It is through a double CD that Musique en Wallonie is honoring the Belgian composer Lucie Vellere. When, in 1957, the jury (entirely male) of the International Composition Contest for Women Composers, organised by Grace Spofford and the American division of the Conseil international de femmes, awarded her a first prize, Lucie Vellere found herself, for the first in her life, in the public eye. She who had always cultivated discretion now aroused curiosity. Throughout her fifty-year compositional career, Vellere cultivated an art of the melodic line that one could liken to the curves of Art nouveau, which left their mark on many composers, among them the early Debussy of the Arabesques. While Franck and Faure are often cited as her aesthetic influences, the mature Debussy appears only as filtered through Jongen. Many of the references of pictorial, poetic and musical impressionism were adopted by the composer: the elements (earth, air, fire, water), landscapes, times and seasons (evening, moonlight, autumn), evocations of temporal or spatial distance (an indeterminate past, Antiquity, the Orient). Vellere strove also for a classical sobriety and sense of proportion. This recording highlights the composer's eclectic compositions, mixing work for voice and piano, string quartets and octets, women's choir and even piano music, a panorama of her compositions that will reveal several facets of her personality.

Incomparable virtuoso, called the Paganini of the harp, Felix Godefroid was also a composer and a teacher. This recording, performed by Sophie Hallynck, highlights the composer's studies in high virtuosity. Designed for his own use and that of professionals, partake of both "absolute music" - as with the deservedly famous etude in B Flat Minor, op. 193 - and the character piece, picturesque or sentimental. These musical miniatures are pieces overflowing with musicality, in a refined style, but they express a pedagogical programme first and foremost. Godefroid conceived of his etudes as a true school for harpists. Each technical problem becomes the medium for a musical expression - an approach that gives these etudes exceptional richness and relevance. Often based on one of those melodies for which Godefroid had such a knack, each one is set apart by a strongly marked expressive character, ranging from laughter to tears, as well as by it's structure, rhythm, novel sonorities, and harmonic surprises not lacking in audacity. Sophie Hallynck has risen to the technical challenges specific to each etude while staying faithful to the spirit of the era, with the aspiration to achieve a subtle balance between virtuosity and expression. Her essential objective has always been to make technique live through music, without ever obscuring that emotion that emanates from it.

Though Belgium in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries was known above all for it's "school" of violin-playing, represented by figures such as Henry Vieuxtemps and Eugene Ysaye, it was also home to a flourishing piano "school". After independence in 1830, the new nation's conservatoires opened numerous classes, method-books and anthologies proliferated, and piano-makers kept pace with new patents and instruments. This dynamic environment naturally had an effect on composers; everyone who wrote music wrote for this king of instruments, and promoted the results either by performing them themselves or by confiding them to virtuosos to execute in concerts or competitions. The most famous of these, the Eugene Ysaye Competition (since 1951 the Queen Elisabeth International Competition), opened to pianists in 1938, with Emil Gilels emerging victorious. A quarter of a century later, Jean-Claude Vanden Eynden entered this prestigious contest and, at sixteen years of age, came away with a third prize. Trained at the Brussels Conservatoire by Eduardo del Pueyo, he would go on to an international career still active six decades later. The programme of this CD is an homage to this long lineage of teachers and students. It testifies to the practices as well as the networks of friendship that gave this "school", throughout it's various ramifications, a particular character.

Over time, the memory of the brilliant virtuoso that was Eugene Ysaye (Liege, 1858 - Brussels, 1931) ended up supplanting his status as a composer in the collective memory. It should be remembered, however, that Eugene Ysaye created, through his works, a fundamentally new and original genre, distinguished by a science of writing and harmonic richness. This album brings together concert works by Eugene Ysaye which, with the exception of the Saltarelle carnavalesque, have never been recorded in their orchestral version. It therefore invites us on a unique journey into the composer's sound universe, from his first to his last compositions written for soloist(s) and orchestra.

In the last quarter of the 16th century, the madrigal spread well beyond Italy. Over 85 books of Italian madrigals were printed in Antwerp, mainly by Pierre Phalese the younger, giving a place of choice to both Italian and local composers. Thanks to research into the collections published at the time, La Compagnia del Madrigale is unveiling the world premiere of works taken from the volumes that made the genre such a success. It reveals their full potential and establishes the madrigal as a cosmopolitan art form.

Jean Richafort was thrust into the limelight by the success of his works, a fine reputation and his encounters with powerful figures such as Louis XII, Anne de Bretagne and Francois Ier. However, he remains mysterious regarding his origins and his professional choices. His works circulate widely, are copied and quickly disseminated: no fewer than 200 sources, both printed and handwritten, contribute to his fame. Moreover, his compositions are so appreciated that they inspire new works by leading composers from Mouton to Palestrina. The corpus of Jean Richafort's works consists of three masses, around thirty motets and about fifteen songs. Discover, in this recording, the composer's Missa O Genetrix and Missa Veni Sponsa Christi performed by the Cappella Mariana.

This release brings together works composed by Jean Rogister (1879-1964) during World War I: like most of his coreligionists, banned by edict of the occupying forces from appearing in public or even from teaching, Rogister did "profit" in one way from the Great War in that he developed a new embryonic vocation. Whole-heartedly adopting the post-Franckian vein, and remaining faithful to traditional tonality, he forged his own musical idiom, partly due to his melodic verve. A century after the end of the war, now that a "new simplicity" is gaining ground, his meditative and melancholy works, shot through here and there by tensions of various kinds, should have no difficulty in appealing to a new listening public.

This recording of songs or “Melodies” for soprano with piano quintet accompaniment by the Liege composer Joseph Johngen is a first. Although he wrote mostly instrumental music, he regarded vocal music equally highly, and in fact left some thirty songs, most of them published during his lifetime although mainly in versions with piano accompaniment. Indeed in some cases he made up to three versions, with accompaniment by piano, string quartet, piano quintet or even full orchestra, some of them unpublished to this day. This recording presents twelve songs, all of them being accompanied by piano quintet. Soprano Claire Lefilliatre is passionate about singing and the interpretation of French and Italian music of the seventeenth century. She received her vocal training from Alain Buet and Raphael Sikorski, studied historical performance practice with Eugene Green and Benjamin Lazar, and is trained in Alexander technique as applied to stage movement. Since 1999, Claire has been a principal performer in the group Le Poeme Harmonique, directed by Vincent Dumestre. Her involvement in their productions have been highly praised by the press.

The third volume of the Musical portraits series is dedicated to André-Modeste Grétry (1741-1813). This 5CD box set includes highlights of several operas (La caravane du Caire, L'amant jaloux, Le jugement de Midas), his Six Quartets, op. 3 (Paris, 1773) and some partial adaptations of his operas (by Mozart and Franck, among others). These works demonstrate Grétry‘s fine melodic sensibility, harmonic panache and accomplished artistry.

Josquin des Prez: the name evokes beautiful, brilliant, even magical music—but more than five centuries since he composed his last note, we are still discovering how to hear him. In this album, originally conceived to mark the composer’s quincentenary in 2021, Cut Circle strives to treat Josquin not as a sleepy relic of the distant past but as a stylish, sensitive, playful, ecstatic composer. We foreground his revolutionary precision and drive while embracing reactions to the music that are visceral and emotional.

C�sar Franck's R�demption (1873) is a pivotal work. It is an "ode-symphony," coming at the crossover point between oratorio, opera and symphonic poem - a vein brilliantly exploited by Franck in Psych� (1888) and Les B�atitudes (1891). R�demption also marks a further progression: with this vast fresco C�sar Franck became "le p�re Franck", leading father figure in the new French compositional school, the composer of maturity, creator of Le Chasseur maudit (1883), the Variations symphoniques (1885) and Les �olides (1885). Here we see the organist becoming a virtuoso in handling grand orchestral or vocal forces and taking his place amongst the major composers of the Symbolist period.

A contemporary of Claude Debussy, and a close friend of Maurice Maeterlinck, the composer Eug�ne Samuel-Holeman (1863-1942) takes us to the heart of the end-of-the-century in Belgium, to a place between symbolism and modernism. La jeune fille � la fen�tre (1904) is a monodrama sung on a text by the writer Camille Lemonnier, a major figure of the Belgian letters. Created and defended for ten years by the famous mezzo Jane Bathori, this "lyrical prose" astonishing as it's instrumentation as it's innovative harmonies, is a witness of the emancipation of the musical language at the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

In 1996, the label Musique en Wallonie published an album with works for Lute by Jacques de Saint-Luc (c. 1616-1708). These pieces were brilliantly performed by Stephen Stubbs. Recent studies allow us to affirm that the present release, the second to be devoted to works by a Saint-Luc, consists of music, not by Jacques, as it was wrongly mentioned in the first album, but by his son Laurent de Saint-Luc (1669 – after 1708). In addition to two traditional suites, the present programme offers two ensembles of pieces either chosen from certain suites or free-standing – including the mournful allemande in G minor – all taken from manuscripts of lute pieces preserved in Vienna or Prague. Evangelina Mascardi is considered one of the most prominent lute players on the international scene for her impressive interpretation, her brilliant virtuosity and admirable sound texture palette. In 1997 she moved to Europe to study with Hopkinson Smith at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis (Basel, Switzerland), where she obtained her “Solisten Diplom” in 2001. During the last decade she collaborated regularly as a continuo-player with Jordi Savall (Hespèrion XXI), Marc Minkowsky (Les Musiciens du Louvre), Andrea Marcon (Venice Baroque Orchestra), Chiara Banchini (415), Simon Rattle (Berliner Philarmoniker). With them and other ensembles she has taken part in more than 30 recordings.

In 2016 Sarah Defrise unearthed more than twenty unpublished songs by Joseph Jongen (1873-1953), some of them preserved amongst the composer's private papers. Such a discovery is an important event in the Belgian musical landscape. This young soprano now offers the first complete recording of these songs, of which this constitutes the first volume. We have chosen to focus on works from both the composer's youth and his maturity. This album therefore presents an unpublished cycle of setting of poems by Armand Silvestre (1892), the famous cycle op. 25 (1902), from which the first song had always previously been missing, and a selection of later songs dating from 1909 to 1928. Jongen's sensitive and subtle art is carried by the intelligent and luminous performance by the duo formed by Sarah with the English pianist Craig White.

This is something of an exceptional disc. Especially if you are a collector of virtuoso violin music. There is a good case for Eugène Ysaÿe being the most musically interesting of the famed group of violinist-composers from his teacher Vieuxtemps through to Wieniawski, Sarasate and even Paganini amongst others. All of those composers certainly explored the outer limits of violin technique but often at the cost of producing music devoid of all lasting quality. I would suggest that Ysaÿe’s famed set of 6 solo sonatas are alongside the Bach solo works as the most musically rewarding pieces in the repertoire for violin alone.

Ysaÿe’s catalogue is by no means vast but it includes an opera - possibly the only one written with the original libretto in Walloon - as well as chamber music, a couple of orchestral works and a selection of concertante works. But search the current catalogue and once you have stripped away multiple recordings of the solo sonatas and a couple of (gratefully received) chamber music discs from Naxos, very little of substance remains. The label Musique en Wallonie, from which this new disc emanates, has been the most significant supporter in keeping his music alive for inquisitive collectors. This seems to be their third disc after the aforementioned opera and another of orchestral/concertante works. If they match the quality of the music-making on display here I will be seeking them out urgently. But given that this disc features Ysaÿe's works for his ‘own’ instrument the violin, it strikes me that this is the most important collection so far as modern recordings go. There was a relatively old Koch/Swann disc that included the six Poèmes - which I once ordered but never received! - and now commands high secondhand prices. CPO released a collection of concertante works in 2006 - recorded some 7 years earlier than that - which is valuable for having the rare Violin Concerto on it. Rachel Kolly d'Alba included the Rêve and Berceuse recorded here on an excellent collection title French Impressions (also conducted in the main by Jean-Jacques Kantorow). I seem to remember Extase as a coupling on an old Melodiya LP and Aaron Rosand recorded Chant d'hiver on Vox with the worthy but limited Orchestra of Radio Luxembourg, but other than that I am struggling. Which makes a disc bringing together in one place nearly seventy minutes of Ysaÿe’s concertante violin music in brand new recordings especially valuable.

This is not really a disc to be consumed in a single sitting. The works were never intended to be heard ‘en masse’ and there is a certain sameness of style and sensibility which diminishes the impact of individual works if listened to as a sequence. Make no mistake, this is violin playing of the supremest, highest level. This disc is shared between two solo players; Amaury Coeytaux and Svetlin Roussev who have interestingly very distinct violinistic personalities. Both trained in France and hold current posts - according to their websites - as concertmaster and super-soloists of the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France. Both are stunningly fine players. The Bulgarian-born Roussev (a former pupil of the conductor Kantorow) leads off the recital with the fourth Poème, Extase. As directed by the composer, although there is no indication to this effect in the published piano/violin reduction, he plays the opening passages - up until rehearsal letter D on the G string. He is careful to observe the dynamics and the G string tone adds an impressive weight to the sound as well as being completely secure in intonation and evenness of tone production. This is exceptionally fine playing.

Both he and Coeytaux are excellent at catching the sense of fantasy and freedom that is implicit in so much of Ysaÿe's writing. He is often credited with inventing the poème form of work - in essence a compact concertante mood piece. The most famous example of the genre is Chausson’s but that was composed after Ysaÿe's first essay in the form. The other key element to successfully playing Ysaÿe's music is to maintain the importance of the musical line. This is why I consider Ysaÿe a finer composer than many of the other virtuoso performer/composers for violin. The latter sacrifice musical line for virtuoso display. Ysaÿe, no matter how complex and demanding his writing becomes, uses the virtuosity to serve the innate lyricism. Roussev in the opening two works and Coeytaux in the third, Chant d'hiver, are exceptionally in this respect. The closing pages of the Divertimento are brutally hard, with fingered octaves and tenths and complex passagework crowding in on each other, but Roussev is little short of brilliant not just in his technical address but in maintaining the musical coherence of the work too. Roussev plays on the 1710 Stradivarius ‘Camposelice’ which one source on-line says Josef Suk used to play. Certainly it never sounded like it does here if that was indeed the case! For those interested in such things, Coeytaux’s website states that he plays on a 1773 Guadagnini - which sounds absolutely gorgeous too.

If pushed, I would guess that Coeytaux's slightly more held style, with more of a sense of caressing the music, might be closer to Ysaÿe's own performing choices. Certainly in the Chant d'hiver he conveys a more intimate inward mood that suits the music to a tee. I'm still very fond of Aaron Rosand's performance which is Romantic with a capital ‘R’ but it is hard not to hear Coeytaux’s approach as the one with greater poise, greatly helped by the far finer recording and the playing of the accompanying orchestra. For those with an interest in technical aspects of violin playing, Ysaÿe introduces towards the end of this work a sequence where the violin has to play harmonics in chords. Getting fingered harmonics to ‘speak’ is a challenge at the best of times and they are a pig to tune perfectly as well. Having to play chordal harmonics is just sadistic! Suffice to say Coeytaux is magnificent here; as he is in the second poème, Au Rouet. The liner points out the tradition of “spinning wheel” music although it mentions Schubert and Lizst whereas I would guess Saint-Säens might provide inspiration closer to home. This is a very impressive work, again compressing so much music and detail into a relatively brief sub-fourteen minute time-frame. In the liner, it is mentioned that it might be because Ysaÿe suffered from hand cramps and tendonitis that he preferred this shorter concertante form. Whatever the motivation these are excellent works; time and again I'm impressed with the amount of musical ‘meat’ they contain, as opposed to the frothy delights of say Saint-Säens' morceaux and equivalent works.

It is interesting to contrast Kolly d'Alba’s performances of the Rêve and Berceuse at this point. She favours an even freer, slightly breathy tone with portamenti and a very fast tight vibrato. I must admit I rather like that too, although again I find myself wondering if Coeytaux's cooler approach is not even more revealing and apt. Worth mentioning is the contribution of Jean-Jacques Kantorow and his Orchestre Philharmonique de Liège here. Kantorow has moved more onto the conducting podium in recent years. It must help hugely in this style of music which has a feeling of fluid rubato at its heart to have on the stick an artist who fundamentally understands how this music works from the inside as a player. Ysaÿe’s orchestration is effective without ever being overly original but it does require players who allow the ebb and flow to feel natural and spontaneous. The recording is good - perhaps a fraction close at times resulting in the biggest climaxes sounding slightly congested - but overall the detail of the solo writing is well caught.

I like the physical presentation of this disc very much. Musique en Wallonie have made this into in effect a small hard-backed book. The disc is tucked into a clear plastic slip on the inside front cover of the book. The liner is presented in the usual tri-lingual French/English/German plus Dutch as the official language of the Flemish region. The liner essay by Christophe Pirenne is detailed and interesting, but the particular delight of this book is the number of fascinating archive photographs of Ysaÿe as well as reproductions of pages of scores, cartoons and paintings. There is real old-fashioned pleasure to be had in browsing this booklet while listening to the music, right down to the high quality of the glossy paper used to print the book on. Curiously, the book contains no biographical details about the artists at all.

This disc is part of Musique en Wallonie's Collection 14-18 which “aims at drawing a musical picture of the Great War years". I am not quite sure how Ysaÿe fits into that model,since although some of this music does date from the Great War I do not ‘hear’ the conflict in the music. Not that that absence diminishes the interest or value of the works. Indeed, this disc will be on my shortlist for a disc of the year. One of those recordings which open up repertoire and performers that you were previously ignorant about but vastly enriched for now knowing.

– MusicWeb International (Nick Barnard)