Classical Music

In 1968, as he approached the age of 70, Georges Auric began work on Imagin�es, a series of six intimate works in a modernist vein - concentrated and compelling in their expression. Famously a member of Les Six in the 1920s, the multi-faceted Auric studied under Vincent d'Indy and gained an international reputation for his film scores while also taking an influential role in France's musical life

This recording features two major works of the chamber repertoire - one by Anton�n Dvor�k, the other by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. The two composers were contemporaries, born just a year apart: Tchaikovsky in 1840 and Dvor�k in 1841. In the 1880s (Tchaikovsky's Op.50 dates from 1881, Dvor�k's Op.65 from 1883), neither man was known for his chamber music - Tchaikovsky's reputation was based on his opera and ballet scores (works such as Eugene Onegin and Swan Lake), while Dvor�k had made his name with works influenced by Slavonic folk music (the Moravian Duets and Slavonic Dances). Each of these two piano trios therefore has it's own unique character, and both works signal new directions in the style of their respective composers.

The violin was one of Bach's favourite instruments and inspired his most lyrical outpourings. We know he was greatly influenced by the Italian masters whose work he discovered during his Weimar years - by the power of Frescobaldi, the melodic flexibility of Corelli, the sunny grace of Vivaldi - but he developed his own wonderful artistry in writing music of polyphonic density for the violin and 'playing' with it's sound palette. His deep understanding of the instrument clearly enabled him to exploit it's full potential and to write as well as perform music of the utmost virtuosity.

Conductor Laurence Equilbey is fascinated and inspired by the unconventional, hybrid character of Beethoven's 'Choral Fantasy' and 'Triple Concerto'. She sees it as 'the root of their originality, which gives them a special place in Beethoven's output and in the history of music as a whole'.

An album of opera arias and symphonies by Francesco Cavalli, the prolific 17th century Venetian composer with 41 operas to his name, who was Handel's predecessor in Hannover.

Marking the 150th anniversary of Berlioz's death, this performance of the mighty Requiem or Grande Messe des Morts - presented on both DVD and CD - took place in St Paul's Cathedral, London, in March 2019. Conducted by John Nelson, it involved over 300 musicians, including tenor Michael Spyres. As Nelson said: "Every measure resonates deeply with me and I feel there is sincerity, even in the great moments of bombast." The Times wrote: "The surpassing virtue of this performance... was that both aspects, the spine-shakingly spectacular and the heart-rendingly haunting, were allowed to make their impact."

With this album of works by Sch�nberg, Zemlinsky and Webern, (key figures in Vienna's musical life in the early 20th century) the Quatuor Arod honours the woman who became Arnold Schoenberg's wife in 1901. Mathilde was Zemlinsky's sister and the dedicatee of her husband's 'String Quartet No. 2', an innovative work in both it's tonal language and it's integration of a soprano - here Elsa Dreisig. It was completed in the summer of 1908, a tumultuous period in the Sch�nbergs' marriage.'

2019 release. "The most dramatic piece that Berlioz ever wrote," is how conductor John Nelson describes La Damnation de Faust. The composer designated this thrilling hybrid of oratorio and opera a 'l�gende dramatique'. Following in the triumphant footsteps of Les Troyens, also recorded at the Auditorium Erasme in Strasbourg, this performance reunites Nelson and the Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg with singers Michael Spyres, Joyce DiDonato and Nicolas Courjal. This recording was made in the Auditorium Erasme in Strasbourg in April 2019, two years after Nelson, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg and a superb cast including Joyce DiDonato, Michael Spyres and Nicolas Courjal brought Berlioz's Les Troyens to life in the same venue. The associated Erato recording of the huge two-part opera has gone on to win unalloyed praise and multiple major prizes. As the New York Times wrote: "Berlioz's epic opera has rarely been given such luxury treatment as in this magnificent live recording from France."

2019 release. "Finesse and fire from a starry musical duo... A recital that showcased the very best in collaborative music-making," was how the Toronto Star described the concert at Koerner Hall in Toronto that formed the basis for this recording. The program for the album comprises two works by Chopin, his Sonata in A Major and his Polonaise brillante in C Major, and Franck's Sonata in A Major, a transcription by the 19th century cellist Jules Delsart of the Belgian composer's glorious violin sonata.

This album brings together world premiere recordings of three aesthetically diverse piano concertos that were written for Alexandre Tharaud. They are Left, alone by the Dane Hans Abrahamsen (b. 1952), Future is a faded song by the Frenchman G�rard Pesson (b.1958) and Kuleshov by the Argentian-born Frenchman Oscar Strasnoy (b.1970). Strasnoy has said that his concerto was "inspired by Alexandre Tharaud's unique and inimitable phrasing and clarity of playing." No doubt those words could apply to all three works on the album.

While an undergraduate at Cambridge, John Eliot Gardiner launched his career as a conductor with a performance of Vespro della Beata Vergine by Monteverdi, in 1964, which led to the foundation of the Monteverdi Choir. In 1968 he founded the Monteverdi Orchestra. Having changed from modern instruments to period instruments in 1977, the orchestra changed it's name to the English Baroque Soloists in 1978. Gardiner is one of the leading conductors of the historically informed movement.

Nigel Rogers began singing at an early age as a boy treble and later became a choral scholar at King's College, Cambridge. After graduating he went first to Italy and then to Germany, where he studied at Munich's Hochschule f�r Musik. During the early 1960s he toured all over the world before returning to England, where he began to take a greater interest in Baroque music. He is accompanied here by first-class musicians: lutenists Anthony Bailes and Paul O'Dette, gambist Jordi Savall.

Soprano Elsa Dreisig follows her debut album Miroir(s) with a recital of songs in collaboration with pianist Jonathan Ware. Taking it's title, Morgen, from one of Richard Strauss's best-loved lieder, it interweaves his music (notably the Four Last Songs) with thematically linked works by Sergey Rachmaninov and Henri Duparc. As Elsa Dreisig says, "Morgen is an inner journey through the seasons of the soul."

For me, Strauss is one of the greatest composers," Diana Damrau has said. "The way he handles the soprano voice is a joy. And to be able to sing his music with my voice feels like coming home." The centrepiece of this album of Strauss songs is the sublime Vier letzte Lieder, in which Damrau - born and trained in Bavaria - joins forces with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and it's long-standing Chief Conductor Mariss Jansons. Her partner in a tempting and diverse selection of songs with piano is Helmut Deutsch. "Not only is Strauss's music gorgeous," says Damrau, "there's the way he combines words and notes - and the psychology.

World famous mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato and conductor-pianist Yannick N�zet-S�guin join forces to take on one of the most brilliant song cycles ever written: Schubert's Winterreise (Winter Journey). DiDonato, however, casts a different light on this beloved cycle of 24 songs in telling their story from the perspective of the woman, the lost love. Nancy Plum, Town Topics writes: "The question of what happened to the woman who sent the narrator on a tortuous journey was not answered in the Wilhelm M�ller poetry from which Schubert drew the text, but DiDonato created a scenario onstage of being that woman, reading from the narrator's journal and responding to the inherent despair." "What stood out was the heavy emotion that came through in her singing, as she lingered on a syllable here, pressed her tone there. She created vivid feelings with her contrasts" wrote New York Classical Review about Joyce Didonato's interpretation.

Vivaldi: Oracolo In Messenia - Julia Lezhneva L Oracolo in Messenia, an opera written by Vivaldi for Vienna in 1740, was reconstructed by Fabio Biondi in 2011 in a triumpan open to the famous Resonanzen festival in Vienna, appropriately enough. Originally, the opera was intended to be performed in Vienna during Carnival in 1741, but due to the death of the Austrian Emperor and ultimately, himself, his plans fell through. Vivaldi expert, Fabio Biondi, reconstructed the work using a recently discovered libretto in the Library of Congress, Viavaldi s personal scores as well as those from his contemporaries.

Soprano Diana Damrau assumes the crowns of three different Tudor queens, the central characters in operas by Donizetti: Anne Boleyn (Anna Bolena), Mary, Queen of Scots (Maria Stuarda), and Elizabeth I (Roberto Devereux). With Antonio Pappano and the Orchestra and Chorus of Rome's Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, she performs the substantial and climactic final scene of each work. When Damrau sang Maria Stuarda at the Zurich Opera, the Neue Z�rcher Zeitung wrote: "She commands a voice that seems to have no limits. Her coloratura is stunning, her vocal range impressive, and her dynamic shadings are breath-taking. Damrau is in a class of her own."

Two of today's most brilliant tenors, Michael Spyres and Lawrence Brownlee, celebrate the art of the trailblazing star singers of Rossini's time. Amici e Rivali - 'Friends and Rivals' - comprises arias, duets, and trios from seven of the composer's operas, written between 1815 and 1826: the most famous comic opera of them all, Il Barbiere di Siviglia, and six serious dramatic works Otello, Armida, La donna del Lago, Elisabetta, Regina d'Inghilterra, Le Si�ge de Corinthe, and, the rarest title here, Ricciardo e Zoraide.

This album from Laurence Equilbey and the Insula Orchestra features a clever and popular Mozart program, including hit tracks from Magic Flute, Nozze di Figaro, Don Giovanni, and Entf�hrhrung aus dem Serail. It also features French singers, excellent Mozart interpreters: Sandrine Piau, Jodie Devos, Lea Desandre, Lo�c F�lix, Florian Sempey, Stanislas de Barbeyrac.

The young French cellist Edgar Moreau, an established Erato artist, is joined by his siblings - the violinists Rapha�lle and David and the pianist J�r�mie - for Dvor�k's five Bagatelles op 47 and Korngold's Suite op 23. As David points out, works for the combination of two violins, cello and piano are unusual: "These are wonderful pieces that are rarely played, so this is an opportunity to shine a spotlight on them." When it comes to playing as a family, Edgar feels that "There's something that works almost instinctively," while Rapha�lle explains that "We don't need to look at each other, and we breathe together in a certain way. There's something very strong about it." Completing the programme are transcriptions of much-loved operatic arias from Dvor�k's Rusalka and Korngold's Die tote Stadt, performed by Edgar and J�r�mie

Sabine Devieilhe and Alexandre Tharaud bring their customary clarity, finesse and insight to the works of four composers who defined the path of French art song or m�lodie from the late 19th to the mid-20th century. In an imaginatively balanced recital, the two French luminaries perform Faur�, Debussy, Ravel and Poulenc. Their programme, built around Ravel's Cinq Chansons populaires grecques and Debussy's Verlaine setting Ariettes oubli�es, takes up the themes of love, war and death and offers both favourite songs like Faur�'s 'Apr�s un r�ve' and some rarer treasures.

Vinyl LP pressing. 2020 release. Gautier Capu�on is recognised the world over as one of the most charismatic, enchanting and exuberant musicians performing today. He receives consistently high critical praise for his performances with the major orchestras and conductors across the globe, as well as for his recital and chamber music work at many of the world's most prestigious venues and festivals. A prolific recording artist, he records exclusively for Erato.

Limited 14CD set. Best known as the duo partner of violinist Christian Ferras, Pierre Barbizet was notable for bringing integrity, vitality and generosity to all his music-making. Born in Chile in 1922, he trained at the Marseille Conservatory and later returned to the institution as it's director. Among his students was H�l�ne Grimaud, who has said: "He only had to sit at the piano and play for a few minutes to widen your horizons." In addition to Ferras, Barbizet's colleagues in this collection include his good friend Samson Fran�ois, Jean-Pierre Rampal, Andr� Cluytens (conducting the Piano Concerto No 1 by Serge Nigg, a pupil of Messiaen and Leibowitz), and members of the Quatuor Parrenin, who join him in Schumann's Piano Quartet, an interpretation making it's first appearance on CD. Another CD premiere is Barbizet's 1979 reading of Beethoven's 'Appassionata' Sonata, while, in the words of Gramophone magazine, his 1982 recording of Chabrier's piano works is "graced with playing that combines vivacious characterization with great interpretative subtlety".

Limited 27 CD box set. Luminosity, clarity and depth of colour characterise the playing of �ric Heidsieck, born in Reims in 1936. A student of French masters Marcel Ciampi and Alfred Cortot, he went to Wilhelm Kempff to further his exploration of Beethoven. Heidsieck's career, encompassing more than 2000 concerts around the world and duo partnerships with his pianist wife Tania and cellist Paul Tortelier, has brought him particular fame in Japan. His distinguished interpretations of Beethoven's complete piano sonatas, recorded in the years around 1970, are complemented here by a previously unreleased 1958 version of the 'Hammerklavier' Sonata. A substantial proportion of the box (eight of the 27 CDs) comprises CD premieres - performances of Beethoven, Handel, Hindemith, Couperin, Debussy, Roussel and Ravel.