Classical Music

Classical Music

Claude Debussy's four master pieces- Estampes, Images 1, Images 2 and Suite Bergamasque- are assembled in a new recording by the Swedish pianist Bernt Wilhelmsson. Bernt Wilhelmsson made his solo debut with The Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra in 1997 and is now internationally active. He grew up on the island of Orust along the West Coast of Sweden, surrounded by barren nature and the ocean, and has always felt a fascination and closeness to Debussy's dreamlike piano music with it's descriptions of nature. "Debussy's music is a treasure I carry with me, that has enriched my musical life in an immeasurable way with it's fantasy, colorfulness and poetic tone language."Bernt Wilhelmsson has a Soloist Diploma from The Academy of Music and Drama in Gothenburg, where he is now Associate Professor in piano and musical interpretation. He has been touring the US, South America and Europe as a soloist and chamber musician. Bernt has also recorded the album "Swedish Piano Romanticism" containing Swedish piano music by Wilhelm Stenhammar and Emil Sj�gren.

The GENUIN debut album of Moscow-born and Hamburg-based pianist Elizaveta Don brings together "Preludes" by three great composers: Claude Debussy, Dmitri Shostakovich, and the lesser-known yet equally significant works by Frank Martin. Elizaveta Don's words about the "Preludes" of the great Swiss composer also apply to the tiny treasures of the other two composers: they are "a journey through uncertainty and hope, reality and surrealism, irony and tragedies." What a stroke of luck for us: We get to embark on nearly forty of these journeys, guided by Elizaveta Don, ensuring the highest musical experience possible!

Having recorded the 'great' French quartets of Debussy and Ravel (ALPHA295), the Van Kuijk Quartet now takes another path and explores treasures by Faure, Debussy, Satie, Ravel and Poulenc that were originally composed for piano or voice. The mark of the string quartet is secretly apparent in this programme, which includes Debussy's Petite Suite pour piano � quatre mains, Ravel's famous Pavane pour une infante defunte and well-known songs by Poulenc, Faure and Satie in transcriptions made especially for this recording by Emmanuel Francois, the Quartet's violist, and by Jean-Christophe Masson and Gildas Guillon. The Quartet also asked the jazz pianist and composer Baptiste Trotignon to create a work that would freely resonate alongside the styles of the composers whose works had been transcribed. An entire universe has now been re-created without any nostalgia or pastiche behind the first names of these composers, Ces Messieurs. The Van Kuijks have woven their instruments in and around these miniatures and here unfold a programme that is all lightness and delight.

Italian pianist Sergio Ciomei (b. 1965), founding member of the Tripla Concordia” ensemble and musical partner to soprano Cecilia Bartoli is an oft-recorded, well-regarded, much-awarded and busy concert artist. His Mozart duo recording with violinist Fabrizio Cipriani was anointed by Japanese magazine Ontomo Guide as one of the finest Mozart recordings of all time". His new Dynamic release features performances of works by the singular genius French composer Claude Debussy.

The pianist Sandro Baldi presents these seminal piano works of Debussy and the release includes two different periods in Debussy's development. The first more youthful and still imbued with a certain romanticism in some aspects, and then from the peak of his maturity as Debussy reached the apex of his artistic and compositional mastery. Thus this release presents a rare occasion for a full immersion in Debussy, observed from a double angle that is fascinating in itself, but also revealing how his arc of his genius. Gifted from his early years with a preternatural and keen understanding of writing for the piano, this CD displays Debussy's prodigious gifts in full display as rendered by Baldi's sensitive playing.

Piano Recital: Crossan, Richard - RAVEL, M. / SCOTT, C. / DE

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Includes work(s) for piano 4 hands by Claude Debussy. Soloists: Waka Hasegawa, Joseph Tong.

Vocal Recital: Brister, Wanda - Chausson, E. / Fauré, G. / D

Classical Music

Classical Music