Classical Music

Classical Music

This first monographic recording sets out the path of Muhiddin D�rr�oglu, this atypical, sensual and endearing composer, who is celebrating his 50th birthday this year. This record witnesses his collaboration with the Kheops ensemble since it's creation in 2006. The ability of the musicians of this ensemble (which varies in size) to play in different line-ups rests on exceptional talents. Intimate constellations and controlled vertigo: the music of Muhiddin D�rr�oglu, bright from the folklore of his native country, the colors and rhythms of his childhood, scrutinizes the language of galaxies and the infinity of the universe. From Turkey to Belgium, from Belgium to the unfathomable space, it brings together virtuoso musicians who are also heart friends. The Kheops ensemble invites you to the party around the first release of this pianist composer at Cypres!

This second recording of our anniversary season lifts the veil on a Belgian composer who is far too little known: D�sir� P�que. A precursor of Arnold Sch�nberg, his musical style is characterized by the use of an almost atonal polytonality, without being locked into one or another musical system. In terms of form, he is the inventor of a constructional procedure which he himself called 'constant addition' and which consists of a permanent thematic increase, in other words the constant addition of new musical ideas, which are not subject to development, transformation or return. But the most important thing to remember about D�sir� P�que's music is his passionate temperament, which is constantly expressed. He was first and foremost a romantic composer.

Uniquely, this recording was made on a Russian piano dating from Mussorgsky’s own time. Claire Chevallier’s research into Russian piano manufacturers led her to conclude that the piano the composer knew best and played most frequently was produced by the St Petersburg manufacturer J. D. Becker. She acquired an 1875 Becker piano, restored it, familiarised herself with its sonorities and plays it on this recording of Pictures at an Exhibition. Its combination of a mechanism à la française, a construction in the German style and an extremely heavy metal frame produces an instrument capable of both elegant, refined sonorities and sheer brute force. As Chevallier says: “The first time I played Pictures at an Exhibition on this restored piano I was taken on a voyage of discovery, as the instrument metamorphosed according to the dynamic”. This recording is faithful to the ‘Russian soul’ that was so important to Mussorgsky; indeed, he was obsessed with the idea of giving direct expression in his works to the Russian soul in its purest form. He did not write notes that were supposed to charm the player, but to communicate a strong, focused idea to the listener. Pictures at an Exhibition was written in memory of the architect and painter Viktor Hartmann, a close friend of the composer. Mussorgsky wrote: “Sounds and ideas hang in the air, I am gulping them down, guzzling them up, and barely have the time to scribble them down on paper. I am writing Number Four; the transitions are good (in the form of a ‘promenade’). I want to get it all done as quickly as possible with a steady hand. I can be spotted, in person, in the interludes”.

Frabrice Alleman writes of this, his new album: "This project is an adventure, probably the most important one in my life as a musician: I wanted to know who I am as an artist, a composer, a saxophonist and quite simply as a man. Ten years to think about it, including five years to develop it, and one additional year of recordings, post-production, mixing, design have created UDiverse (Unity in Diversity), a unique musical suite for soprano saxophone and chamber orchestra which brings together my roots, influences and sensitivity. But it is other people who help you to discover who you are. I’m so grateful to Michel Herr for his total commitment, his humanity, his friendship and his talents as composer and arranger. Without him UDiverse would probably not exist."

"This album is the first recording to feature the organ of the Salle Henry Le Bœuf in the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels now at last restored for the celebrations of its inauguration! Two pieces on one album, two distinct commissions made to Benoît Mernier for two different orchestras: the Dickinson Songs for a youth choir (La Choraline) together with the Orchestre Symphonique de La Monnaie conducted by Alain Altinoglu and an Organ Concerto dedicated to its first performer, Olivier Latry, with the Belgian National Orchestra conducted by Hugh Wolff! Benoît Mernier tackles two considerable challenges: writing for an apprentice choir of young girls who know nothing of Emily Dickinson, and bringing out the aural range of an as yet untested organ, conceived on a large scale and with a view to stereophony… together with all the technical difficulties that implies when faced with a symphony orchestra. Two worlds on show linked by the drive of youthful discovery. Three cultural institutions of the Belgian Federation united in one project: Bozar, La Monnaie and the ONB, centred on a mythical organ. An unmissable, festive event!"

“In memoriam” belongs to the sign of Gemini: that of the young composer Laurent Plumhans (b. 1984) who has here released his first album, which is the result as much of a theatrical itinerary as dramaturge and stage director as of traditional, classical music training at the conservatories of Liege and Brussels. “In memoriam” is also an echo of the composers who have fashioned the ear of Laurent Plumhans, as Ligeti or Chostakovitch. Laurent Plumhans has taken a highly personal compositional path that is in development, aleatory, shaped by the stage and, above all, built up in interaction with two ensembles- the MP4 Quartet and the BOW Quintet- who became enthusiastic partners. This work greatly advanced in post-production and was completed by the presence of electronics added right at the end. “In memoriam” is today the echo also of the intimate tragedy experienced by all these people on the brutal death of Melanie Defize in March 2016, and is dedicated to the memory of its insightful instigator so that she may continue to inspire all.

Marquis de Wavrin was the first man to film the Shuar Indians in Amazonia between 1920 and. The composer Hughes Mar�chal has freely devised the music for the unusual itinerary of this enigmatic Belgian filmmaker, reconstituted in a movie by Grace Winter and Luc Plantier, Marquis de Wavrin, du manoir � la jungle, from period documents discovered in Belgium's Cinemath�que Royale. This journey in sound explores, through various illustrations and some soundtracks' excerpts by composers who worked with Wavrin, the work of setting to music the ethnographic documentaries. But most of all it is a journey towards the fantasy of our wild and intimate lands: towards the sound of the image... music. This album is the first in a series that, as part of our collection 'Cypres OPEN,' explores the relationship of sound and image.

Soundfulness, the new collection of the Cypres label, is an invitation to plenitude through sounds, frequencies, vibrations and breath. Soundfulness creates a space for dialogue between musical cultures, at the crossroads of traditional, sacred and meditative music. Immediately accessible and sensitive, this music is like an inner journey: it opens our horizon, inspires us and connects us to our deepest roots. To listen to Soundfulness is to offer oneself a time filled with healing sounds, to salute the spirit and the force of nature and to open up to the meditative powers of sounds. Trust in the integrity of the musicians chosen to bring you into new sound rituals. Music plays a fundamental role in shamanic rituals: it is the mediator between the shaman and the spirits. Our ancestors used music and songs to unite the Land of Men with that of the Gods. The most ancient rituals salute the spirit and the strength of Nature before which we are so fragile, to implore her protection or to thank her for her generosity. Four musicians of Musiques Nouvelles, experienced practitioners of traditional and classical western instruments, bring these ancient and beneficial rituals to life.

Soundfulness, the new collection of the Cypres label, is an invitation to plenitude through sounds, frequencies, vibrations and breath. Soundfulness creates a space for dialogue between musical cultures, at the crossroads of traditional, sacred and meditative music. Immediately accessible and sensitive, this music is like an inner journey: it opens our horizon, inspires us and connects us to our deepest roots. To listen to Soundfulness is to offer oneself a time filled with healing sounds, to salute the spirit and the force of nature and to open up to the meditative powers of sounds. Trust in the integrity of the musicians chosen to bring you into new sound rituals. The Sound Meditation project imagined by Musiques Nouvelles takes you on a meditative musical journey, revisiting a vast repertoire ranging from Dowland to Satie, via Arvo P�rt or Pink Floyd. The meditative power of sounds is embodied in a sound ritual combining classical and modern music.

C#1 is a duo for grand organ (played by Cindy Castillo) and live electronics (Pierre Slinckx). It is an original piece composed on the material from the chorale for organ by Johann Sebastian Bach Erbarme dich mein, O Herre Gott BWV 721. This creation consists of several sections with diverse emotions and is centered on the main character, being the great organ. The Kleuker organ of the Chant d'Oiseau is endowed with a new breath with electronic traces and reflections of mirror ball that will lead you to new auditory perspectives. Pierre Slinckx studied composition and in-depth writing at ARTS2, especially with Claude Ledoux, Jean-Pierre Deleuze, Jean-Luc Fafchamps, Gilles Gobert and Denis Pousseur. He today teaches there in-depth writing. As a composer, he is regularly solicited by ensembles that commission him instrumental and mixed works. Winner of the 2013 Henri Pousseur Prize and the 2015 Andr� Souris Prize, which reward promising young composers, he is a member of the LAPS ensemble as a composer and laptop performer. Cypres label offers him a double carte blanche and invites you to discover his sound universe by simultaneously releasing his first two albums: C#1 for grand organ and electronics and M#1 for string quartet and electronics.

Classical Music

D'ombres... This program is a continuation of the first album dedicated to Debussy's Études (CYP1678). This recording revealed pianist Elodie Vignon to the public. Dutilleux has a close relationship with Debussy in his sensory approach to music. Composed just after the Second World War, his Piano Sonata reminds us, in some aspects, of Claude Debussy's Pour le piano, also composed after another Great War. The composition of the Three Preludes, spread over a period of fifteen years, testifies to the composer's desire to change his style and syntax, making it less linear and traditional. Claude Ledoux emerges from the shadows and delivers a work that seeks to translate the world in which we live, a world of silence and sound in perpetual transformation.

In perpetual search of unpublished works and forgotten composers, Paul Van Nevel invites us to discover a Requiem Mass for five voices, composed in 1556 by Simone de Bonefont, canon and cantor at Clermont-Ferrand Cathedral. The Missa pro mortuis can be considered as one of the highlights of polyphonic vocal style, encompassing all the characteristics of Franco-Flemish techniques of the period. The richness of de Bonefont’s polyphonic writing and his mastery of counterpoint are truly astonishing. True to form, the Huelgas Ensemble honors this unpublished score with a powerful interpretation, delivering music of incredible luminous tranquility. The programme also includes four compositions by Franco-Flemish masters - that de Bonefont may well have heard - on one of the most profound texts of the Gregorian repertoire: Media vita in morte summus (In the midst of life we are in death).