Classical Music

Virtuoso sonatas, tarantellas and chaconnes from seventeenth-century Italy are performed here with contagious energy by the young ensemble PRISMA, a laureate of the eeemerging programme. The four musicians accompany this colorful programme of variations on the theme of the seasons with their own improvisations. The Gottinger Tageblatt recently wrote of PRISMA: “this truly vivid art of interpretation- together with technical perfection, beauty of sound and balance- brings the impression that every phrase is invented in the very moment.” In May 2015 PRISMA won the Ensemble First Prize at the International Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber Competition in Austria. Following this, they were invited to give concerts at the Biber Festival in Vienna, the Reihe Historischer Musik der Handel-Festspiele Gottingen, and on air with the Westdeutscher Rundfunk. In 2016, they were admitted to the eeemerging programme with festival residencies in Riga and Ambronay. On stage, PRISMA seeks to recount the music as if telling a story: the musicians speak with their instruments, sometimes supporting each other, sometimes clashing, bringing to life the expressive power of the repertory.

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Today, French Baroque composer and keyboard virtuoso Louis Marchand is perhaps best known as the performer who failed to take up J.S. Bach's challenge for a musical 'duel.' Unfortunately, this colorful legend has overshadowed Marchand's ample gifts as a composer of organ and harpsichord music. Writing in the 'old fashioned' style of d'Anglebert, he employs a profusion of ornaments which enrich the sustaining power of the sound. In contrast, the music of Rameau immediately imposes a new and revolutionary conception of music. Everything here breathes harmony. The discourse is always deliberately clear, favoring transparency over the bombastic effects of a more sensual harpsichord sound. The Donzelague harpsichord that is featured on this disc provides the link between these two seemingly antithetical composers. Donzelague built his instruments in Lyon and both Marchand and Rameau lived in Lyon at different points in their lives. Christophe Rousset explores the connections and contrasts between these giants of the period.

Canticum Novum sheds new light on the wonderful medieval repertory of Tuscan laude. Taken from the Laudario di Cortona, these popular sacred songs of praise from the time of St Francis of Assisi, overflowing with poetry and sunshine, are transcended by Emmanuel Bardon and his ensemble. Appropriating another culture and playing it through the prism of one's own culture, not to imitate it but to resonate with it: this I show the art project Canticum Novum has been defining it's deep self for many years now. Working this way, the musicians forming the ensemble constantly question their own musical identity, the way they play their instruments. They often accept to leave their comfort zone and to relearn how to play, adapting to the repertory to be interpreted and their present colleagues. The idea is not to contort oneself in order to play another repertory but to move towards it.

With this release, Ambronay Editions invites listeners to delve into the roots of tango. Bandon+-on virtuoso William Sabatier is joined by baritone Diego Flores and guitarist Ciro Perez for an intimate and poetic journey in the footsteps of the great Carlos Gardel. The arrangements heard here (written by Sabatier) set texts full of melancholy and passion and capture the spirit and emotion of the national music of Argentina perfectly.

Florence, second half of the 14th century: in the heart of a city in full humanist and cultural effervescence, composers such as Francesco degli Organi (or Landini) and Paolo Da Firenze bring the music of their time to its peak. A unique abundance that the Sollazzo ensemble invites us to discover with this new album. Sollazzo Ensemble was founded in Basel in 2014 and brings together musicians passionately attached to the medieval and Renaissance repertories, with a particular interest in the transition between the two periods. The group is directed by fiddle player Anna Danilevskaia and benefits from the varied musical backgrounds of its members: while some of them come from families already specializing in early music, others have found their calling by way of modern classical music, folk music, theatre or even musicals.

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music