A central figure of the organ in the first half of the twentieth century, Marcel Dupre (1886-1971) brought the French symphonic organ to international prominence and trained several generations of leading organists. In this recording, Olivier Latry pays tribute to this composer and arranger through works that place particular emphasis on the dialogue between the symphonic organ and the orchestra in it's fullest expression.
How do you give new impetus to your artistic life after completing a project as intense as recording Johannes Brahms' complete piano works? Geoffroy Couteau's answer was to climb an Everest. For to perform Bach's Goldberg Variations is to undergo an exceptional musical and human experience. It is also to grasp the expressive power of polyphony and it's extraordinary force of attraction.
With Passage, her debut solo album, the Georgian pianist Salome Jordania (nee 1996) presents a spiritual and vertiginous journey by way of the music of Franz Liszt, Alexander Scriabin, and Kaija Saariaho. Moving between mysticism, darkness, and the quest for transcendence, she explores the obscurity and radiance of the human soul through a programme of rare intensity, conceived as a true inner odyssey.
Musical sound waves circulate through space. From which is derived that seductive, yet also elusive, unstable, phenomenon, known as music.' Thus wrote Vladimir Jankelevitch in his essay La Presence lointaine (Distant Presence), exploring the mobility of musical sound through a comparative reflection on the works of Isaac Albeniz, Deodat de Severac, and Federico Mompou. These three composers shared the art of expressing the ineffable and transfiguring reality through the use of distinctive harmonies, colours, and resonances. They succeeded in conjuring up landscapes of profound poetry, from which Wilhem Latchoumia has drawn inspiration to imagine a fascinating and deeply moving voyage between France and Spain.
Recognisable throughout the world and marked by an unmistakable authenticity, Astor Piazzolla's musical language has achieved a truly universal resonance. Following on from Carlos Gardel, the Argentine bandoneonist and composer reinvented the tango in the 1950s, giving it a new aesthetic identity. Such was it's force that it ultimately moved beyond the dance itself and became the foundation of all Piazzola's musical creation. His style requires a kind of initiation: it is shaped by an improbable meeting between European art music and a popular art born in the barrios of Buenos Aires. By embracing it, Xavier Phillips and Les Solistes de Lausanne are cultivating a passionate relationship with this music, which breathes the soul of that city, poised between melancholy and exaltation.
The coming together of the percussionist and marimbist Vassilena Serafimova and the Quatuor Ardeo,(Ardeo String Quartet) the encounter of two worlds that inspire new repertoires as well as moods and impressions, recreated partly through original arrangements. This is a subtle balance between the marimba coupled with the vibraphone and the strings: the former, pulsating and silky, brings a more pronounced rhythmic dimension and occasionally takes on a concertante role; the latter offers a warm lyricism and a texture at times dense or transparent, but always supple. A delicate balance, too, when it comes to paying homage to the works without diminishing their original artistic strength. As the works and arrangements unfold, the journey takes shape like a voyage journal where age-old traditions meet fresh inspirations. Melodies in a Bottle aims to be less a programme than a passage, one of maritime or urban perspectives, of real or imagined landscapes, of music whose history is rewritten with every note. A meeting space where curiosity becomes an attractive driving force.
Vienna was in the grip of serious political unrest that forced many of it's artists into exile when Erich Wolfgang Korngold (1897-1957) composed his Second String Quartet in 1933, first performed the following year in the Austrian capital. In it he celebrated, before it faded away, the vitality of a musical school of which Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) had been one of the founders more than a century and a half earlier, and which Anton Webern (1883-1945) had helped to usher into modernity. It is this lineage that the musicians of the Quatuor Hermès (the Hermès String Quartet) highlight through a twilight-tinged programme in which each work bears witness to a fascinating narrative power and could be understood as an expression of a farewell.
It was on American soil that Antonin Dvorak (1841-1904) began the composition of his Cello Concerto. Free of all prejudice, he had taken a keen interest in Amerindian and Afro-American cultures during his long stay in the United States of America. Moving himself between classical, jazz, improvisation, and world music as part of his trio or his duo with accordion, Raphael Jouan could not but be receptive to the open-mindedness of the Czech composer. And when, for his recording debut with orchestra, he decided to measure himself against this emblematic work, it was in order to live a collective adventure, under the sign of sharing, with musicians close to his heart.
Ciocarlia: Did you say The Lark? The Romanian lark - aside from being gentle, is also the musical symbol of the Romanian people through it's famously beloved folk song. In this album, with the fragrance of childhood memories, pianist Dana Ciocarlie invites the listener on a journey through all the regions of Romania, each with it's distinctive rhythms. Composers such as Enescu, Bartok, Lipatti, and Paul Constantinescu, under her fingers, inspire a desire to sing and dance with irresistible joy and a touch of nostalgia, like larks soaring straight towards the sun.
Are 'hits' exclusively associated with modern pop music? Popular successes have roots much deeper in the history of music, spanning various genres and contexts, including music created and shared in private settings, such as homes, as well as in street performances. Certain compositions' extraordinary popularity is attested by widely distributed, copied, and repeatedly republished scores. The innumerable arrangements for other instruments also attest to the extent of the phenomenon. Following the success of their 2002 album Dvorak (LDV101), and once again in association with the Czech instrumental arranger Jiri Kabat, the Talich Quartet invites us to explore Mitteleuropa's folk repertoire. An invitation to dance. Irresistible!
Like Chopin before him, and even more closely Scriabin, Rachmaninoff yielded to the temptation of writing his 24 Preludes, assembling this emblematic number in three stages. It began with a youthful work: the famous Prelude in C-sharp minor. From this root, music deeply anchored in Russian soil, imbued with the Slavic soul to which the composer, later exiled, would remain forever attached, there would spring, a decade later, the Opus 23 set, followed seven years on by Opus 32. These Preludes are like images in an album that Jean-Baptiste Fonlupt invites us to leaf through, sonic paintings whose authentic colours of memory he poetically restores. Far from his native land, which he left for good, Rachmaninoff would never write this way again.
A unique achievement in Jean-Philippe Collard's discography, this piano programme devoted to Busoni's transcriptions of Bach's organ works is the result of a deep desire and represents a great accomplishment. Jean-Philippe Collard has been driven by three objectives : to immerse himself in Bach's organ music, to which he has always been attached; to reconnect this passion back to a youth nourished by the great sacred works of the Cantor; and to pay tribute to his musician father, who instilled this culture in him and continues to inspire him today. There is also the ambition of creating an innovative project, outside of the repertoires that have established his talent, following some sixty recordings, and at the height of an artistic career that calls for a form of synthesis, not of his career, but of a family history with the piano, of which Bach seems to him to be the greatest common denominator. The accomplishment is therefore multifaceted. Firstly, it is a sound that fully satisfies the performer, whose memories of organ works are enhanced by the breadth they acquire on the piano thanks to Busoni. It also embodies the very idea of recording itself, to which this extraordinary pianistic material gives, more than anything else, it's justification, according to Jean-Philippe Collard. For him, it is still a matter of perfecting the pianistic gesture, through an almost physiological notion of harmony between the writing and the music that is etched into the hand. Finally, it is the pianistic skill that this programme displays, serving the pleasure of a sound craftsman who feels that he has come full circle. What more could one ask for, he ponders. Borrowing from organ terminology, the expression 'full organ' here symbolically expresses the notion of plenitude and the magnitude of a total pianistic undertaking.
As a Japanese cellist, Michiaki Ueno wishes to introduce the world to the remarkable body of music composed in his homeland. At first glance, this might seem like a conventional statement - something anyone might say. Yet, when we consider his background, the words take on a different weight. Born in Paraguay (1995) and raised in Spain during his early years, Michiaki Ueno was captivated at the age of four by a video of Yo-Yo Ma. He received his first cello as a Christmas gift when he was five - marking the beginning of his musical journey. For someone like Ueno, Japan was both his homeland and a distant, unfamiliar place. "I never really thought deeply about Japanese culture," he reflects. "When Europeans spoke kindly about Japan, I was embarrassed to realize how little I actually knew." As he matured, Ueno found himself increasingly compelled to confront and contemplate his cultural identity. Unlike those who grow up immersed in Japan and take it's environment for granted, Ueno approached it as something external something to be consciously examined, understood, and deliberately chosen. It is perhaps through the very act of performing works by Japanese composers that he engages in this thoughtful process of selection.
Ayant choisi de se referer à Ravel pour le nom de leur ensemble, il etait tout naturel que le compositeur francais figure au programme de leur premier enregistrement. Les musiciens du Trio Pantoum entendent bien, pour autant, ne pas s'enfermer dans une seule esthetique, mais se laisser guider par leur curiosite et explorer des repertoires aussi varies que contrastes. Ainsi, pour leurs debuts discographiques, temoignent-ils de multiples accents, associant leur partition fetiche à celles d'un romantique russe quelque peu oublie et de l'une des nouvelles figures de la musique tcheque.
Dazzling as the Queen of the Night, deeply moving in Lucia di Lammermoor and La Sonnambula, Natalie Dessay also made her mark on the operatic stage in the roles of Olympia, Manon, Musetta and Cleopatra. After training at the Atelier Lyrique de l'Opera National de Paris and pursuing an international operatic career, Natalie Dessay decided to devote herself to spoken theatre, chansons and the song repertory. The duo she formed in 2011 with her artistic partner Philippe Cassard has given one hundred and thirty-five performances around the world, completely reinventing the song recital as a unique moment of expression, embodiment and shared emotion. Ten years after her last appearance at the Opera Bastille in La Fille du regiment, she has chosen to give her farewell performance on the stage of the Palais Garnier on 31 March 2025. This is the last album from this legendary duo, a fitting way to celebrate the sixtieth birthday of one of the greatest sopranos of her generation.
Is there a more singular composer than Alexander Nikolayevich Skrjabin (1872-1915)? Light years away from those of his Russian contemporaries, his original trajectory is that of an incandescent comet in the musical firmament of his time, whose thousands of lumens are suddenly extinguished at it's zenith... all because of the ridiculous insect bite to which he succumbed. An exalted Icarus, captivated by the infinite and yearning for mystical ecstasy, traces his first steps within the legacy of Fryderyck Chopin (1810-1849). His youthful works, bearing in their refined lines the seeds of his boundless creativity, find under Clement Lefebvre's touch an expressive power and a poetic motion of rare elegance.
The unsuspected summits of virtuosity Playing fast and loud... Letting the rapidity of your fingers go to your head... Is this really the definition of virtuosity? Virtuosity has it's origins in 'virtue'; a set of moral qualities, before evolving into something purely technical. By choosing works by Brahms, Mozart, and Liszt, Michel Dalberto will take us on the lengthy journey towards an increased understanding of these pieces. The difficulty of performing them is just one of the ways in which the texts take on their full meaning. So that the scores can reveal the full genius of their creator. Their humanity.
For his first CD with La Dolce Volta, Olivier Latry has chosen a programme devoted to the music of Johann Sebastian Bach. This recording, made on the massive Cavaille-Coll organ of Notre-Dame de Paris, of which he is titular organist, raises a number of fascinating questions. 'My approach highlights several paradoxes: the notion of performing these key works of Protestantism in one of the most emblematic centres of Catholicism, first of all, but also of playing them on an instrument that is, to say the least, far removed from the Baroque and Classical style of organ building. It's quite true, all of this raises questions. 'However, the most important question remains, in my opinion, that of authenticity in music. I must confess that this concept often seems to me to be a decoy... Playing Bach in this context therefore implies finding a new balance in order to preserve the spirit and letter of music. One cannot be divorced from the other. 'Every performer plays with the instruments of his or her time, and the instrument I have here at Notre-Dame is an outstanding one. One cannot and must not fight against the past, but on the contrary assimilate it, the better to derive inspiration from it and then find one's personal path. We shouldn't really be talking about authenticity at all, but, more soberly, about sincerity.'
When the Quatuor Ysaye dares... Twelve concerts LIVE in Paris! Played without a safety net at the Auditorium of the Musee d'Orsay! These were the conditions needed to recreate the uncompromising universe of the Beethoven quartets, a true musical Everest. Here, at the very peak of it's art, the Quatuor Ysaye offers the final dazzling demonstration of the unique rigour and sensibility that for thirty years marked it out as one of the finest in the world.
An organist at the pinnacle of his achievement. With superb virtuosity and most fluent playing, André Isoir proposes a subtle, fervent, and very spiritual interpretation, free to the point of sounding almost like improvisation. His expression is fervent, and his instrumental performance infinitely refined, but also narrative and full of contrast.
Violinist Eva Zavaro pays heartfelt tribute to her two homelands, France and Poland, in a programme of works by Gabriel Faure and Karol Szymanowski. It's guiding thread is night, a source of inspiration to both composers, depicted in pieces that are sometimes virtuosic and impetuous, sometimes lyrical and dreamy under Eva's intense bow. She is accompanied by her longstanding musical partner, the pianist Clement Lefebvre, in this nocturnal journey which marks her first recording for La Dolce Volta.
A trumpet-tuba duo: what an unusual idea! At the height of the pandemic, the brothers Thomas and Romain Leleu came up with the notion of creating a unique ensemble. While virtuosity (whose Latin origin in the word virtus, at once 'strength' and 'virtue', should never be forgotten) was a given for the two musicians, who play with an astonishing rapport, they are even more fascinated by the search for the appropriate sound world for the newly minted pieces they perform. An opportunity to meet two illusionists.
Her curiosity, her thirst for discovery and her audacity have led her to cultivate eclecticism, to follow paths less travelled and to take us to places where we might not have expected her to go. Deeply committed to the process of creating new music, she has also developed a passion for the minimalist movement and a notable penchant for music stripped down to extreme starkness. From her many immersions in often hypnotic sound worlds, Vanessa Wagner has emerged a different person, freer and more willing to reveal herself. And so it is that today she offers us what is probably her most personal recording, a programme she developed over two long years, constructing an imaginary, fantasised narrative based on miniatures by Grieg, Tchaikovsky, Sibelius and Glinka. The pianist becomes the author and narrator of a story of shadows and light.
The clarinet sonatas mark the end of Brahms’s output of chamber music and perhaps its peak. Their gentleness and tenderness combine gracefully with the twilight glow that emanates from these pieces, showing a disarming simplicity close to Mozart. The Horn Trio, on the other hand, expresses the ardor and energy of a composer in his early thirties and at the height of his artistic powers. Geoffroy Couteau moves with sovereign ease from one mood to another in these works, bringing out their vividly contrasting colors and emotions in perfect unison with his attentive partners.
Brahms was a spirited, fair-haired youth of twenty-one when he composed his first chamber work, essaying the delicate art of the trio for piano and strings. The result was a masterpiece. Quartets, quintets, sextets followed … and many years went by before he returned twice more to the piano trio genre. The horn too was given its own trio, with a part that could be borrowed by the cello. The maturity and life experience he had gained left their mark over the years. The time had come for wisdom, gravity and nostalgia, while the inner passion and fire remained. With this complete recording, the Trio Sora leads us on a journey along the pathways of Brahms, to encounter his very soul.
Does Florian Noack’s take on transcription smack of forbidden delights? From Bach to the Sherman Brothers, the pianist denies himself nothing, especially not the pleasure of liberally sprinkling his good humour and insolent virtuosity over these pieces of every hue. Here is a delightful album in which repertory masterpieces and unexpected musical universes come together in perfect harmony under his fingers and gain new light and life, joyful, playful, airy and poetic, thanks to the magic of his inspiration. With exquisite taste, Florian Noack's transcriptions and paraphrases take us into a world of freedom and refinement, where novel sounds and subtleties of language are delicacies to be savoured… guilt-free!
This album takes us on a journey through several different eras of Romanticism, from its origins to its twilight, from Schumann to Poulenc by way of Brahms and Berg. It is also the story of a long friendship and artistic collaboration …
A declared enemy of anything that smacks of routine, the clarinettist Michel Portal looks after his unpredictability the way an astronaut looks after his oxygen supply. His almost organic curiosity, his need for exchange, reacts here to an exciting encounter with the pianist Michel Dalberto.
The clarinet sonatas by Brahms and Poulenc, Schumann’s Phantasiestücke and Berg’s Four Pieces are all seen in a new perspective at La Dolce Volta. Every Michel Portal recording is a passport to wisdom, a term that for him goes hand in hand with speed, joy and exultation. Eternal youth!
