By spreading a five-day festival dedicated to the music of Maurice Ravel across the French capital in March 2025, the Orchestre National de France was celebrating both the 150th anniversary of French composer's birth and it's own captivating history. Whoever the orchestra's Director might be, whatever changes and evolutions have taken place involving musicians, instruments, or anything else, Ravel's music remains, like Debussy's, absolutely central to it's repertoire, and has been ever since it's founding, in January 1934, by Jean Mistler, the then Minister of Post, Telegraphs and Telephones, and Desire-emile Inghelbrecht (1880-1965), the renowned composer and conductor. The nearly three hours of music in this lovingly illustrated na�ve boxed set offer a vast compendium of the French composer's orchestral works, missing only the Menuet antique, the Valses nobles et sentimentales and the Sheherazade overture. Le Tombeau de Couperin, given here in a version that respects the order of the original piano suite and also supplemented by David Molard Soriano's two unpublished, arresting orchestrations, and the complete ballet score of Daphnis et Chloe, both work all their subtle yet utterly intoxicating magic. Surely it is impossible not to marvel at this vividly told account of Daphnis et Chloe, at the natural, filigree balance of the ensemble in, for instance, the Introduction et Danse religieuse and the introduction to Pantomime, at those curvaceous phrases in Danse lente et mysterieuse des Nymphes and Lever du jour, or at the rhythm, rigidly maintained without the least hint of aggression in an unforgettable Danse suppliante de Chloe and the final Bacchanale. The Orchestre National and it's former Directors Inghelbrecht, Desormi�re, up until Martinon at the beginning of the 1970s, created a particular style for Ravel, ethereal, elastic, intelligently balanced, the harmonies always radiant. From the very first concert of this new Ravelian spring, which took place on 28 February 2025 in Paris's Philharmonie, the current Director of the orchestra, the Romanian Cristian Macelaru, resurrected this spirit and sustained it until the sublime apotheosis of Ma M�re l'Oye, the final piece of the final concert, on 13 March. From Jardin feerique thus emerged subtle yet raw, honest emotions, the very essence of the magic that is Ravel. 08 JULY 2025

This box set brings together four CDs capturing Avishai Cohen's formative years, recorded between 1998 and 2001-a pivotal era shaped by his collaboration with Chick Corea. Adama (1998) introduces a bold fusion of contemporary jazz and Middle Eastern traditions. Devotion (1999) reveals a more introspective and spiritual voice, enhanced by strings and vocals. With Colors (2000), Cohen embraces a synesthetic approach where harmonies and rhythms evoke vivid imagery. Unity (2001), finally, fully reflects his vision of a global, socially conscious jazz led by the International Vamp Band.

FOR THE 20th ANNIVERSARY OF HIS ALBUM "AT HOME" AND HIS HIT SONG "REMEMBERING", AVISHAI COHEN IS OFFERING, FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER, A VINYL EDITION OF THIS JAZZ CLASSIC !

Sometimes, dreams come true. For Francesco Tristano, the dream was twofold: first a desire to project his art in the future by devoting himself to one of the most incontestably timeless figures in the history of music, Johann Sebastian Bach. This profound desire fuelled the creation of intothefuture, Francesco Tristano's very personal line of recordings, where sounds morph into an abstract and subtly poetic photographic imagery, which is found in the booklets. This first of these recordings, dedicated to the six Partitas (BWV 825 to BWV 830) is a perfect illustration of this concept. For this pianist from Luxembourg, this collection constituted the starting point of his patient exploration of Bach's work. In fact, it also represents the composer's supreme achievement in the genre of the keyboard dance suite. Also known as the "German suites", to differentiate them from the two collections of "English" (BWV 806 to BWV 811) and "French" (BWV 812 to BWV 817) suites, the 6 Partitas belong to the rare compositions that Bach had published during his lifetime, as the first part of the Clavier-ubung - from 1726 to 1730, then all six in 1731. Composed separately, probably one after the other, these six suites, an infinite kaleidoscope of moods, were to embody his plural and abundant art, in a supreme synthesis of the tastes of the time. With their lively tempos (Partita III, Fantasia; Partita I, Allemande; Partita V, Tempo di Minuetto; Partita VI, Corrente), their very lively phrasing (Partita I, Gigue; Partita II, Capriccio; Partita VI, Toccata; Partita II, Courante), the six Partitas according to Francesco Tristano, a musician with an inexhaustible vivacity of mind, celebrate life everywhere. This impression of a whirlwind, this sense of movement are irresistible! Once again, Francesco Tristano is here in a class of his own. 24 SEPTEMBRE 2024

Paul Huang and Helen Huang have been exploring the repertoire for violin and piano for now a decade. As a way of celebrating their fruitful and enriching collaboration, they have devised this album as an ingenious game of mirroring. The title of this second album for na�ve is not accidental, as the two musicians offer highly diverse perspectives. This new recording focuses first on two sonatas composed by Francis Poulenc (1942-1943) and Sergei Prokofiev (1938-1946) during the second world war of the 20th century, respectively at the opening and closing of this album. Between these two pieces, Spiegel i'm Spiegel by Arvo Part (1978), a page with ethereal lines, a moment of introspection and calm that becomes a space for contemplation and reflection necessary in this otherwise dense and angular programme.

In December 2017, in Fribourg, mezzo-soprano Marina Viotti met lutenist Vincent Fluckiger and multi-instrumentalist, engineer and producer Fred Chappuis. Under the guidance of director Wouter Van Looy, they created a fascinating show for performances at the Lucerne Theatre the following spring, which mixed the melancholic songs of John Dowland (1563-1626) with the sounds of electronic music. All three originally came from rock/metal/punk, and Wouter Van Looy would rekindle in each of them a profound desire to explore new horizons. Following the success of the Lucerne evenings, the mezzo-soprano engaged her two colleagues, now friends, a few months later in the pursuit of a common adventure, which was sealed in the idea of Melankh�lia: Dowland's captivating songs would now be joined by well-known pop songs rearranged in the same spirit, where the archlute or the modern electric guitar coexist with a Moog, percussion or a mellotron, enveloping the voice. Two eras speak to each other, and finally merge into each other. Several themes structure this intensely lyrical journey, carried by the lascivious voice of Marina Viotti: love and it's illusions, evoked in One by U2 as well as in Fairwell, Too Fair by Dowland, hopes (Die Not Before Thy Day by Dowland or Joga by Bjork) as well as death (Born to Die by Lana Del Rey preceded by In Darkness Let Me Dwell by Dowland) or redemption (Flow My Tears by Dowland). By infusing the spirit of her youth, these early years when she wrote texts and songs for her metal band, in her present, which sees her defending the most beautiful roles of the great lyric repertoire, Marina Viotti reveals a very intimate part of herself. More than a journey across the genres and over the centuries, "In Darkness Through the Light" is in fact the story of a life journey, a fight for life and against darkness. In the spring of 2019, the mezzo-soprano was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma, of which she recovered completely. The shadows gone, Marina Viotti was able to confide her secret, with total openness. It is therefore this experience that informs "In Darkness Through the Light", a project that accompanied her healing process, and which became the album of her liberation.

Since it's inception in 2001, the Vivaldi Edition has explored the fantastic diversity of the work of the Prete Rosso. Presented by Giulio Prandi's Coro e Orchestra Ghislieri, this seventy-second volume is once again dedicated to sacred music. Two exceptional works, the Dixit Dominus, RV 807 and the Magnificat, RV 611, here frame rare motets such as Sanctorum meritis, RV 620 and Vos invito, barbarae faces, RV 811. Preserved at the Saxon State Library, the Dixit Dominus belonged to a lot ordered from a Venetian publisher in the mid-1750s by the Saxon court which, threatened by the Prussian army, had been forced to flee Dresden for Warsaw. Illustrating the highly pictorial text of Dixit Dominus, Vivaldi favours a lively and sparkling aesthetic, full of figurations. For example, pairs of repeated sixteenth notes depict the gentle lapping of a stream (De torrente in via bibet) while the impressive final fugue embodies the majesty of Christian communion. Also forged in an ingenious and hushed counterpoint, the second motet of this programme, Confitebor tibi, Domine, presents three solo voices, something rare for Vivaldi. Hymn from the liturgy of the martyrs, Sanctorum meritis, RV 620 then introduces Vos invito, barbarae faces, whose text enjoins the believer to fight against the forces of evil. This program finally offers the final version of the Magnificat in G minor (RV 611) in which the Red Priest specifically dedicated to a few singers of the Ospedale della Pieta certain sections, radically transformed since the first version of the 1710s. This results in little less ensemble parts, and more arias for the soloists, almost a foretaste of Classicism. Faithful to his quest for clarity and joy that had been highlighted by moving recordings devoted to Jommelli and Rossini, Giulio Prandi, for this first collaboration with the na�ve label, glorifies the luminous, aristocratic sobriety of Vivaldi. Unexpected and invigorating. 25 July 2024

Good things always come in threes. There was once the Concerto in Italian style, BWV 971, reconfigured according to the by then modern disposition advocated in Italy at the beginning of the 18th century (anthology "Concerti italiani", 2004, OP30301). More recently, the Goldberg Variations, reimagined for a small string ensemble, crowned a fabulous apotheosis in the land of the variation ("Variations on Variations", OP30575). Here are now three completely original orchestral suites by Bach, a new fool's game organised by a tongue in the cheek Rinaldo Alessandrini, once again surrounded by his dear friends from the Concerto Italiano.

The pianist Zlata Chochieva is well known for creating unexpected associations. In "Chiaroscuro", her first album for naive (V7542, 2022), she had combined the worlds of Scriabin and Mozart, in whom she hears not only the same desire for clarity and weightlessness but also a similar poetic sense of rhetoric. Her next album ("i'm Freien", V7959, 2023), a homage to nature, revealed alongside Ravel's Miroirs and Schumann's Waldszenen a short cycle, so little known and graceful (Petite Histoire), by Felix Draeseke! No wonder she is now offering us, for her first album with orchestra, one of the most obscure works of Russian Romanticism, the Piano Concerto by Rimsky-Korsakov. Written in 1883 in memory of Franz Liszt, whose two opuses in the genre strongly influenced the author of Scheherazade, this Concerto, with it's monothematic structure, built on a Russian folk theme, had greatly impressed Balakirev, who was surprised to hear such an idiomatically written soloist part, from a composer who was not a pianist himself. At the age of fourteen, Zlata Chochieva had played the work under the direction of Mikhail Pletnev, then head of the Russian National Orchestra. This Concerto remains for her a "miracle of taste, poetry and inspiration". Her intelligent and limpid playing is ideally suited to the very delicate lyricism that Rimsky-Korsakov deploys throughout this astonishing score full of numerous and subtle contrasts. At the heart of this recording, where Zlata Chochieva is joined by the musicians of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and the German conductor Karl-Heinz Steffens, surges the merciless ardor of Sergei Prokofiev's Second Piano Concerto. In a departure from the stormy way in which this formidable score (for the fingers) is generally approached by pianists, Zlata Chochieva prefers a certain sense of phantasmagoria, rightly recalling that Prokofiev, as a spiritual disciple of Alexander Borodin and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, enjoyed stories, old Russian fairy tales and legends. After this, we have a total change of atmosphere with the Jazz Suite for piano and orchestra by Alexander Tsfasman which concludes the album. An eminent disciple of Felix Blumenfeld, an incredibly talented pianist, to whom Shostakovich intended piano part of one of his film scores, Tsfasman introduced American jazz to the Soviet Union, and formed the first orchestra dedicated to the genre. In Russia, he premiered Rhapsody in Blue by Gershwin, a composer for whom he had the deepest admiration. A brilliantly written, comforting and sincere score, his Jazz Suite sometimes evokes the American composer but above all Hollywood and Soviet film scores. Not without a most contagious and mischievous pleasure, Zlata Chochieva and Karl-Heinz Steffens revel in it's ingenuous charms (Snowflakes). 17 July 2024

Once again, cellist Christian-Pierre La Marca renews artistic perspectives in relation to his instrument. With "Legacy" (V7259) released in early 2023, he questioned the notion of heritage in music, through a mirroring between the concerti by Haydn and the works of his master Porpora, not forgetting to highlight fruitful interactions with Mozart. "Wonderful World", the fruit of a collaboration with Yann Arthus-Bertrand, awakened our consciences to environmental issues (V7362, 2021).

In his upcoming album, �Brightlight,� Cohen showcases his multifaceted talents alongside a stellar ensemble of musicians. Among these are some of the brightest young talents from the new jazz scene, including drummer Roni Kaspi, pianist Guy Moskovich, his working core trio as the centre on many of the titles and joined by saxophonist Yuval Drabkin and many others hand-picked talented artists. Roni Kaspi brings a youthful vigor to the album, infusing the music with a sense of spontaneity and drive. After more than 3 years of touring with Avishai Cohen, she's even got a dedicated title on this recording ("Roni's Swing"), wrote by Cohen as an homage to her dynamic and energetic drumming. Guy Moskovich, a pianist whose harmonic sensibilities and technical prowess have garnered him recognition as a rising star in jazz, provides the perfect complement to Cohen's bass lines. Yuval Drabkin, on saxophone, adds another layer of richness to the extensive ensemble. His emotive playing and nuanced interpretations bring a compelling voice to the project, enhancing the album's overall depth.

In his upcoming album, �Brightlight,� Cohen showcases his multifaceted talents alongside a stellar ensemble of musicians. Among these are some of the brightest young talents from the new jazz scene, including drummer Roni Kaspi, pianist Guy Moskovich, his working core trio as the centre on many of the titles and joined by saxophonist Yuval Drabkin and many others hand-picked talented artists. Roni Kaspi brings a youthful vigor to the album, infusing the music with a sense of spontaneity and drive. After more than 3 years of touring with Avishai Cohen, she's even got a dedicated title on this recording ("Roni's Swing"), wrote by Cohen as an homage to her dynamic and energetic drumming. Guy Moskovich, a pianist whose harmonic sensibilities and technical prowess have garnered him recognition as a rising star in jazz, provides the perfect complement to Cohen's bass lines. Yuval Drabkin, on saxophone, adds another layer of richness to the extensive ensemble. His emotive playing and nuanced interpretations bring a compelling voice to the project, enhancing the album's overall depth.

Ashley Henry presents it's second album "Who We Are", a London-born jazz journey that unites devotion, collective dreaming, and the fight for freedom. Featuring acclaimed artists like Judi Jackson and Aja Monet, this record is a powerful anthem for our times-echoing Nina Simone's legacy while finding inspiration in the pulse of the city and collective dreaming. Praised by global medias such as Wonderland, Notion and the BBC, Ashley Henry is set to become one of the most influential jazz acts in Europe with it's signature piano touch and soothing vocal tones.

Ashley Henry presents it's second album "Who We Are", a London-born jazz journey that unites devotion, collective dreaming, and the fight for freedom. Featuring acclaimed artists like Judi Jackson and Aja Monet, this record is a powerful anthem for our times-echoing Nina Simone's legacy while finding inspiration in the pulse of the city and collective dreaming. Praised by global medias such as Wonderland, Notion and the BBC, Ashley Henry is set to become one of the most influential jazz acts in Europe with it's signature piano touch and soothing vocal tones.

Last year, Tigran Hamasyan composed his greatest work, inspired by a traditional Armenian tale of the same name: The Bird of a Thousand Voices, is rediscovering this story in a transmedia project, consisting of an innovative livestaged play (world premiere at the Holland Festival on June 8, 2024), two ambitious cinematic fiction music videos, a documentary music video and an online game. The original story of the firebird has been orally transmitted over the centuries and cultures. The folk tale requires a multi-layered, transdisciplinary approach to provide an artistic context for this fascinating story. The mystical bird of a thousand voices is a beautiful metaphor of our times: a world in search of connection and harmony, faced with ecological, psychological and spiritual crises. Any form of recognition and new means of transmitting this beautiful music of the ancient traditions of the Caucasus is therefore important and sets the tone for world curiosity and diversity. "The Bird Of A Thousand Voices" is part of this context. Tigran is one of the most remarkable jazz pianists and composers of his generation. He combines improvisation with the rich traditional music of his native Armenia. Ten years ago, Tigran and award-winning filmmaker Ruben Van Leer met during a collaboration at the Cite de la Musique in Paris, creating "Shadow Theater", a visual musical experience (see ARTE broadcast). They went on to create several music videos together (see Cave of Rebirth & Fides Tua). Armenian culture, geopolitically situated between globalized powers such as Russia, Turkey and Azerbaijan, has been under pressure for centuries. Most recently, in September 2023, Azerbaijan took over Armenian territory. Right after, almost the entire population was expelled from the mountainous region of Nagorno-Karabakh as part of an "ethnic cleansing", in the words of the European Parliament. Azerbaijan is now expressly ordering the burning of ancient historical manuscripts in Armenian monasteries. Deluxe 2CD box set with 2 superb illustrated booklets (60 pages in total).

Last year, Tigran Hamasyan composed his greatest work, inspired by a traditional Armenian tale of the same name: The Bird of a Thousand Voices, is rediscovering this story in a transmedia project, consisting of an innovative livestaged play (world premiere at the Holland Festival on June 8, 2024), two ambitious cinematic fiction music videos, a documentary music video and an online game. The original story of the firebird has been orally transmitted over the centuries and cultures. The folk tale requires a multi-layered, transdisciplinary approach to provide an artistic context for this fascinating story. The mystical bird of a thousand voices is a beautiful metaphor of our times: a world in search of connection and harmony, faced with ecological, psychological and spiritual crises. Any form of recognition and new means of transmitting this beautiful music of the ancient traditions of the Caucasus is therefore important and sets the tone for world curiosity and diversity. "The Bird Of A Thousand Voices" is part of this context. Tigran is one of the most remarkable jazz pianists and composers of his generation. He combines improvisation with the rich traditional music of his native Armenia. Ten years ago, Tigran and award-winning filmmaker Ruben Van Leer met during a collaboration at the Cite de la Musique in Paris, creating "Shadow Theater", a visual musical experience (see ARTE broadcast). They went on to create several music videos together (see Cave of Rebirth & Fides Tua). Armenian culture, geopolitically situated between globalized powers such as Russia, Turkey and Azerbaijan, has been under pressure for centuries. Most recently, in September 2023, Azerbaijan took over Armenian territory. Right after, almost the entire population was expelled from the mountainous region of Nagorno-Karabakh as part of an "ethnic cleansing", in the words of the European Parliament. Azerbaijan is now expressly ordering the burning of ancient historical manuscripts in Armenian monasteries. Deluxe vinyl 2LP box set with 3 superb illustrated booklets (80 pages in total).

With this program spanning nearly a century, from Komitas' Dances written in the mid-1900s to pieces by my father, Gérard Gasparian, composed in the late 1980s, I aimed to highlight both the remarkable diversity of this repertoire and its profound unity. From the minimalist draft of Yerangi to the polyphonic virtuosity of the Capriccio, from the boundless lyricism of Spartacus to the percussive savagery of the Toccata, from the melodious simplicity of the Elegy to the tense chromaticism of the Sonata, one couldn't dream of more contrasting registers. The works on this program, however, all have one thing in common that expresses the true essence of Armenian music: They’re rooted in popular tradition. The very identity of this music – and the reason I feel such a deep, emotional connection to it – lies in the fact that it draws its inspiration from the folk heritage of the Armenian people: its songs, melodies, rhythms, and dances.

After his first recording for na�ve of Bach's Goldberg Variations (V7566, 2022), the Chinese pianist Tianqi Du gets back to the composer closest to his heart, of whom he this time plays four Concertos, with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, conducted by Jonathan Bloxham. The four works chosen here by Tianqi Du are among the most famous and remarkable of the series of Bach's keyboard Concertos.

Rinaldo Alessandrini and his Concerto Italiano bring their attention to a fascinating and highly rewarding 17th-century Italian composer, Alessandro Stradella, principally celebrated today for his oratorios and operas. This album presents five of his seventeen motets, deposited in the Bibliothèque Estense in Modena at the end of the seventeenth century. These are, for the most part, world premieres.

Rinaldo Alessandrini gathered together motets that are mainly relevant to the cult of the Virgin Mary, written for specific circumstances such as the Nativity, or the Immaculate Conception, or for more generic feasts, on texts chosen for each occasion, including one by Stradella himself (Exultate in Deo fideles).

REVIEW:

As with so much of Stradella’s extraordinarily prolific output, none of the pieces on this new album (with one exception) has been previously recorded. This judicious selection of works drawn from three manuscripts of unknown provenance demonstrates the extraordinary variety of styles and approaches of which the composer was capable at his most impressive.

— Gramophone

Through this exciting recording, the violinist Fabio Biondi pursues his exploration of the seventeenth- and eighteenth-century repertoire for solo violin. Two years after his complete recording of Johann Sebastian Bach’s solo Sonatas and Partitas (V 5467), he lands on entirely unknown territory, the Assaggi by the Swedish composer Johan Helmich Roman (1694-1758). Rarely lasting more than twelve minutes, the Assaggi is thus a fascinating melting-pot of multiple aesthetics in vogue in Europe at the beginning of the eighteenth century. Fabio Biondi champions this little-known territory of the European late baroque with a voracious generosity and highly eloquent sense of phrase.

In his own time, Roman was an important figure in the violin world. His career led him to the four corners of Europe, affording him the opportunity to meet many crucially important figures on the German and more southern musical stages, composers as well as renowned performers, especially when he was in Italy, where he visited Tartini. He also played with Handel. In Dresden, he met Pisendel, then dazzling everyone with his playing. In Hamburg, he probably met Telemann, whose Fantasias for Solo Violin, a highly creative and secret aspect of the great North German baroque master’s work, he studied intensely.

All of these encounters had a long-term influence on Johan Helmich Roman’s style, a different and important take on les goûts réunis. If the highly polyphonic structures of the Assaggi naturally remind us of the Swede’s Saxon origins (BeRI 314), if their study-like nature willingly brings to mind the twenty-four Fantasias of Telemann, works as much intended for professional musicians as for accomplished amateurs (the last movement of BeRI 310), the harmonies, which like the melodic outlines in Roman’s work are subtly tinged with an Italianate flavour, clearly recall contrasting works by Tartini (the second part of BeRI 320 for instance, or again the Andante of BeRI 324).

A surprising and refreshing journey which explores the confines of the repertoire for saxophone and piano, Walking the Dog unites two formidable virtuosos of the contemporary classical scene, the Austrian Andreas Mader and the German Joseph Moog.

Walking the Dog is a multifaceted work, an authentic melting-pot, a surprising witness to the richness of the international musical scene at the beginning of the 20th century. One would then encounter styles as diverse as the mambo, the merengue, the habanera, or the samba, or even fusions of these seemingly separate genres.

Andreas Mader and Joseph Moog open their recital with Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue in the inspiring version of the Japanese Jun Nagao. Under their sensitive and incisive fingers, it becomes the spirit of Jazz itself, sparkling and fresh. The Suite of seven pieces adapted from Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet pursues it in a trenchant and caustic way: the saxophone, part soprano part tenor, displays all its colours.

This programme also pays tribute to France – a well-deserved homage to the country where Adolf Sax fathered such a great family of instruments. Some works are iconic, such as Debussy's Rhapsody (in a new and impressive version by the saxophonist), Milhaud's Scaramouche, some less known, like the Two Pieces by Lili Boulanger, and we have a genuine rarity, the Five Exotic Dances, a brilliant and exciting suite of miniature compositions from 1961 by Jean Francaix. Andreas Mader and Joseph Moog conclude their journey by a return to the origins – New York – by giving us the little Promenade, under the title "Walking the Dog", that Gershwin composed for the film Shall We Dance with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers.

This is an absolutely thrilling album which arouses both curiosity and senses, a true revelation from this surprising duo. It is impossible to resist Andreas Mader's voluptuous saxophone interlocked into the golden piano playing of Joseph Moog.

THE CELEBRATED PIANIST JACKY TERRASSON, HAILED BY THE NEW YORK TIMES AS "ONE OF THE THIRTY ARTISTS POISED TO SHAPE THE TRAJECTORY OF AMERICAN CULTURE," UNVEILS "MOVING ON". BACK IN FRANCE AFTER THREE DECADES IN NEW YORK, HE ORGANIZES A DOUBLE NATIONALITY TREASURE HUNT, MIXING CHOPIN AND JAZZ, WITH GUEST ARTISTS SUCH AS KAREEN GUIOCK-THURAM, CAMILLE BERTAULT AND GRÉGOIRE MARET. WITH A NEW-FOUND JOIE DE VIVRE, EACH PIECE TELLS AN ADVENTURE, A STORY, A DELICATE CELEBRATION OF HAPPINESS.

Introduced in The New York Times in 1994 as "one of the thirty artists poised to shape the trajectory of American culture in the following three decades," pianist Jacky Terrasson has lived up to this acclaim by becoming the most widely heard French jazz musician on digital platforms. Born in Berlin in 1965 to an American mother and a French father, he pursued studies in classical piano in France before enrolling at the Berklee College of Music. In 1993, he clinched the prestigious Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz International Piano Competition.

He began his career alongside luminaries such as Betty Carter, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Cassandra Wilson, Charles Aznavour, Guy Lafitte, Barney Wilen, and Ray Brown. Terrasson made his mark. Signing with the legendary Blue Note label under the stewardship of its iconic president, Bruce Lundvall, he embarked on a remarkable 25-year journey of success. An indefatigable globetrotter, he graces the stages of the most illustrious jazz and piano festivals across Europe, the United States, South America, and Asia.

"Moving On," the title of Jacky Terrasson’s new album perfectly sums up the new aspirations "of the most traveling of jazz pianists, a pianist of happiness" (Telerama). After being the muse of the majors (Blue Note & Universal), it is a new adventure as an artist producer and a new path that Jacky Terrasson decided to begin by creating his own label (Earth Sounds). It is also, after 30 years spent in New York, his choice to live again in France, the country where he grew up. But also continue to play regularly on the American continent, a subtle treasure hunt between leaving and returning to the two countries of his dual nationality. It also means offering two trio recording sessions (in France and New York) for the same record with numerous guests: the singers Kareen Guiock-Thuram and Camille Bertault, the harmonica player Grégoire Maret, and the drummers Billy Hart and Eric Harland. And finally, fully embrace his thirst to bring together a Chopin prelude with a jazz standard (Besame Mucho), to invite a bird recorded in Borneo which becomes a piece (Edit Piaf), to write and compose music for his friends (Are you following me, put into words by Camille Bertault), for his desires (Love Light), his travels (AF 006), and to be happy (Happy by Pharell Williams like a fireworks display almost bringing together all the musicians on the album). Behind each title hides an adventure, a story, depth, and the desire to always want to enjoy life with delicacy.

15 titles, including 8 exclusive to the CD edition.

Humans’ hope lies in art. The music of Schubert or Beethoven in particular, which gives us some idea of what worlds can still exist. What words can we use to make these works of art tangible? Not explainable, but tangible.

With this album, Turkish-born pianist Gülru Ensari and Romanian-born Herbert Schuch want to provide a space for experience, a place where they can carefully and tentatively approach the subject of eternity. The connection between Messiaen and Schubert, Beethoven and Brahms? Nothing more or less than a perceived truth. An involuntary connection of lines that are already there, but are drawn into infinity and meet somewhere, like the parallel rails of a dead-straight track that stretches right into infinity!

With this new recording “Eternity”, Gülru Ensari and Herbert Schuch entail the music lover to understand the act of listening as a dialogue with oneself (« let us experience it ourselves, recognising the infinitely varied ways in which people perceive things as something enriching instead of something striving for uniformity »).

Following her lyrical and witty complete recording of Mozart’s Keyboard Sonatas, issued by naïve in March 2023, Yeol Eum Son invites Svetlin Roussev to join her in enfolding himself in the enticingly subtle harmonic intricacies of Germanic post- Romanticism.

For their second recital as a duo, the Bulgarian violinist and the Korean pianist follow the course taken by works written over a period of slightly more than half a century by composers or famous performers upon whom Richard Wagner exercised crucial influence. They take on almost every genre – cinema, opera, chamber music, transcription – treating it in the lyrical, large-scale manner of the Bayreuth master. During their unexpected, fascinating journey, Svetlin Roussev and Yeol Eum Son chart a variety of pathways, from Waxman to Strauss.

So many different worlds! To begin, two figures who made their indelible mark on the music written for Hollywood. Of German-Polish origins, in 1946 Franz Waxman (Rebecca, Sunset Boulevard, A Place in the Sun, Prince Valiant) wrote, at Jascha Heifetz’s request, a paraphrase on themes from Wagner’s Tristan et Isolde, actually an adaptation of a section of the score he composed for the film Humoresque (Warner Brothers, 1947). In summary, a manifesto in music of an impossible love – to which, at the end of the disc, an extremely rare transcription one of the better known Wesendonck-Lieder, credited to the great virtuoso Leopold Auer, forms a response.

The programme continues with Erich Wolfgang Korngold, a child prodigy in Vienna during the 1910s. The famed Mariettas Lied – the best-known moment in his opera Die tote Stadt – and the sublime nocturne from his incidental music for Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing (the Scene in the Garden) remain as much moments of lyric intensity as truly cinematographic, deliciously intoxicating love scenes. But lovers also know how to frolic, and if already in Korngold they readily do so, the three more light-hearted pieces by Fritz Kreisler will place them in everyday, commonplace scenarios, where laughing reigns.

The keystone of the programme is unarguably the magnificent Sonata for Violin and Piano that Richard Strauss composed in 1887. He was 23 years old, and still heavily influenced by Schumann and Brahms, even Grieg. Svetlin Roussev and Yeol Eum Son make its case with radiant commitment, sensitive to the spirit stirring in the young Richard, then already in love with the soprano Pauline de Ahna, who would become his wife.

Beyond Wagner, this highly original album above all celebrates that moment of falling in love when, overwhelmed, the heart quivers, to the point of being transformed.

Wally B. Seck, Senegalese superstar with more than 5M subscribers, has established himself as one of his homeland's major artists over the years; alongside the likes of Youssou NDour. He now presents "I Wanna Be Free", a powerful, unifying album that will undoubtedly become a landmark of international pop music. He's the enfant terrible of contemporary Senegalese music. Wally B. Seck has nearly 400 million views on his Youtube channel, 5 million subscribers on his various social networks, and is making a name for himself as a favorite in the hearts of the Senegalese people.

The son of Senegalese singer Thione Ballago Seck, the young artist is appealing not only to his father's fans, but to the new generation, who knew little of the patriarch. Born on April 27, 1985 in Dakar, Senegal, Wally initially envisaged a career in soccer in France, London and Italy. Although this career never really took off, Wally started out in music with the Raam Daan group in Senegal. After that, everything went very fast for the young man trained by his father, who is also his mentor. He's not afraid of anything and never stops provoking. For Fatim O', a culture journalist with Groupe Futur Médias, Wally Ballago Seck is the "Justin Bieber of Senegal".

He owes his success to his notoriety and showman status, in the image of the American stars with whom he constantly identifies. In February 2011, Wally was one of 5 artists nominated for the Sunu Music Awards, alongside Viviane N'Dour and Didier Awadi. On September 4, 2012, Wally released his second album entitled Louné (Tout). A confirmation album featuring 8 tracks, this enabled him to reach out to new audiences. In the record, he generally tackles themes of love and promotes Senegalese griots, a caste from which he himself hails. Since then, Wally B. Seck has established himself as one of his country's leading artists, alongside the likes of Youssou NDour, and is aiming for international success with his forthcoming album "I Wanna Be Free", due for release in 2023.