La Petite Symphonie was formed ten years ago out of a desire to combine the performance techniques of symphonic music with the intimate atmosphere of chamber music. Following the group’s first album, Daniel Isoir and his ensemble now offer their interpretation of works that have often been featured in their concert programmes: the two piano quartets. A fusion of the concerto and the quartet, these works are rarely performed and there are surprisingly few recordings available of them, particularly on period instruments. Concerto-like in form and built on a dialogue between the piano and the string trio, they unfold in the more private, secluded and intimate atmosphere of chamber music, whilst retaining the extrovert brilliance of the concerto. The quartet for piano, violin, viola and cello was a completely new ensemble at the end of the 18th century and in fact was invented by Mozart himself. Dating from 1785 and 1786, and therefore contemporary with The Marriage of Figaro, these two piano quartets formed part of a series of three commissioned by the publisher Franz Anton Hoffmeister. However, Hoffmeister’s difficulty in ‘selling’ the first quartet, which was judged to be technically too demanding for amateur musicians, led him to abandon the project, although he agreed to let the composer keep the advance on his fee. In these two quartets Mozart achieves a perfect balance between the piano and the strings, the instruments now combining, now alternating throughout the score. At times, the fortepiano plays alone, albeit fleetingly. The first quartet is more tragic than the second, while the latter has greater luminosity and warmth. This permanent conversation with the strings is undoubtedly enriched by the roundness of tone of Daniel Isoir’s fortepiano. But the pleasure in listening to these two masterpieces of chamber music also stems from the perfect balance and melodious dialogue between the four exceptional musicians who make up La Petite Symphonie.

French Baroque Cantatas: Ariane & Orphée

Bach: Toccatas

Minoritenkonvent

The instrumentation indications printed on the scores of 18th century violin sonatas were numerous and varied. However, the renewal of baroque performance over recent decades has imposed the uniformity of a continuo bass played on harpsichord and cello, despite the celebrated ‘o’ of Corelli and many of his pupils in: violoncello o cembalo. Though the use of the harpsichord is not to be called into question, other practices were common, particularly in the case of the violin sonatas. And it was unquestionably Tartini and his contemporaries who pushed a new practice to the forefront from the 1740s onwards: to perform the music of these great violinists-composers with an accompaniment of solo cello, which, far from being incidental, has a major role in the score. Other works of this programme render justice to the cello as a solo instrument, fully equal to the violin, with the first veritable duets for both instruments, something very much in vogue in the classical period. This musical itinerary of duets and sonatas for violin and cello offers a new experience, one that is varied and fascinating, with works of great beauty. Yet David Plantier and Annabelle Luis also show us a new sound image: the fullness of only two instruments of the same family is surprising, whilst the infinite colours and the uncommon pliability presented by this combination reveal unforgettable moments of music.

The pianist Daniel Isoir is the son of one of the greatest French organists, who died in 2016, André Isoir. Like all children of musicians, he was bathed in music from birth, was impregnated with the organ repertory and notably with the works of César Franck, whose complete works his father recorded in 1975 on a Cavaillé-Coll. As a homage to his father, Daniel Isoir in turn plunges into these scores written originally for the piano, or being the result of celebrated transcriptions from the organ to the piano. A virtuoso pianist, Franck gave up quite early his first instrument, becoming the famous organist, titular of Sainte Clotilde, who for 38 years no longer composed for the piano while leaving an indelible imprint on the organ repertory. It was thus not until 1884 and 1887, having acquired a solid reputation as a composer, that he wrote his two great triptychs that belong to the great patrimony of the French piano. The third triptych was written down a bit later conjointly for large organ and for piano/harmonium duet. The celebrated 3ème Choral completes this programme, along with the bewitching Danse lente as the cherry on the cake. In order to record this music with its contained lyricism, its fluid, subtle harmonies, illuminated by memories as fleeting as they are dazzling of high virtuosity, Daniel Isoir has chosen an Erard piano of 1875, setting it off with magnificent luminosity and sumptuous colors.

In rendering homage to the master of Padua on the occasion of the 250th anniversary of his death, the choice proved to be delicate given the abundance of music of constant and acceptable quality. David Plantier and Annabelle Luis have selected the 5 unpublished sonatas in this programme from Manuscript 9796, preserved in the Bibliotheque nationale de France, and taken from the Italian city in 1796 by Napoleon’s army as a prize of war. Four of these date from the latter years of Tartini. They all have in common an extreme virtuosity necessary for performance, yet also the necessity of a perfect mastery of the instrument for producing a natural, musical version, the reflection of the composer’s typical cantabile. David Plantier is without question the baroque violinist most suited for this mission, having been a passionate defender of Tartini and his music for years. Giuseppe Tartini often performed in duets with his cellist friend the abbé Vandini. The destiny of these two formidable musicians was indivisible, and it is this historic duet that the Duo Tartini aims to bring back to life; the violin and the cello give this richly diverse music a setting of velvet tones, they revitalize the beauty and modernity within so as to touch the hearts of contemporary listeners.

Far from being prejudicial to the work’s integrity, a transcription of Winterreise for voice and string quartet follows a tradition that enabled the music of Schubert, from 1830, to spread throughout the whole of Europe. The lieder in particular were the object of the most diverse adaptations, with the voice replaced by a cello, a violin, a horn or even a cornet, and the piano part at times orchestrated. Such an approach is therefore perfectly "authentic", even if the juxtaposition of a string quartet and the lied is not the easiest to deal with; the first indeed embodies a noble genre, scholarly, elaborate in style, stylistically complex, whereas the second remains attached to its popular origins and to a simplicity in both the vocal part and the accompaniment. However, in this transcription by Gilone Gaubert, the wager has paid off and a new color has been given to Schubert’s absolute masterpiece. The passage from piano to strings does not imply merely a change of tone-color: if the keyboard’s percussive quality is lost it is in favour not only of the ability to sustain a note but also to vary its color and intensity during its duration, resulting in very different phrasings and effects. It is thus a transformed expressivity that guides this transcription, as well as a modification of the overall resonance. The warm, clear voice of the baritone Alain Buet, accompanied by the quartet Les Heures du jour, invites you to delve into this world premiere in a rediscovery of no doubt the most accomplished cycle in the repertory of the lied.

After their album devoted to the Sonatas of Grieg, the Latvian violinist Vineta Sareika and the French pianist Amandine Savary tackle Mozart for their second recording. In three sonatas of markedly different characters, the two former partners of the Trio Dali have retained their perfect harmony for performing and indeed producing a major version of these works. If the first sonata on this album, the Sonata K. 376, has no great formal originality, the dialogue between the violin and the piano is intensely varied and overall the work develops both charm and considerable tranquillity. Dating from the same year, the Sonata K. 379 was composed very rapidly; Mozart asserts he wrote it in an hour, without having the time to write down on paper the piano part that he performed from memory at its first performance the next day. Despite these unusual circumstances, it is one of the most beautiful and original of his works for piano and violin. Composed a few days after the Little Night Music, the Sonata K. 526 is one of his most dazzling compositions, with big movements in exceptionally quick tempi; there reigns here the permanent impression that the composer is delighting in his natural mastery of counterpoint and his art, uniquely so. Vineta Sareika and Amandine Savary demonstrate once again a sublime, jubilant feeling for chamber music. As for their preceding collaboration: “The symbiosis is perfect between two musicians. The vital, solar violin of Sareika is answered by the expressive, structured piano playing of Savary.”

Formed in 2015 by four young musicians, Les Kapsber’girls, by their very name, send a nod and a wink to one of their favorite composers. It is thus quite natural that their first recording be dedicated to the works of Girolamo Kapsberger, a virtuoso musician and exceptional composer in Rome in the early XVIIth century. The extreme variety of his output bears witness to the artistic effervescence of pre-baroque Italy and of the immense talent of one of the geniuses of music history. His four books of villanelles are veritable gems of music; from one work to another he takes us to the heart of a world of bucolic poetry with some instructive contrasts. The extraordinary diversity of the characters and colors of these even now little-known airs makes us dream, surprises and amazes us, and leaves us with a strange yet pleasant sense of nostalgia. With "Che fai tù?", the Kapsber’girls present a rediscovery of these little gems through their unique performance style. The songs alternate with instrumental pieces that enable us to appreciate the sound of Albane Imbs on a variety of plucked string instruments. All of this is brilliantly brought together (and in sound) thanks to the artistic direction of Rolf Lislevand, the illustrious specialist of this repertory! In search of new keys for reading and interpreting the historical sources, the four Kapsber’girls throw an oblique light on these works, finding new pathways and having fun with the genre. Energy and vitality taken from ‘popular’ forms of music, colorations tending towards the tones of contemporary music and a restless desire to look for the new in the old are all on the agenda.

Precious little Dutch polyphonic music survives from the middle ages. Whatever is left consists of fragments of manuscripts, now kept at the university libraries of Utrecht, Leiden and Amsterdam, dating from around 1400. This means that a significant number of compositions come down to us in an incomplete state: voices are missing, and some of the music has become illegible. To make a larger portion of this repertoire accessible to the public, some of the fragments have been restored digitally, some of the lacunary pieces have been reconstructed (‘recomposed’) by ensemble leader Niels Berentsen. The exact provenance of the fragments is difficult to assess with certainty, but what is clear is that they originated from the Dutch language-area: in all collections we find songs on Middle-Dutch texts. It is probable that the fragments originated around the court of the county of Holland in The Hague, or in the urban environment of Utrecht, the bishop’s residence. With this album, Diskantores presents a cross section of this unique, multifaceted repertoire. Liturgical pieces could have been performed as part of a mass, while secular pieces with Dutch, French or German texts would have been sung in a private circle of connoisseurs, or during festivities at the court. This then presents a project that perfectly fits muso: off the beaten track, full of joy and beautifully performed by a young vocal ensemble, joined here by Jacques Meegens on a medieval organ whose sounds leave no one indifferent. A musical treat that will lift all spirits!

Edvard Grieg himself established a classification of his three sonatas for violin and piano: the First is naïve and prolix, the Second nationalistic and the Third opens up new horizons. The First Sonata dates from 1865 and was written in Denmark; full of inspired freshness, it is characterized by melodic purity and is ever in song. The Second, composed two years later, corresponds to Grieg’s return to Norway and his marriage; the composer expresses here a honeymoon: there is love and of course dance, the central figure of Grieg’s music. Another 20 years would pass before the Third Sonata was born after a difficult gestation; no doubt the most often played albeit the most demanding, the folklore is secondary to a more adventurous expressive research, to more elaborate harmonies and some uncommon displays of power. The Latvian violinist Vineta Sareika- first violin of the Artemis Quartet- and the French pianist Amandine Savary have been partners on the most prestigious concert platforms, both of them at the time founding members of the Trio Dali. From this friendship was born the desire to continue to make music together. Their respective capacities for listening, their musical complicity shine forth in this performance of a monument of chamber music.

For this recording of the Concerti a quattro for recorder, oboe, cello and harpsichord, the Ensemble Bradamante offers an original perspective on works following the same logic, that of highlighting each instrument separately, distancing themselves from the trio sonata and drawing closer to the concerto a molti stromenti. The journey begins in Italy with Corelli, who developed the musical form of the concerto grosso, as in his famous Concerto fatto per la notte di Natale. It ends with Vivaldi, whose Concerto RV 103 features the lyrical recorder in the solo parts while the oboe oscillates between the roles of ripieno and of solo partner, concluding in a whirlwind of colour. This programme also includes works by French and Germanic composers; the Chaconne en trio of Jacques Morel, the Concerto a quattro of Handel (the paternity of which has recently been called into question as it seems it should be attributed to Telemann) in a musical style marked by an intense expressivity, not forgetting the remarkable and very rarely recorded Concert de chambre of Jean-Joseph Mouret, a man of the Provence region exiled in Paris, known above all for his stage music. The Ensemble Bradamante offers its listeners a bouquet of pieces of chamber music with various, intense characters, where the warm, friendly dialogue between the wind instruments is supported by the rich sound of the continuo.

The French mezzo-soprano Héloïse Mas, Classical Revelation of the ADAMI 2014 and laureate of the latest Queen Elisabeth Voice Competition 2018 is accompanied by a high-powered team comprising the London Handel Orchestra and Laurence Cummings in a magnificent programme of Handel arias. The main thread of these "Anachronistic Hearts" is woman: woman betrayed, abandoned, abused, desired, her emotions passing from joy to doubt, then from sadness to rage, resulting in vengeance, even death... Amongst all the great composers of opera, Handel was without question one of the most convincing with regard to the dramatization of these characters; from Poppea to Dejanira, from Alcina to Ariodante - not forgetting Lucretia broken by rape, these historic representations of women also enable them to be more readily projected into our contemporary epoch. And if one removes the original context, they open up inexhaustible horizons for forming a new framework, the emotional and visual dimensions of which are inspired by the music of Handel. The arias on this release are thus of absolute modernity, and the palette of feelings that Héloïse Mas brings to each of these characters make her first disc as soloist a feast for all listeners.