“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

A few years after a complete recording of Mozart’s solo piano works that has gradually come to be regarded as a benchmark, Kristian Bezuidenhout has taken all the time he needed to tackle Haydn, the other towering figure of the Viennese Classical keyboard repertory: “Preparing for this recording has been a vivid reminder that it is remarkably difficult to play Haydn’s music well, but that with enough care, and attention to detail, his music has the potential to come jumping from the page. It would be hubris to suggest that I am even close to unlocking any of its secrets, but I am so humbled by the sheer beauty, humanity, wit and delightful irony of this music, that the desire to continue is irresistible.”

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REVIEW:

The listener is drawn in by the myriad subtleties of Bezuidenhout’s playing and by the glorious sounds he draws from his instrument. Soon you’re hanging on every note of this sequence that seems to travel from darkness to darkness. Most important, though, is Bezuidenhout’s playing itself. Technique is obviously not an issue. Decoration, too, is sparing rather than trowelled on. This is the very opposite of ‘look-at me’ pianism.

– Gramophone

By giving the stringed instruments the status of genuinely equal partners with the piano, it was Beethoven who gave the piano trio the form it was to retain throughout the 19th century. This album presents the composer's last two works in the genre, Op. 70 No. 2 dedicated to Countess Marie Erdady, and the celebrated 'Archduke' trio, which marked the final public appearance of it's composer. All three eminent Beethovenians, violinist Isabelle Faust, Cellist Jean-Guihen Queyras and pianist Alexander Melnikov join forces here in performances that set a new standard.

The 1885 Erard piano used in this recording of Debussy’s Preludes Book II stands out for the distinct character of its sonorities in different registers (a mellifluous middle register, a twangy bass, and so forth), plus its capacity to produce a wide variety of sustain effects from the pedal. I also suspect that the keyboard action is light and responsive. Certainly Alexander Melnikov exploits the instrument to his artistic advantage, and Debussy benefits as a result.

In Brouillards, for example, the slurred staccato left-hand chords and right-hand arpeggios sound as if they’re originating from two different instruments. Given the relatively short decay of the Erard’s sustain pedal compared to modern concert grands, Melnikov’s pedaling through harmonic changes in Feuilles mortes (and elsewhere) never sounds muddy. Melnikov’s strict adherence to the dotted rhythm of La puerta del Vino’s left-hand ostinato is too rigid and unyielding for what this lilting and sexy music implies, in contrast to his spot-on timing of Les fées sont d’exquises danseuses’ capricious tempo shifts and gorgeous chains of trills. He also nails the quirky lilt of General Lavine’s cakewalk to idiomatic perfection.

Ondine shimmers in alluring half-tints, relieved, however by the occasional spiky accent. My only quibble concerning Hommage à Pickwick is that Melnikov begins the dotted-rhythm sequence at measure 31 too loud, and retains a steady tempo instead of following Debussy’s request to gradually get faster. But what beautifully controlled diminuendos in the plaintive melodic lines in Canope’s last measures, and what magically agile alternating thirds in No. 11, not to mention Feux d’artifice’s supple and sparkling runs.

Olga Pashchenko joins Melnikov for Debussy’s own four- hand arrangement of La Mer, in a scrupulously synchronized performance full of bristling detail and colorful allure. Low-lying tremolos that can sound muddy and boring on a modern piano emerge more texturally varied and transparent on the Erard, while Melnikov and Pashchenko deftly accommodate each other in regard to balancing foreground and background material, yielding far less cluttered and monochrome results than is often the case in recordings of symphonic repertoire arranged for piano duet. Highly recommended.

– ClassicsToday (Jed Distler)

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.

Antoine Tamestit and Masato Suzuki, Principal Conductor of the famous Bach Collegium Japan, immersed themselves in Bach's three sonatas for viola da gamba and harpsichord in order to present this sublime interpretation using a modern viola. The change in instrumentation allows the artists total freedom to rediscover the exquisite qualities of these all too rarely played masterpieces. HARMONIA MUNDI

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.

In 2018, Paul Lewis embarked on an exploration of one of the richest bodies of work of the Classical era: the keyboard sonatas of Haydn.

For his second volume, the British pianist tackles some of the most remarkable pieces in this vast oeuvre: the exceptionally concise Sonata in D major Hob. XVI:51, for example, which is surprisingly pre-Romantic (Schubert is not far off), or the celebrated Sonata in E flat major Hob. XVI:52, with which Haydn conferred well-nigh symphonic dimensions on the keyboard sonata for the very first time.

The year 2022 marks the 400th Anniversary of the birth of one of French literature’s greatest geniuses: Molière.

His admirers thought they knew everything about his art, but they long remained deaf to an essential element in his output: the music.

In 1990, William Christie finally provided the opportunity to discover this domain, with Marc- Antoine Charpentier’s settings giving new depth to and shedding new light on the well-known text of Le Malade imaginaire.

This major recording opened up unexpected perspectives on an unjustly forgotten heritage. Experience it anew on this reissued double-album edition!

After recording the early quartets and the famous 'Dissonance' Quartet in volume 1 of its Mozart series, the Cuarteto Casals continues its exploration of the works Mozart dedicated to Joseph Haydn in volume 2. Here one composer took on the mantel of the other: the younger man, who had just settled in Vienna and started a family, was going through an exceptional period of creativity, transfiguring everything he touched with his genius. An exhilarating experience for our Catalan musicians, this Mozart project follows hard on the heels of their acclaimed Beethoven cycle.

Classical Music

After his recent Schubert album, Adam Laloum pays a visit to Brahms. The young prodigy of the early 1850s immediately established himself as the worthy heir of Beethoven and Schumann with his dazzling Sonata No.3. Almost forty years later, we find him just as wild and in no way mellowed - quite the contrary: he continues to explore new horizons in his Fantasias Op.116, where recollections of the old masters of the Classical keyboard mingle with incredibly modern intuitions.

With the two books of The Well-Tempered Clavier, Johann Sebastian Bach left posterity one of the most dazzling masterpieces in the history of music. Formal rigor and musical emotion meet in perfect communion. Following several outstanding recordings of other works by Bach, Andreas Staier invites us to climb this Everest once again, but starting, as it were, with the north face, the second book, and revealing it's poetry, it's sensibility and it's daunting architecture with the utmost naturalness.

After a first disc devoted to English music, La Rêveuse introduces us to the sound world of Louis de Caix d'Hervelois. As heir to Marin Marais, and one of his most brilliant pupils, Caix brought the bass viol new prestige in an era that was gradually abandoning the instrument. This composer, skilled in expressing the elegance and grace of the Enlightenment er, a left us a substantial and varied corpus of music and a vivid portrait gallery in which bass viol, 'pardessus de viole' and flute shine with especial lustre.