Magic Malik playing standards, that's surprising. But after a few bars, the quintet led by the flutist gives such a personal interpretation of these well-known themes that you get the feeling that this music has been with these five musicians for a very long time... In fact, everything Malik has played before (Fanfare XP, the legacy of Steve Coleman and M-Base, Guadeloupean ka, etc.) finds in these standards, the sublime and open foundation of Great Black Music, more than an echo: a new listening experience.

For years now the Concours International de piano d'Orleans is the time and the place of piano excellency and repertoire boldness. There we can hear the great works of the twentieth century and contemporary treasures. That's what the young Maroussia Gentet does with this first album published by B Records, invoking every natural strength, from the lightest pianissimo to the most telluric furioso. Maroussia Gentet was winner of the "Blanche Selva" First Prize at the 13th International Piano Competition in Orleans. Following studies at the CNSMD in her hometown of Lyon, she attended classes at the Ecole Normale de Musique de Paris- Alfred Cortot, where she obtained her concert performer diploma in 2015. She went on to study Contemporary Repertoire and Creation, as well as Vocal Accompaniment. She is passionate about sharing her art and thrives in her collaborations with composers, in teaching young people, and of course on stage playing chamber music as well as within multidisciplinary projects.

2020 marks the twentieth anniversary of Olivier Greif's passing. He was a sublime poet of contemporary music; a genius whose works were admired by his peers. The Chants de l'�me comprise the special star; a sombre, tortuous cycle, fashioned by his mystical aspirations. Captured at the Musical August of Deauville, it shines forth on this new B Records album with it's paradoxical light set to the depths of Marie-Laure Garnier's voice and Philippe Hattat's expert fingers - promising an authentic and poignant listening experience.

The sonatas for violin and piano, which were composed on holidays to lakeside forests in the midst of sublime nature where Brahms loved to spend his summers, contain all the contradictions unique to the man who described himself as a wanderer: daring and discipline, na�vet� and sagacity, melancholy and joy. Pierre Fouchenneret and Eric Le Sage embark fervently on this adventure with this new volume in this crazy journey through Brahms's complete chamber music works, charted by B Records. Of the project, Pierre Fouchenneret writes: "One crazy day, a few of us decided to embark on a project which, at the time, some people deemed impossible to achieve: to perform all of Brahms's chamber music within only a few months. Every concert would be recorded... we are now a company, as in the theatre, bonded by an unstoppable urge, a definite notion of boldness, a shared perception of chamber music and a love for the repertoire."

This autumn, intermingled melodies could be heard under the round arches of Noirlac Abbey, amongst which the strains of both Schubert’s “Trout” and Ellington’s famous “Take the ‘A’ Train” were recognisable. Karen Vourc’h, Thomas Savy, Louis Rodde and Guillaume de Chassy enjoyed navigating between the waters of the Lied and the Jazz Standard to produce this outstanding project connecting two geniuses of melody with intelligent arrangements and improvisational extravagance. And, as ever, hidden behind the old stones, a B Records microphone is there to let you share in this musical journey. Louis Rodde writes of the significance of this album: “We simply asked ourselves the following question: “What can the 21st century musician do to examine our collective musical memory?” When it comes down to it, Schubert and Ellington are two musical pasts, as are Bach and Schumann after all. It was all about us leading people into different worlds, as in a big museum…Everyone is free to make their own connections.”

Throughout the year, the Royaumont Abbey has welcomed, along with the Mus�e d'Orsay, young duets who work on their musical complicity with m�lodie and lied undisputed masters such as V�ronique Gens or St�phane Degout, associating visual arts and music. B Records launched a new collection and therefore also joined this beautiful companionship, with a first album which will take you from Schumann to Ravel, from languishing German Romanticism to biting French poetry. The primary purpose of the Fondation Royaumont, which has owned the monastery buildings since 1964, is to conserve and enhance the outstanding heritage site. The foundation was set up to revitalize and develop the historic monument by giving it a cultural purpose as a permanent gathering place for artists. Thanks to the support of it's many public and private sector partners, Royaumont has become a leading international music and dance center.

Short just as love, life, poetry, and a winter concert given at the Théâtre de l’Athénée, this new B Records album proposes a program of musical miniatures, from Fauré to Schumann and Brahms. An opportunity to hear the baritone Stéphane Degout, one of the best French melodists, and his partner Simon Lepper behind his piano, in a sometimes soft, sometimes stormy, always romantic album. French baritone Stephane Degout graduated from the Conservatoire National Superieur de Musique de Lyon and then became a member of the Atelier Lyrique de l’Opera de Lyon. He gained international attention in his debut as Papgeno at the Festival d’Aix. Since then, he has appeared on major opera stages. He was appointed ‘Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres’ in September 2012, a prestigious award which recognizes ‘significant contribution to the enrichment of French cultural inheritance.’

There is an entire life of composition between Saint-Saëns’s quintet and quartet — there are joys, sorrows, ideas and motifs, as well as the building of a life and an aesthetic. The Girard Quartet (Quatuor Girard) — currently one of the most promising French ensembles accompanied by young pianist Guillaume Bellom — wanted to capture this outstandingly delicate material on the new album released by the B Records label. It was recorded in the calm and relaxed atmosphere of the Singer-Polignac Foundation. The Girard Quartet is comprised of siblings from one large family and came about from a shared passion awakened by family performances of chamber music from a very early age. The Girard Quartet was trained by the Ysaye Quartet at the Conservatoire Regional in Paris, and then by Miguel da Silva at Geneva’s Haute Ecole de Musique. They made a name for themselves at several important international competitions. In 2010, the Girard Quartet won the Prix Academie Maurice Ravel at the Saint-Jean-de-Luz festival. They were also prize winners at the Geneva International Music Competition in November 2011.

With "Hypocrisis" B Records launches it's jazz collection, and what a beautiful manifesto this album is! Recorded live with the same attention as ever in a mythic place for jazz creation, the Dynamo in Pantin, the Pujuila Quartet, gathered around the eclectic clarinettist Florent Pujuila, draws an intimate course around the emotions of it's composer, sailing with both virtuosity and passion between jazz, rock, and contemporary music. Four musicians with very different backgrounds are united in The Pujuila Quartet, created by French clarinetist Florent Pujuila: Fabrice Martinez, Bruno Chevillon and Eric Echampard. Different musical styles are here meshed together, from jazz to rock, from classical to electro music, all of which the musicians have had a chance to tackle throughout their individual careers. The Pujuila Quartet's musical language is at the crossroads between contemporary music, Mediterranean influences, and jazz- recognizable through the rhythmic structures and extensive solos. Energy and strength are tamed by vertiginous rhythms, mingled with playful timbres and rich sounds.

One crazy day, a few musicians decided to embark on a project which, at the time, some people deemed impossible to achieve: to perform all of Brahms's chamber music within only a few months, and to record it. Finally, a complete edition of this repertoire, played by a single musical ensemble. Around Pierre Fouchenneret, Eric Le Sage, Lise Berthaud and Francois Salque, they formed a company, followed by B Record's attentive and able ear. After the piano quartets, the sextets and the quintets, this new double album keeps exploring Brahms sonorities, to which the tones of clarinet and horn give a dreamlike touch of melancholy.

Seven Particules are seven pieces suspended in time; seven methods of creating a dialogue between electronic music, pop and the Baroque aesthetic. The composer and musician David Chalmin and performers led by Le Consort ensemble and Justin Taylor have sculpted this novel record together; the fruit of a contemplation on blending genres and of an enthusiastic collective effort into sonic aspects. The new release by B Records brilliantly showcases the great Baroque repertoire - Vivaldi, Telemann and Handel - alongside contemporary creation. As a composer, producer, and musician, David Chalmin's work and collaborations range from the spheres of classical music to the avant-garde. He is a member of the group Triple Sun alongside Massimo Pupillo and Raphael Seguinier.

Ten years after their creation, Les Frivolités Parisiennes present a dizzyingly colorful and spirited musical show based on the Parisian life of Cole Porter in the Roaring Twenties. All the energy of the live show is contained in this new b•record album that offers a fresh perspective on the personality of the most Francophile of American lyricists-composers, portrayed here in his many facets by the combined talents of a family troupe that makes music speak beyond words. Established in 2012 by musicians Benjamin El Arbi and Mathieu Franot, Les Frivolités Parisiennes was created out of a desire to recover French Light Music of the 19th and 20th centuries, comic opera, opera buffa and musical comedy. With this in mind, the company annually produces new productions or revivals.

Commissioned by Opera Ballet Vlaanderen at the suggestion of director Calixto Bieito, Les Bienveillantes is based on Jonathan Littell's novel, a harsh and monumental work in terms of it's length, subject, scope and depth - a bestseller in France, Grand Prix du roman de l'Academie francaise and Prix Goncourt, translated into over twenty languages - told in the first person by Maximilian Aue, a former SS officer. Together with Handl Klaus, who wrote the libretto, Hector Parra has achieved a musical, intellectual and human tour de force. These 3 b-records CDs, which inaugurate the new "Villa Medicis Live" collection, allow us to relive the extraordinary world premiere, bringing together a first-rate vocal team and the great conductor Peter Rundel.

Long-time accomplices, the Messiaen and Xenakis trios join forces to perform an intimate and moving version of Dmitri Shostakovich's last symphony, and mirror the world premiere recording of Thierry Escaich's Vitrail, a spectacular fresco specially composed for the occasion.

In this new b•records release, Marie Ythier, a passionate advocate of contemporary repertoire, pays tribute to a young generation of composers united by the collective essence of the cello with three works written for her. The Orchestre national d'Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, the Ensemble Sillages, and the free spirit Arno Deforce, under the auspices of the Fondation Royaumont, bring to life the avant-garde, organic aesthetics of Augustin Braud, Matteo Gualandi, and Bastien David, whose diverse influences, from Baroque to rock metal, open up a surprisingly generous sonic horizon.