Under the fingers of Adam Laloum, Schubert's music becomes a journey. The emotions that enrich it are those of a deeply human artistry and the murmur of a voice that still moves us 200 years after falling silent. Adam Laloum's way with Schubert is unique, as his first album (Sonatas D894 and D958) so eloquently demonstrated. A new world awaits us here with the Sonata D959 and the Moments musicaux, whose unassuming title belies the lasting impact they have had on piano lovers.

At the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the lied increasingly took on orchestral garb. The boundary with opera became almost impalpable. That is what Samuel Hasselhorn and Lukasz Borowicz demonstrate here, in a splendid program mingling smiles and disillusionment, where some of the most characteristic orchestral lieder and operatic arias of this Austro-German 'fin de si�cle' era blend perfectly together.

Far from the dark, tortured image often associated with his music, the works on this album testify to an astonishingly serene period in Schumann's life. A fine subject for this first album by the Hanson Quartet for harmonia mundi, whose members are partnered by Adam Laloum for a thrilling reading of a masterpiece of the Romantic repertory: the Piano Quintet.

'The happy years': an expression that is particularly apt for J. S. Bach's period in C�then. Freed from the obligations that held him back in Weimar and not yet caught up in the Leipzig treadmill, Prince Leopold's prot�g� produced masterpieces of such flamboyance that Benjamin Alard could not resist the pleasure of inviting some of his dear musician friends to join him around the splendid three-manual harpsichord by Hass.

The symphonic universe of Henri Dutilleux is a fascinating one. Mysterious and poetic, always remarkably expressive, his music explores the thousand and one colors of the orchestra with unique mastery. Gustavo Gimeno and the Luxembourg Philharmonic give us a flamboyant reading of three masterpieces from the composer's first creative period, showcasing the superb cello playing of Jean-Guihen Queyras in Tout un monde lointain.

For their first collaboration on harmonia mundi, Pablo Heras-Casado and Anima Eterna explore the world of Bruckner. The first instalment in this series is his tremendous Symphony No.4. An apotheosis of architectural rigour and poetry, this cathedral in sound, thanks to the unique sonorities of the period instruments played by the Bruges orchestra, regains it's lightness and elegance in dazzling orchestral colors!

With this delightful program of lullabies and a few gentle serenades, Emmanuelle Bertrand and Pascal Amoyel explore the deepest sources of musical emotion: melodies that touch, console, comfort and soothe. These little pieces, brimful of tenderness and love, are at once a marvelous entry point to listening to music for the very young, and a treat for experienced music lovers.

After being subjected to public attacks by the Soviet regime in the mid-1930s, Shostakovich sought new avenues of self-expression by turning to chamber music, and the string quartet became for him the perfect medium for private confession. To launch their complete Shostakovich cycle, members of the Cuarteto Casals offer deeply insightful readings of the first five quartets-works that are pivotal in the composer's oeuvre.

Repackaged Boxed Set

In this highly original program, Julien Libeer and his partners bring us the smile and the light of Mozart via an absolutely radiant sonata for solo piano, a sonata for violin and piano in which joy triumphs over anxiety, a flamboyant trio from the time of Le nozze di Figaro, to say nothing of the Piano Quartet K478, a rare combination that allows the composer to play around on the frontiers of the concerto and chamber music. All of this in a surprising dramatic progression.

For the second volume in this series devoted to each new stage in Bach's life, Paul Agnew and Les Arts Florissants show us how the composer appropriated the usages of the church cantata to his own ends. Borrowing from the French style and reinterpreting the Italian concerto, he left a lasting mark on the genre and blazed a new trail for it.

Pursuing the 'new practice' introduced by Monteverdi, seventeenth and eighteenth-century composers in the Italian tradition explored a myriad of human emotions, all the more eagerly because lovers generally come in pairs. From Monteverdi to Handel and Vivaldi, Carlo Vistoli and Hugh Cutting vie with each other in virtuosity throughout a program tailor-made for them by William Christie and Les Arts Florissants.

Surprising as it may seem, there has never been a complete recording of Bizet's songs. The formidable team assembled here fills this gap and offers a chance to discover a little-known side of his vocal music, with numerous rarities, early works, alternative versions, and other unpublished pieces compiled by the leading specialists and accompanied by period instruments. This is a richly deserved this tribute on the 150th anniversary of Bizet's death.

Marc-Antoine Charpentier is the only composer of the age of Louis XIV to have distinguished himself so remarkably in the genre of the 'sacred history': he wrote more than thirty such works, all composed after his residence in Italy. S�bastien Dauc� and the Ensemble Correspondances have carefully extracted from this outstanding corpus a number of gems that reflect both his experience in Rome (probably studying with Carissimi, the master of the oratorio) and the humanist concerns of an entire period. Like a miniature opera, each piece relates an exemplary destiny, including several strong-willed women (Judith, Cecilia, Mary Magdalene) and a deep friendship put to the test (Mors Sa�lis and Jonathae).

“This first volume in the complete cycle must already be given pride of place in the discography,” declared Classica Magazine upon the release of Prokofiev’s Sonatas nos. 2, 6, and 8 (awarded a ‘Choc’ in 2016).

With this new volume, Alexandre Melnikov has chosen to delve into three distinct periods of the composer’s career, ranging from the dazzling though seldom-heard No. 4 to the magisterial No. 9.

In between those two, the sonata no. 7 once again evokes the troubled atmosphere characteristic of the three so-called ‘war sonatas’. Sviatoslav Richter claimed to have learned the piece in a mere four days.

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REVIEW:

The second instalment of Melnikov’s Prokofiev sonatas covers a kaleidoscope of temperaments. For all its vacillations, something in Melnikov’s choice of colours conveys an overall feeling of austerity and looming danger that is not quite like anyone else’s vision.Few pianists have come this close to Richter in making such a strong case for Nos. 4 & 9.

– Gramophone

Only now have I learnt how to write quartets properly." So wrote Beethoven in 1801, having just finished his first set of string quartets at the surprisingly advanced age of 30. The competition of Haydn and Mozart must have been intimidating for the young composer. Performed here by the Jerusalem Quartet, these six String Quartets Op.18 already display much boldness and originality, from the dramatic echoes of Romeo & Juliet in No.1, to the astonishing programmatic finale of No.6, "La Malinconia.

For more than forty years, Lalande was the French court's favorite composer, cultivating the most elevated and touching aspects of the spirit of the Grand Si�cle. S�bastien Dauc� and the Ensemble Correspondances offer us some remarkable examples of his output here: with the imposing Miserere, ample and sombre, the Dies irae and the rarely heard Veni Creator, this 'Latin Lully' brought the art of the grand motet to it's zenith.

In late February 1653, just after the Fronde rebellion, the most influential spectacle of the early reign of Louis XIV was presented at the Louvre: the Ballet Royal de la Nuit. Grandiose, and carefully elaborated at the highest levels of the state, the libretto by Bens�rade called upon the finest artists of the time. Banishing the troubles of night, Louis XIV danced in the Sun King costume that would henceforth be forever associated with him. This unmissable world premi�re recording presents a reconstruction of the work created by S�bastien Dauc� that includes music by Jean de Cambefort, Antoine Boesset, Louis Constantin, Michel Lambert, Francesco Cavalli and Luigi Rossi.

Classical Music

The great popularity of the piano trio enabled Haydn to explore countless formal and harmonic experiments; while the keyboard remains the central element in the musical structure, the strings give the discourse a subtle colouration, and the violin is often assigned independent musical ideas. This elegant three-way dialogue, conducted here by the Trio Wanderer, is as impressive for its originality as for its supreme stylistic virtuosity. Haydn was a past master at this little game, and still remains so centuries later!

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REVIEW:

These are beautifully played performances. There is enough clarity around each instrument to make every line audible, the sparer textures of the Classical trio style help greatly in this respect. It’s a treat to hear Haydn trios played with such care for their sound and texture.

– Gramophone

In response to a commission from Count Troyer, who wanted a work closely modelled on Beethoven’s famous Septet op.20, Schubert – despite his fervent admiration for the older composer – resolutely struck out on his own by delivering an . . . Octet. While the enlarged forces opened his path towards symphonic writing, examination of the form and expression reveals a much more accomplished and personal composition than has generally been recognised by commentators. Isabelle Faust and her partners, enthralled by what is an exceptional work in every respect, offer us a new interpretation of it on period instruments.

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REVIEW:

Faust is very much the guiding light in this period-instrument Octet. Yet her creative inventiveness is matched by her considerateness as a chamber colleague. In a performance notable for its intimacy, Faust never seeks to hog the limelight. While alive to the Octet’s Viennese hedonism, Faust and her colleagues are unusually responsive to its mysterious shadows.

– Gramophone

Classical Music

One of the world's most sought after and in demand mezzo sopranos, Jennifer Johnston's career takes her to the world's greatest opera houses working with some of the greatest conductors and singers or our time. Featuring the iTunes No.1 hit single "You'll Never Walk Alone," this album is a deeply personal and affectional musical love-letter to her native Liverpool.

All those present at the Op�ra-Comique in Paris in January 1987 have a vivid memory of a the moment when an amazed France rediscovered a hitherto forgotten genre: the trag�die en musique. An unprecedented triumph on stage, followed by an international success on record, Atys was also the starting point for a new view of French Baroque music. To mark the fortieth anniversary of Les Arts Florissants, this copiously illustrated CD-book pays tribute to the pioneering work of William Christie and his team.

Almost forty years separate Verkl�rte Nacht (Transfigured Night) from the Violin Concerto - the former still influenced by the idiom of Brahms and Wagner, the latter deriving from the richness of that later period when Schoenberg managed to combine a multiplicity of approaches within his twelve-note system. Between post-Romantic twilight and 'classical' rigor, Isabelle Faust and company offer us an extraordinarily lively interpretation of some of the most remarkable pages in twentieth-century musical literature.