Alpha Classics proudly presents "Baroque Stories", a new series of recordings devoted to young talents in early music; it's first recording introduces Louise Acabo, a French harpsichordist and winner of several international competitions who divides her time between Paris and Basel. She has chosen to devote her debut recording to Jacques Champion de Chambonnieres (ca1601-1672), composer of more than 150 harpsichord pieces and the first French musician of the 17th century to publish volumes of works for harpsichord. "Once you have heard the harpsichord played by the Sieur de Chambonnieres, you need hear nothing else", stated the Harmonie universelle of 1636. It was this unique relationship with sound that appealed to Louise Acabo: "his writing, eminently vocal, demands that the player transcend the mechanical aspect of the instrument and approach it's strength and fragility with suppleness". Although Chambonnieres never left France, his work crossed borders and influenced composers abroad, the English in particular. Louise Acabo has constructed her own list of works from available sources, alternating works by Chambonnieres with compositions by Locke, Preston and Bryne.

The Italian conductor Ottavio Dantone breathes new life into Cesare in Egitto, an opera by Geminiano Giacomelli (1692-1740) based on a libretto written by Domenico Lalli with the assistance of a young collaborator not yet in his thirties: Carlo Goldoni. Cesare in Egitto, is considered to be Giacomelli's masterpiece; his drammi per musica enjoyed great success in Parma, Venice, Milan, Rome, Turin and Graz. He also influenced the most eminent musicians of his time: Vivaldi, for example, used arias by Giacomelli in his pasticcio Bajazet. This world premiere recording was made with the Accademia Bizantina and first-rate soloists at the Innsbruck Festival, where Ottavio Dantone has been music director since 2024.

Camille Saint-Saens was only fifteen years old when he composed his first symphony in 1850, which is known as his Symphony No. 0 - his official Symphony No. 1 would not arrive for another three years. Gounod was thirty-seven years old when his La nonne sanglante was removed from the repertoire of the Paris Opera by a new director; he swiftly restored his spirits by composing a symphony for the Societe des Jeunes Artistes in March 1855. Bizet, aged seventeen, began work on his Symphony in C major that same year. Gounod's symphony clearly influenced Bizet's work, as Bizet had just completed a transcription of it for piano four hands. This recording marks the beginning of a collaboration between the Alpha Classics label, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo and it's music director Kazuki Yamada, a great lover of the French symphonic repertoire and also music director of the Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and principal guest conductor of the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra and the Seiji Ozawa International Academy.

How did Mozart hear his own music at home in Salzburg? This recording provides the answer, as it was made not only in the house in which he lived but also with the clavichord that he used to compose Die Zauberflote, La clemenza di Tito and the Requiem. While it's keyboard has the same five-octave range as the fortepianos that Mozart used for concerts, the clavichord's weaker sound limited it to domestic use, to be heard by family members who happened to be present or collaborators. Baritone Georg Nigl and early keyboard specialist Alexander Gergelyfi have devised an intimate programme of arias, overtures, cantatas, Lieder, fantasias, rondos and even the poignant Lacrimosa from the Requiem. This unique album let's us enter Mozart's own house in Salzburg, where we can sit next to an instrument he himself played and listen to two exceptional performers, both of whom are irrevocably smitten with the genius loci.

The French harpsichordist Celine Frisch has an extensive discography, including many award-winning recordings devoted to Bach. Now she presents the Partitas, the famous and abundant collection of six suites that Bach composed from 1726 onwards - at the rate of one new partita per year - which he published as his Opus 1: As Celine Frisch points out, "Bach explores the possibilities of each dance in order to extend it's limits deploying an intense expressive palette that ranges from the most disarming tenderness through to the most poignant distress and unbridled joy".

Mozart's piano concerto in E flat KV 271 has long been known as the 'Jeunehomme' - but it was discovered in 2004 that it was actually composed for Louise Victoire Jenamy; Mozart misspelled her name as 'jenomy' in a letter to his father in 1778 and so created a misunderstanding that lasted for over two centuries. Mozart composed his piano concerto KV 414 in Vienna in 1783; Evren Ozel, the soloist in these two works, says that this work "is more carefree and allows the performers to explore a gentler and more tender side of Mozart". It was only two years after his first violin concerto that Mozart - then 19 years old and concertmaster to the Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg - composed his second, KV 211; two more followed within the year. "The art of performing Mozart's music is to play it with simplicity and life while remaining true to the Classical style", says Jan Mracek, the second soloist on this, the twelfth volume in the Next Generation Mozart Soloists series conducted by Howard Griffiths.

We have wanted to record Bach's violin concertos with Sophie Gent ever since she joined Ensemble Masques in 2003, says Olivier Fortin, harpsichordist and founder of the ensemble that explores Baroque music with such passion. "Sophie is an exceptional musician with an extremely convincing, honest and unpretentious style". Another pillar of the group is Kathleen Kaji, who is the soloist for Telemann's viola concerto. "Telemann is a fantastic storyteller," she says, "who provides a plot, characters, costumes and props - and leaves you to put it all together". Two sinfonie by Albinoni link the concertos and shine a spotlight on each musician in the ensemble.

In the summer of 1717, after performing his Water Music during a royal cruise on the Thames, Handel began composing for James Brydges (1674-1744), who became the first Duke of Chandos and created the Cannons Concert at his estate in Cannons (near Edgware), with ten instrumentalists and three singers. Handel composed eleven anthems and a Te Deum for him from August 1717 onwards, as well as transposing and revising As pants the hart (HWV 251b). O sing unto the Lord a new song (HWV 249b) is an adaptation of an anthem written three years earlier for the Chapel Royal. The anthem Have mercy upon me, O God (HWV 248) was composed in 1717 and is a paraphrase of the Miserere. The Alleluia of Let God arise (HWV 256a) prefigures the famous Hallelujah chorus from Messiah (1741). Arcangelo and Jonathan Cohen now revive these four Chandos anthems composed for Cannons with eight singers and eleven excellent instrumentalists.

Haydn's Symphony No. 31 from 1765, known as the 'Horn Signal', lends it's name to this 13th volume of the Haydn 2032 series. Not only does the symphony feature four horns in their full majesty, but the entire ensemble of Il Giardino Armonico, directed with ardour by Giovanni Antonini, perform this music with characteristic impetuousness. The numbered vinyl recording that accompanies this volume includes a musicological introduction, a CD of the same programme, and a download code (like every vinyl release in the Haydn 2032 series). This particular volume also includes a catalogue of all the recordings already released and gives us another opportunity to admire the images taken by the photographers of the Magnum agency, our partner from the outset of the series.

Baritone Benjamin Appl pays tribute to his mentor, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, whose centenary we celebrate in 2025. "The first time I heard his voice was at school when I was twelve. In 2009, I applied for his master class at the Schubertiade in Schwarzenberg which was the start of a long and transformative relationship. I was fortunate to work with him on my entire repertoire over countless hours in his homes in Berlin and Berg." This album, a CD-book of 140 pages with personal text written by Appl alongside numerous previously unpublished photos and letters, offers us a glimpse into who Fischer-Dieskau was as a person, outside of his obvious public successes and accolades. The repertoire in this touching recording is structured to reflect the major stages of his life and includes compositions by family members Albert and Klaus Fischer-Dieskau, repertoire he sang as a soldier during WW2 and as a POW in Italy, commissions composed especially for him through to favourite Lieder by Schubert.

Per il Luigi is the 17th volume of the complete Haydn 2032 collection and presents a number of Haydn's earliest symphonies; these had been composed to display the talent of the musicians who had joined the Esterhazy court orchestra during the same period as Haydn himself. The centre of the programme is the Symphony No. 13 in D major from 1763, whose orchestration includes four horns and whose final movement features a prefiguration of the famous theme of Mozart's 'Jupiter' symphony, to be composed twenty-five years later. The violin concerto in C major is marked fatto per il Luigi in Haydn's catalogue of works and was dedicated to Luigi Tomasini (1741-1808), a violin virtuoso born in Pesaro and a friend of Haydn. Two centuries later, the young Baroque violin virtuoso Dmitri Smirnov now brilliantly champions this repertoire with the Kammerorchester Basel under Giovanni Antonini.

The Hecker Helmchen duo is renowned for the high standard of their performances, which is reflected in their recordings. The German cellist Marie-Elisabeth Hecker caused a sensation by winning both the First Prize and two Special Prizes at the eighth Rostropovich Competition twenty years ago, whilst Martin Helmchen has also been performing on the most prestigious international stages for two decades. They are partners both on and off the concert platform and are passionate advocates of chamber music. This anthology of Russian music for cello and piano is a journey through the most beautiful and intense pieces of the 20th century and will undoubtedly find a special place in the discography.

This recital by Jean-Francois Borras honours the fascinating history of the Opera de Monte-Carlo, the house that has performed more French repertoire than any other. Jean-Francois Borras, who received his initial training in the choir of the Monte-Carlo Cathedral and is an internationally-renowned ambassador of French vocal style, presents excerpts from works by Mascagni, Gunsbourg and Massenet that were composed for the Opera there. Raoul Gunsbourg was the director of the Opera de Monte Carlo (architect Charles Garnier) from 1893-1951 and the variety of his programming created the institution's exceptional renown. Borras sings arias from operas that he has performed on the stage of the Opera de Monte-Carlo, including Romeo et Juliette (Gounod), Manon, Herodiade, Werther (Massenet), Carmen (Bizet) and Les Contes d'Hoffmann (Offenbach), accompanied by the Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte Carlo under Pierre Dumoussaud, a young French conductor and specialist in operatic repertoire who is rapidly building an international career.

The harpist Emmanuel Ceysson is unanimously recognised for his powerful virtuoso playing. He was appointed principal harp with the Opera national de Paris at the age of 22, where he remained for fifteen years before going to the orchestra of the Metropolitan Opera of New York for five years; he has been principal harpist of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra under Gustavo Dudamel since 2020. Here he pays tribute to Marcel Tournier (1879-1951), one of the greatest harpist composers in the history of the instrument. The majority of Tournier's works are for solo harp or voice and harp, but he later added other instruments to certain pieces and so transformed them into chamber works. The works recorded here date from his mature years and show the influence of Debussy, Satie, and Ravel. Emmanuel Ceysson, the Quatuor Voce and Veronique Gens draw our attention to this important composer and to several previously unpublished versions of some of his works, the manuscripts of which have only recently come to light.

This programme focuses on fantasy and pleasure, with three symphonies punctuated by lightness and wit. In addition to ten photos by Magnum photographer Cristina Garcia Rodero, a literary text that appears exclusively on the vinyl edition of the series provides a continuation of the musical experience. Philippe Claudel, President of the Academie Goncourt, here focuses on the pleasure and sensuality of a fleeting youthful encounter: "The third movement of the symphony accompanies us towards the taut velvet of the great lime trees. We are no longer walking through life. We tread upon a dream. And music gives this dream the profundity of legend. [...] I experience my own mythology in this May evening. We lie on the lawn. Our eyes search for each other in the darkness. Our pupils are stars cast into the lofty skies of May. I am not fifteen. I am no longer fifteen. This does not mean anything. Time does not exist."