known composer and record her music, which, like the other two works on this album, is evocative and colourful.

The Kraken Consort was born in 2021 from the imagination of three musicians, friends and colleagues: theorbist Bruno Helstroffer, soprano Chantal Santon Jeffery and tenor Robert Getchell, a Celtic music enthusiast. They share a taste for traditional oral and improvised music, and were keen to team up with instrumentalists with in-depth experience of traditional music: Ronan Pellen (cistre), Brewen Favrau (piper), Sylvain Barou, David Lombardi and Laurene Durantel. For their debut album, Kraken Consort revisit the Irish and Scottish musical tradition.

Among Handel's seventeen English oratorios, Theodora (1750) is unique. The story is not taken from the Bible, it is set in the Christian era, there is no national triumph and it does not end in joy. At the end, the hero and heroine are dead, the community with which the audience identifies is in mortal danger, and the final chorus is in a minor key. As a musical drama, it is the direct ancestor of Dialogues des Carmelites. At the age of 65, Handel produced a work that was too radical and complex for most of his audience. Today, Theodora is regarded as a benchmark "thinking person’s opera", both deeply stimulating and powerfully moving.

‘Mozart, You Drive Me Crazy!’ This is the title that the South African soprano Golda Schultz has decided to give to her new album, devoted to the female heroines of Don Giovanni, Così fan tutte and Le nozze di Figaro, roles that have marked her career from Berlin to The Metropolitan Opera: ‘Why does Mozart drive me crazy? First of all, because his music, which sounds so easy when you listen to it, is extremely difficult to perform… And when I immerse myself in the world of Da Ponte and Mozart, I realise that there’s a deep complexity to their female characters: they endure the toughest trials, but they also display great strength. In fact, these operas explore humanity from the feminine perspective: every single one of these women is constantly evolving. They show how human beings transcend trauma and how grief and pain can be overcome.’ The programme is conducted by another eminent Mozartian, Antonello Manacorda, with the Kammerakademie Potsdam.

Amid the abundance of French miniatures, the Jeux d'enfants, Petite Suite, Dolly and Ma mère l'Oye cycles stand out in a class of their own: these four collections for 4 hands have become some of the most famous works by their respective composers. Arthur Ancelle and Ludmila Berlinskaia explore the melodic, harmonic and sonic richness of these works while revealing their depth and ingenuity. A veritable treasure chest that deserves to be opened by all listeners, young and old alike.

With this CD book, Bruno Cocset completes his Nascita del Violoncello. After a first part published in 2011, devoted to Bologna and his first repertoire for the cello (Vitali, Gabrielli, Jacchini) - reissued in this boxed set - he presents, with the musicians of Basses Reunies, a new recording devoted to Naples, from the Renaissance composer Diego Ortiz to the gallant and virtuoso cello of Lanzetti... offering two crossed views, two approaches that provide a better understanding of the identity of this instrument. The instruments used here - Cocset plays ten in all - bear witness both to this journey and to the bond that has bound him for many years to his luthier, Charles Riche.

In 1700, Corelli published his 12 violin sonatas, Opus 5, in Rome. A veritable revolution in violin technique, they won the admiration of eminent composers (Bach, Dandrieu, Couperin) and greatly influenced the French (Francoeur, Leclair, Senaillé, Quentin), who were to try their hand at this virtuoso and brilliant Italian style. At the end of the 1730s, the first six sonatas of opus 5 were"adapted to the transverse flute with the bass" by a Parisian publisher. The level of virtuosity they demanded was quite innovative at the time. This display of virtuosity is also to be found in the compositions of Jean-Baptiste Quentin, known as Le Jeune. We have very little biographical information on Quentin himself, but all his work is greatly inspired by Italian music and is heavily influenced by Corelli. Anna Besson has made the world's first recording of his sonatas, with the help of two other eminent performers of the new Baroque generation, Myriam Rignol on viola da gamba and Jean Rondeau on harpsichord…