This album brings together works by composers closely associated with France and Paris, complemented by a reconstructed version of Mozart's unfinished sonata. The programme spans original compositions for two pianos, alternative arrangements created by the composers themselves, and a bold reimagining of Piazzolla's iconic Libertango by Aleami Piano Duo. In this innovative arrangement, the artists employ extended piano techniques, live looping, and improvisation, expanding the expressive possibilities of the two-piano medium. At the heart of the album lies the idea of encounter: the meeting of two pianos and two pianists, but also of cultures and musical traditions that inspired generations of composers-from the spiritual songs of enslaved African Americans to the passionate rhythms of Argentine tango. Despite their stylistic diversity, all the works are united by the distinctive sonority of two pianos, an ensemble capable of both orchestral grandeur and extraordinary intimacy. The rich palette of colours, vast dynamic range, and interplay between the instruments create a compelling musical dialogue throughout the recording. Aleami Piano Duo is among the most versatile young Polish piano ensembles of it's generation, performing repertoire that ranges from the classical canon to contemporary music and works influenced by jazz. This eclectic programme showcases the duo's interpretative freedom, virtuosity, and remarkable artistic synergy, offering a fresh and captivating perspective on the art of piano duo performance.
The Saint-Saens series, with young talents continues with it's third release. All recordings are made with ORF Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien, conducted by Howard Griffiths. This third album includes 'The Carnival of the animals', 'Op. 33 Concerto for Cello and Orch. No 1 in A Minor' and 'Op. 17 Concerto for piano and Orch. No 1 in D major'. The young talents are Yilan Zhao Hayoung Choi and piano duo Arya Su Gulenc and Ilyun Burkev.
Saint-Saens: Piano Concertos Nos. 2 & 5 "The Egyptian"
Linn Records
CD
$20.99Aug 28, 2026
Macedonian pianist Simon Trpceski continues his critically acclaimed piano concertos series on Linn Records with a 'spectacular' (Bachtrack) live recording of Saint-Saens' Piano Concertos Nos. 2 & 5, both performed at the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall with Thomas Sondergard conducting the colourful and energetic Royal Scottish National Orchestra. It took Saint-Saens just seventeen days to compose the Second Concerto and practice for the premiere under the baton of Anton Rubinstein! A feat as impressive as the quality of the work itself whose well-balanced movements look back on Faure and Bach. The Fifth Concerto is the composer's answer to Wagner mania. Indeed, the work can almost be taken as a hint to his compatriots that there were plenty of other sources of inspiration available, such as the Nubian love song that Saint-Saens had heard sung by boatmen on the Nile and the sound of croaking frogs, which feature in the second movement and give the work it's title: 'The Egyptian'. This Concerto is a showcase of virtuosity for both composer and pianist.
This recording by Ciconia Consort, Couleurs de France, offers a rare and evocative journey through four lesser-known works for string orchestra by three prominent 20th-century French composers: André Jolivet, Jacques Castérède, and Daniel-Lesur. Jacques Castérède's connection to his French predecessors is evident in his use of modal, chromatic, and diatonic scales. A student of Olivier Messiaen, Castérède nonetheless forged a highly personal harmonic style within an extended tonal idiom, characterized by melodic clarity and accessibility. His compositions seem to harmoniously blend the various French styles of the 20th century. In his work, we hear the sonic fingerprints of Arthur Honegger, Daniel-Lesur, and his teacher Messiaen - all woven into a coherent, lyrical whole. Throughout his life, André Jolivet aimed to "restore to music it's original, ancient meaning, when it served as a magical, incantatory expression of the religious beliefs of human communities."* His later compositions continued this exploration, seeking music's original function as an emotional, ritualistic, and celebratory form of expression. His Symphonie pour cordes, commissioned by French radio and television, was composed in 1961 and premiered on January 9, 1962. The symphony demands exceptional technical skill from all performers. It is written in a freely atonal idiom and is characterized by intense dissonance. Daniel Jean Yves Lesur (1908-2002) was a French composer, organist, and teacher, closely linked to the group La Jeune France, alongside Olivier Messiaen and André Jolivet. His music often reflects a balance between tradition and modernity, combining rich harmonic language with a sense of spiritual depth. Lesur's output includes choral works, chamber music, and orchestral compositions, yet he remains less widely known than some of his contemporaries. Among his instrumental works is the Sérénade pour cordes (1949), a luminous piece that highlights his lyrical style and refined craftsmanship. Written for string orchestra, it embraces classical clarity while exploring colorful modal harmonies, characteristic of Lesur's personal voice. This recording is the fifth CD on Brilliant Classics by the Ciconia Consort (The Hague String Orchestra), a Dutch string orchestra conducted by Dick van Gasteren, an internationally active conductor who was Bernard Haitink's assistant during the Mahler Festival Amsterdam in 1995.
The Beecham Collection - Saint-Saens: Samson et Dalila, Op.
SOMM Recordings
CD
$20.99Apr 17, 2026
At the Festival Hall, on 24 April, 1960, an 80-year-old Sir Thomas Beecham gave what would turn out to be the final concert he conducted with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in London. SOMM Recordings is releasing the last work on that historic programme as part of it's continuing Beecham Collection of live recordings-the Bacchanale from the opera Samson et Dalila by Camille Saint-Saens. Unbeknownst to them, the audience's tumultuous reception of this performance proved to be a farewell to Beecham on the London concert platform. In June 1960, he suffered a cerebral thrombosis and never conducted again; he died on 8 March 1961. Jon Tolansky, a former musician at the Royal Opera House who has since specialised in making documentary features on composers and performers, recalls hearing this programme as an 11-year-old. "I had never heard anything remotely like it," he says, "as Sir Thomas, now standing fully upright on the podium, became a generator of electric lightning and as the Royal Festival Hall seemed to be shaking, most especially in the last two minutes or so, in a catastrophic earthquake." This historic release also includes live recordings of Saint-Saens's First Cello Concerto and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade. Once again, audio restoration is by the renowned audio recording engineer Lani Spahr, whose work has recently been honoured with four Gramophone Magazine Editor's Choice Awards-for Bruckner from the Archives Vols I and IV and, more recently, Bliss, the Composer Conducts and E.J. Moeran's music conducted by Sir Adrian Boult. Beecham was always what The Times called "a quietly persistent advocate for Saint-Saens," and he offers attentive support to the 1958 reading of Saint-Saens's First Cello Concerto by Ukrainian-born soloist Mischel Cherniavsky. The concerto is in one continuous movement with three tightly structured sections sharing interrelated ideas. Cherniavsky came from a family of nine musically gifted children, and he played in the Cherniavsky Trio with two of his brothers from 1901 until 1934, after which he was mostly based in London and France. The live performance of Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade on this release was given at the Royal Festival Hall on 21 March, 1957. This fell right in the middle of recording sessions when the orchestra was immersed in the piece for three days, which goes some way to explaining the glorious quality of the playing in the concert. What Rimsky-Korsakov described as the "various fairy-tale wonders" he had in mind when composing the work come across in Beecham's live performance with a freshness and brilliance that make for an unforgettable experience. A 24-year-old Steven Staryk became leader of the RPO shortly before these recordings, earning the title "king of concertmasters" from The Strad magazine. About his performance on this concert The Times wrote "the solo playing of the new leader, Mr Steven Staryk, must have due acknowledgment."
Camille Saint-Saens: Complete Concertos (New Talents Edition
Berlin Classics
CD
$19.99Jan 16, 2026
This is the second album of the Saint-Saens series, with young talents?. All recordings were made with the ORF Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien, conducted by Howard Griffiths. The repertoire inludes: Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 2 in G minor op. 22, Morceau de Concert in F minor op. 94, Romance in F major op. 36, Romance in E major op. 67 and Suite for Violoncello and Orchestra op. 16b?
'No!' exclaims Nunciata, the stubborn Corsican grandmother, when she is begged to put an end to the vendetta between her family, the Fabiani, and their enemies, the Pietra Nera clan. Set against a backdrop of tragic deaths, voracious lust for vengeance and passionate love at the height of the Napoleonic Wars, this 'lyric drama' composed by Saint-Saens in 1906 was premiered at the Opera de Monte-Carlo and dedicated to Prince Albert I, who had commissioned it. Saint-Saens demonstrates here the full range of his style, interweaving Debussyan chords, melodic lines a la Massenet and aggressive rhythms worthy of Prokofiev. Above all, he displays a feel for the theatre eminently characteristic of French opera, and one can only imagine how successful this score would be if it found it's way back onto the stage. It was not without reason that after it's triumphant premiere in Monte Carlo, L'Ancetre was staged in several cities in France, Belgium, Switzerland and Germany, as well as Algiers (February 1911) and Cairo (February 1912), before two further performances in March 1915 in the theatre where it had come into existence.
Farasha is the debut release of the award-winning (e.g. Anton Rubinstein International Competition) soloist and chamber musician Sindy Mohamed on Berlin Classics. The violist recalls her Egyptian, French and German roots and reflects this in a diverse selection of pieces for the viola. The album contains Sonatas for Viola and Piano by Breville and Hinemith, Mendelssohn-Bartholdy's Spring Song and a transcribed version of Saint-Saens' Sonata for bassoon and piano op. 168. In addition Sindy Mohamed presents a newly comissioned work by Khaled Al Kammar "Faten Amal Harby" for oud, viola, req and piano.
A journey through passion, vision, and sensuality, this album brings together three luminous works for voice and orchestra. At it's heart is Ernest Chausson's Poeme de l'amour et de la mer, Op. 19-a sweeping, late-Romantic meditation on love and loss, where human emotion dissolves into the vastness of the sea. Benjamin Britten's Les illuminations, Op. 18, follows with electric intensity, setting Rimbaud's vivid, surreal poetry in music that is both incisive and radiant. The program closes with Camille Saint-Saens' rare and intimate Extase, a delicate song of rapture and surrender. Tenor Edgaras Montvidas brings refined lyricism and emotional depth to this richly poetic repertoire, joined by the Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra, the Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra (for the Chausson), and conductor Modestas Pitrenas. An exploration of love, language, and longing-where music becomes poetry, and poetry sings. Recorded at Lithuanian National Philharmonic Hall June 2021
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.
Jerrick Cavagnaro, the First Prize Winner in the 2024 American Guild of Organists' (AGO) National Competition in Organ Improvisation (NCOI), releases his debut solo album with Pro Organo, performing upon the historic, renovated pipe organ of Trinity Church, Copley Square, Boston. The program contains both repertoire selections and several of Mr. Cavagnaro's organ improvisations in a variety of musical styles.
The Neave Trio's new album celebrates French works for piano trio, focussing on three works composed around the turn of the twentieth century. Saint-Saens's Piano Trio No. 2 dates from 1892 and comprises five movements. Unusually for Saint-Saens, the work took a great deal of time from conception to completion (over five years) and then went through a number of revisions before Saint-Saens was finally satisfied. Mel Bonis's two pieces Soir and Matin, whilst on a smaller scale, are equally powerful works, bridging the worlds of romanticism and impressionism. The first piece is dominated by a cantabile melody, whilst Matin is more chromatic and harmonically complex. The album concludes with Sally Beamish's arrangement of Debussy's orchestral masterpiece La Mer. This three-movement symphonic work presented Beamish with an exceptional challenge, as she strove to 'reinvent Debussy's orchestral score with the piano trio in mind... This meant exploring what strings and piano can do in terms of texture, and concentrating on idiomatic and natural techniques.' By studying and recreating Debussy's colours and textures, rather than attempting to transcribe every note, Beamish produced an arrangement that presents the performers and listeners with a completely new perspective on these well-loved seascapes.
A unique collection of the instrumental sonatas by Saint-Saens, in recent and critically praised Italian recordings. The perfection of Saint-Saens's craftsmanship and the Gallic grace of his seemingly inexhaustible melodic muse were evident from early on in his career, composing as he did in childhood. No less evident was his faith in traditional forms such as the sonata. The works compiled here were composed over the course of half a century, during which time the world and musical culture evolved radically. Saint-Saens evolved too, but only according to the principles to which he held faith - in tonality, in melodic elegance - throughout his long life and career. In fact the composer was already 37 when he wrote the earliest piece here, the First Cello Sonata, in 1872. It does not seek to emulate the crowd-pleasing brilliance or wit of many of his best-known works but instead plots a dark, dramatic and often Beethovenian course through the conventional three-movement span. Compiling these sonatas in this way helps us to appreciate how, by the time we reach the First Violin Sonata of 1885, Saint-Saens had begun to integrate competing imperatives of intensity and elegance. It is curious that the composer's later violin and cello sonatas have never achieved the popularity of his initial essays. Indeed, these Brilliant Classics recordings almost have the field to themselves in the catalogue. Yet they are surely underestimated, because Saint-Saens had an almost endless capacity for reinvention - as he conclusively demonstrated late in life with three-fifths of a planned project to write five sonatas, all for instruments of the woodwind family. The instruments in these three works are scored for by the deft hand of a composer with a lifetime of experience writing for them in orchestral and chamber music settings.
Saint-Saens: Complete Concertos (New Talents Edition #1)
Berlin Classics
CD
$19.99Apr 04, 2025
Introducing Leia Zhu, a remarkable wunderkind on the violin, in her highly anticipated first release of an 8-album series dedicated to the captivating solo concertos of Saint-Saens. This album is a celebration of talent and artistry, showcasing the extraordinary capabilities of one of today's most promising young musicians. Delve into the virtuosic and challenging repertoire of Saint-Saens, featuring his Violin Concertos No. 1 & 2, along with the enchanting Introduction et Rondo Capriccioso, Op. 28 and the lively Havanaise, Op. 83. Leia Zhu's interpretations bring a fresh perspective to these masterpieces, blending technical prowess with emotional depth. Join us as we embark on this exciting musical journey through Saint-Saens' works, and witness the emergence of a new star in the classical music world.
Pablo de Sarasate was born in Pamplona, Spain, and became an acclaimed virtuoso of the violin by the tender age of twelve. The child prodigy was sent away to study at the Paris Conservatoire, and Sarasate spent the rest of his life in Paris. In demand nationally and internationally as a soloist, he was the dedicatee of a large number of important concertos by composers ranging from Max Bruch to Henryk Wieniawski. Lalo's Symphonie espagnole was composed for Sarasate, who gave the Paris premiere, in 1875. The work is laid out in five movements and bristles with Spanish themes, rhythms, and influences, which were very much the vogue in France at that time. Also composed for Sarasate, Saint-Saens' Third Violin Concerto was composed in 1880. Written in his usual clear, refined, almost classical style, the work has endured as the most played of his three violin concertos. The album is completed with Sarasate's own fantasia on Bizet's Carmen - a virtuosic tour de force for the soloist, brilliantly played here by James Ehnes.
Coming into French and English from the Greek elegos ('lament'), an elegy (elegie) is a poetic or musical composition expressing sorrow or lamentation, typically mourning the loss of a loved one or reflecting on themes of grief and melancholy. Massenet's famous 'Clair de lune', presented here in an arrangement by the composer himself, envelops us in a dreamlike atmosphere, with the piano painting a delicate lunar landscape permeated by a subtle melancholy. The original is one of the most touching scenes in the opera Werther, when the protagonist feels his love for Charlotte rising within him. Contrary to popular belief, Ravel's Pavane pour une infante defunte is not dedicated to a departed soul. Rather, it is a nostalgic evocation of an imaginary childhood, rich in charm and mystery. Joseph Jemain's orchestration adds, if possible, further depth and suggestiveness to Ravel's music by introducing the piano into the ensemble, the protagonist of Ravel's original version. The violin and piano engage in a dialogue of deep contemplation in Saint-Saens's elegie in D, Op.143. The poignant melody and refined harmony express feelings of loss and consolation. This very intense and moving piece has secured an important place in the violin repertoire. The cello assumes the role of narrator in Faure's elegie, Op.24 recounting a story of pain and hope with great expressive intensity. A highly lyrical and touching piece, it is distinguished by it's expressive writing and singable melody. Debussy's Suite bergamasque transports us to a world of dreams and suggestions. Through four evocative dances with a Renaissance and Baroque flavour, the orchestra leads us on a musical journey rich in charm and delicacy. Wilhelm Renz's orchestration makes Debussy's picturesque music even more vivid. Renz is also the arranger of the Saint-Saens Carnival of the Animals featured here. His orchestral version adds brilliance and colour to the composer's music while maintaining it's original spirit of fun and irony, streamlining the orchestration in some places and adding elements for a richer, more layered sound in others. Other information: - Recorded August 2023 in Anzio (Italy) - Booklet in English contains liner notes by Valerio Vicari and profiles of the orchestra and conductor - A beautiful program featuring French music from the turn of the 19/20th century, evoking a late-romantic and mildly impressionistic atmosphere in elegiac mood. - The works presented are Elegies by Saint-Saens (1835-1921), Faure (1845-1924), Vieuxtemps (1820-1881) and Massenet (1842-1912), the Suite Bergamasque by Debussy (1862-1918), Pavane by Ravel (1875-1937) and, to conclude in a more spirited mood, the Carnaval des Animaux by Saint-Saens. Several of the works are transcribed for an instrumental ensemble featuring flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn, violin, viola, cello & double bass. - Sensuous and evocative performances by the Roma Tre Orchestra, conducted by Sieva Borzak.
From Canvas to Concert Hall - Music inspired by Art
Centaur Records
CD
$15.99Jan 03, 2025
This album features four great orchestral works that are inspired by works of art. The Saint-Saens, Rachmaninoff, and Liszt works are well-known. Also included is a work by contemporary composer William Popp, who is also well-known as an accordionist.
SOMM Recordings is pleased to present Music for Two Pianos by the French virtuoso pianist and composer, Camille Saint-Saens (1835 - 1921), whose output for solo and duo pianists totals almost 200 compositions. The programme on this release comprises original works for two pianos alongside selections transcribed by Saint-Saens from his orchestral pieces. The featured pianists, Artur Pizarro and Ludovico Troncanetti, made their piano duo debut in Lisbon in 2023 with a recital featuring the repertoire on this album. The artists share a love of performing two-piano and four-hands repertoire, and they have plans to continue their collaboration with further projects on stage and in the studio. The renowned Portuguese pianist, Artur Pizarro, winner of the Leeds International Piano Competition amongst others, performs internationally as a recitalist, chamber musician, and soloist with the world's leading orchestras and conductors. The Italian pianist, Ludovico Troncanetti, is a graduate of the Milan Conservatory and is actively involved in reviving the works of the Russian pianist and composer Anton Rubinstein. The recital opens with Saint-Saens' transcription of Le Rouet d'Omphale (Omphale's Spinning-Wheel), the most famous of his four symphonic poems inspired by Greco-Roman mythology. Both this work and the Marche heroique had their premiere in the original version for two pianos, the march seeming to presage the war that broke out between France and Prussia in July 1870. The first and most substantial of Saint-Saens' original two-piano works is a set of Variations on a Theme of Beethoven, based on the Trio section of the Minuet from Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 18, the Hunt. The eight variations plus a fugue, presto, and coda require considerable ensemble skill from the pianists to pull off. From 1886-the year of the Organ Symphony and The Carnival of the Animals-comes Saint-Saens' tribute to Chopin, whom he had passionately admired since he was a student. Saint-Saens vividly evokes the spirit of the Polonaise without actually quoting any of Chopin's own works inspired by the national dance of his native Poland. Saint-Saens frequently wintered in North Africa; in fact he died in Algiers in December 1921. During an 1889 trip to Las Palmas in Northern Africa, he began composing his Scherzo for two pianos. It's a work with echoes of Debussy, Ravel, and Satie, which he cautioned would be difficult to read at sight and would require much practice. Caprice arabe, along with the symphonic poem Africa and the "Egyptian" Piano Concerto, is one of a trio of piano compositions inspired by Saint-Saens' journeys to North Africa. The recital ends with another caprice, the virtuosic Caprice heroique, which leans more towards being capricious than heroic, despite it's powerful opening and fugue-like ending.
'The repertoire we have chosen for this album consists mainly of pieces that have been with me since my childhood.' With this recital, Johan Dalene, accompanied by Peter Friis Johansson, offers us a selection of popular violin pieces that have accompanied him since his early years. After hearing them in the family car on long journeys, he went on to learn them and then play them in competitions and in concerts. He Johan Dalene now gives us (and himself) a treat and continues the tradition of great violinists such as Heifetz, Perlman and Vengerov, who have all made recordings of favourite encores and recital pieces. Finally to record them himself proved to be an 'extremely inspiring and challenging project', says Dalene. The programme is built around three virtuoso works, Tzigane (Ravel), Introduction and Rondo capriccioso (Saint-Saens) and Carmen Fantasy (Waxman), alongside which more reflective pieces by Massenet, Tchaikovsky, Falla and Kreisler have been included. Also featured is a rarely played miniature by Swedish composer Amanda Maier - a work which, according to Dalene, 'is a gem full of spirit!' A programme that celebrates the multiple sides of the violin, at times virtuoso, at times lyrical, always seductive.
A singular composer, Marie Jaell (1846-1925) made the piano the perfect confidant of her inspiration. In her short pieces for piano four hands, she succeeded in capturing both the changing essence of Nature, with it's storms, perfumes and infinity, and the tremors and anxieties of the human heart in the face of love or the fragility of life. Her two teachers, admirers and faithful friends Franz Liszt and Camille Saint-Saens are of course present on this recording, as they were in life, alongside their spirited colleague. On their first album at Cypres, the Duo Orloff & Spinnler unveil a figure still too little known today. Marie Jaell's impact on piano teaching has been considerable. Her research into "awareness of movement and the development of sensitivity" led her to publish several groundbreaking books for the time.
Praised for "her mastery of phrasing and of the dramatic dimension" (Diapason), "astonishing virtuosity" (Revelation Classiques) and "her infinite delicacy" (Le Populaire du centre), French violinist Irene Duval is establishing herself as a uniquely compelling performer with a strong interest in combining works central to the repertoire with little-known gems. Born in France to a French father and Korean mother, Irene Duval grew up in Japan, Indonesia, and Hong Kong before returning to France at the age of eleven. She studied with Suzanne Gessner and Jean-Jacques Kantorow, before entering the Conservatoire National Superieur de Musique de Paris in 2008 in the class of Roland Daugareil; in 2014 she joined the Kronberg Academy in Germany, where she studied with Mihaela Martin for three years.
Antonio Pappano - Complete Santa Cecilia Symphonic,Concertante & Sacred Music Recordings
WARNER CLASSICS
CD
$100.49Aug 09, 2024
The collaborative efforts, the mutual emulation and inspiration of Sir Antonio Pappano and the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome have spanned 18 years, led to one of the world's greatest and most versatile virtuoso ensembles and to acclaimed live and studio recordings showcasing an eclectic selection of symphonic and choral music. Their repertoire features already legendary performances of Verdi's Requiem and Quattro pezzi sacri. In addition, their recording of Bruckner's 8th Symphony features here for the very first time! This box brings together all the recordings that the British conductor Sir Antonio Pappano (b.1959) made with the Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in the years from 2005 to 2022 for Warner Classics.
Armand Silvestre had actually wanted to pursue a military career, but then worked in a senior position in the French Ministry of Finance. He increasingly devoted himself to his real passion: literature. Numerous composers felt inspired by Silvestre's poetry, above all Gabriel Faure. Faure even set Mystere to music before the official publication of the poem in the volume "Le pays des roses" (The Land of Roses, 1882). He gave his "Melodie" the different title "Le secret": mysterious and melancholy, accompanied by simple yet harmonically rich piano sounds.
Lars Vogt (1970-2022) early recordings collected here provide a document of an artist who always remained authentic, both to himself and to music. Lars Vogt never sought absolute truth, but truthfulness instead meant all the more to him. The man and the artist were always very close, never currying favour and never detached from the world. He was, instead, open and natural. "It's incredibly gratifying when you notice that you can perhaps light a little spark, a little flame for music in people, and when music helps you to find the path to your own soul."
The Silk Road - Chamber Music by Caplet, Saint-Saëns et al. / Oslo Chamber Academy
LAWO Classics
CD
$18.99Feb 23, 2024
In a world where unrest and war make constant headlines, human migration is an issue that touches peoples everywhere. On its latest release, The Silk Road, the Oslo-based wind chamber ensemble Oslo Kammerakademi presents a beautiful programme inspired by the subject of cultural migration – what happens when cultures meet, for example because of the movement of populations, trade, politics or conflict.
This CD recording is the result of a succession of different moments of musical happiness and the encounter between the solo harpist of the Basel Symphony Orchestra, Aurelie Noll, and two exceptional musicians. María Cristina Kiehr and Yolena Orea-Sanchez (violoncello) have put their talent and artistic sensitivity at the service of this wonderful repertoire. The special sound of the harp creates a kind of new relief here and lends this unusual album its special charm. The program includes works by Reynaldo Hahn, Tchaikovsky, Manuel de Falla and Gabriel Faure. One highlight is certainly the new composition for soprano, cello and harp by Swiss composer Silvan Loher, whose delicate and impressionistic musical style fits wonderfully into this project. Soprano María Cristina Kiehr, born in Tandil, Argentina, is a specialist in "early music". The South American cellist Yolena Orea-Sanchez is a permanent member of the Basel Symphony Orchestra, as is the harpist Noll. She can be heard regularly at numerous European music festivals with the Trio Anthilia (violin, cello and piano), which she co-founded.
When Christian Ferras died at age 49. his friend and colleague Yehudi Menuhin wrote that Ferras was"possessed by music, immensely talented, and of both a generous and intense temperament."
Christian Ferras was one of the greatest violinists of the 20th century. Born in 1933, he was a guest soloist of the Nice Symphony orchestra in1942. In 1948 he won the First Prize at the International Scheveningen (Holland) Violin Competition and in 1949 won the top prize at the International Long-Thibaud Competition. Thereafter, he pursued a successful career as soloist with many of the world’s leading orchestras and in recitals with his long time accompanist, pianist Pierre Barbizet. He recorded for EMI and from 1964 for DG where he recorded the four main repertoire violin concertos, Brahms, Sibelius, Beethoven and Tchaikovsky, with Herbert von Karajan and the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra.
Fortunately, Christian Ferras left behind a rich recorded legacy, that enable us to continue to enjoy his great artistry.
This recording celebrates a magnificent era in four hand music. After the historic contributions of Mozart, Schubert, and Brahms, the duet mantle was passed to French composers. Breaking free from more classical duet settings, these artists produced four hand masterpieces that reflected the remarkable musical innovations of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Nuanced colors and a sophisticated handling of timbre, form, and harmony are the hallmarks of this imaginative and evocative time.
His exceptional touch and sense of phrasing, his deep and personal understanding of the most varied repertoires, or even the legendary trio he formed together with Jacques Thibaud and Pablo Casals, made Alfred Cortot the greatest pianist of his time. Master of many disciples, notably the brilliant Dinu Lipatti, Samson François and Clara Haskil, Cortot also had a lasting influence on the Russian piano school through Samuil Feinberg and Heinrich Neuhaus, the latter himself being the revered teacher of Sviatoslav Richter.
All of the recordings in this set had undergone careful sound restoration in 2012, in order to respect as closely as possible the original sound. The remastering was carried out under the expert control of Mr. Guthrie Luke, a former disciple of Alfred Cortot who attended many recording sessions by Cortot. These recordings do not represent a "complete" edition: the many rolls engraved by the artist for Duo-Art, Aeolian and Pleyela labels have not been reproduced here, most of them doubling the 78-RPM repertoire. The first recordings are acoustic; and the ones with an electric microphone appeared as early as 1926.
