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.

Wilhem Latchoumia and Vanessa Wagner are adventurous pianists whose mastery extends from the standard repertoire to contemporary music. Their duo sprang from the ephemeral quartet of pianists assembled for that project, when they discovered they shared the same open-minded approach and the same passion for contemporary music. Here Vanessa Wagner and Wilhem Latchoumia pursue their exploration of the repertory for two pianos, shedding new light on several emblematic works of early twentieth-century French music. Here they pay tribute to musical Impressionism in a programme of works by it's greatest masters, in which the artists' close rapport, energy and skilful nuances will appeal to connoisseurs and neophytes alike. The pre-eminence of colour over line, the dissolution of the subject, a tendency to dreams and the call of distant horizons, hedonism, stasis and suspension of time, evocation of images and atmospheres, a penchant for mystery and the supernatural: these are some of the key elements of Impressionist music, of which Debussy's Prelude a l'apres-midi d'un faune is the first and most famous illustration.

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!