After the big success with Bach, Viviane Chassot presents her favourite accordion pieces by Chopin, Satie, Yann Tiersen, etc.

Alessandro Scarlatti (1660-1725) and his son Domenico Scarlatti (1685-1757) were two formative Italian composers of the late 17th and early 18th centuries. Alessandro was one of the main representatives of the Neapolitan school, a great innovator of Baroque music and especially known for his vocal music such as operas, oratorios, cantatas, etc. His son Domenico became famous above all for his numerous compositions for keyboard instruments. But he was also active in the field of vocal composition. On this album, cantatas by both Scarlattis are effectively combined with sonatas by Domenico.

These sonatas are quite rightly among the most original of their genre in the 18th century. Alessandro wrote over 600 cantatas, Domenico over 500 sonatas, both finding artistic fulfilment in the study of a minimally scored genre. In cantata and sonata, they were able to experiment freely and without regard to the pressure of opera productions to succeed. Both limited themselves to the same form (da capo aria and bipartite sonata form), which they reworked again and again with never-ending creativity. Both loved rich harmonies: Alessandro's preference is for enharmonic confusions, Domenico, perhaps influenced by Iberian popular music, has an almost obsessive love of Phrygian cadence and acciacaturas. Both are masters of counterpoint and fugue. Domenico's relatively unknown church compositions in the strict Palestrina style are testimony to this. The numerous "movement errors" in his sonatas are deliberate and skilful steps of a mature master who only follows his ear and taste.

Father and son had differed above all in the choice of affect: It is difficult to find happy and joyful moments in Alessandro's cantatas. The affect most often depicted in his work is unhappy love. With Domenico, on the other hand, there are many exuberant and cheerful sonatas which, despite all the cloudiness, always return to the initial joyful affect. In Alessandro, the minor is predominant; in Domenico, the major and minor are in balance. Alessandro prefers slow to moderate tempi (Lento, Adagio, Andante), Domenico prefers fast tempi (Allegro, Presto, Prestissimo). It is very attractive to be able to experience these two composers and their compositional characteristics together on one recording. The ensemble TENTA LA FUGA (after the eponymous title of an aria by Alessandro Scarlatti) is a trio formation dedicated to vocal baroque music from around 1700. Its members are internationally renowned artists and graduates or teachers of the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis and the Conservatoire National Supérieur Musique et Danse de Lyon. Their improvisation-based playing is shaped by performance practice research results developed at these institutes.

On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the death of the important French composer Camille Saint-Saëns, the Basel Symphony Orchestra under its conductor Ivor Bolton had set itself the goal of giving its audience an insight into the composer's well-known and lesser-known symphonic works. In addition to the symphonies and various concertos, the orchestra has explicitly focused on the symphonic poems of the composer of the "Carnival of the Animals". For the first time, these works as well as the well-known "Bacchanale" from the opera "Samson et Dalila" have been recorded according to Hugh Macdonalds' new critical edition published by Bärenreiter. Camille Saint-Saëns - who also performed several times at the Stadtcasino Basel - was very old when he died in 1921 at the age of 86. He had an eventful life behind him. He lost his father when he was still a baby. He entered the world of music as a child prodigy. Later, as an adult, his two young sons die. After the death of his mother shortly afterwards, he dissolves his flat in Paris, gives away and sells his furniture and goes into hiding. He spends fifteen years in a travel fever in ship cabins and train compartments. He travels from North Africa to China, from Russia to America - and composes. With the four works he composed between 1872 and 1877, "Le Rouet d'Omphale", "Phaéton", "Danse macabre" and "La Jeunesse d'Hercule", Camille Saint-Saëns placed himself firmly in the tradition of Hector Berlioz, who had ushered in a new era in France with his "Symphonie fantastique", premiered in 1830, as well as the symphonic poems of Franz Liszt, who had established the genre in Germany. During Saint-Saëns' lifetime, his four "Poèmes symphoniques" became repertoire works that were heard around the world, but only the "Danse macabre" has remained in the concert programme to this day. This work with its pictorial depiction of a witches' sabbath - though clearly ironically broken - was a true scandalous piece at the time of its creation, not so far removed from Stravinsky's Sacre in this respect. His own mother fainted with indignation at the premiere and the hall audience went wild. In Germany, Carl Reinecke refused to perform the work because he considered the pictorial representation of skeletons by means of a xylophone immoral. Compared to the "Danse macabre", "Phaéton" is certainly more moderate. It describes Phaéton's high-spirited ride on Helios' sun chariot, which of course - danger of crashing! - does not end well. A rousing and concise orchestral piece. The critical first editions, which have just been published by Bärenreiter within the "Œuvres complètes instrumentales", offer the opportunity for new interpretations of these works on a reliable source basis. About the orchestra: the Süddeutsche Zeitung describes it perfectly: "You only have to experience the Basel Symphony Orchestra with its principal conductor Ivor Bolton once to know what this fabulous orchestra is capable of." Whether in its own concert series, at the Stadtcasino Basel or in guest performances at home and abroad, the innovative ensemble repeatedly confirms its high level of sound culture. The Briton Ivor Bolton has been the orchestra's principal conductor since the 2016/2017 season. Conductors with whom the Basel Symphony Orchestra has been closely associated include personalities such as Johannes Brahms, Felix Weingartner, Gustav Mahler, Wilhelm Furtwängler, Gary Bertini, Walter Weller, Armin Jordan, Horst Stein, Otto Klemperer, Nello Santi, Pierre Boulez, Mario Venzago and Dennis Russell Davies.

Acclaimed mezzosoprano Marie-Claude Chappuis sings regularly under the baton of many famous conductors including Riccardo Chailly, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Daniel Harding, Emmanuelle Haïm, René Jacobs, Zubin Mehta, Riccardo Muti, Jonathan Nott and Christophe Rousset. She has earned two Grammy nominations, the Swiss Music Award nomination, and the Midem Classical Prize. The milestones of her career have included Idomeneo (Idamante) staged and conducted by Nikolaus Harnoncourt in Graz and Zurich, Paisiello’ s Il Matrimonio Inaspettato (Contessa) under Riccardo Muti at Salzburg Festival, La Damnation de Faust (Marguerite) under Sir Roger Norrington in Leipzig, and L’incoronazione di Poppea (Ottavia) at the Berlin State Opera and at La Monnaie in Brussels, one of her numerous collaborations with René Jacobs.

Chappuis has been acclaimed for her performances in the title role of Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas throughout Europe. She is featured at Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Theater an der Wien, Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris, Teatro alla Scala, Teatro Real in Madrid and Grand Théâtre de Genève. She is coequally active on concert-stage having recently performed with the Gewandhaus Orchestra Leipzig, the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, the Giardino Armonico, the London Philharmonic Orchestra and the Wiener Philharmoniker. Her discography includes several recordings with René Jacobs (Harmonia Mundi) and the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra: La Clemenza di Tito, La finta giardinera, and Mozart Requiem. Other recordings with Jacobs and the Akademie für alte Musik Berlin and the RIAS Kammerchor include Bach B Minor Mass and Telemann Brockes-Passion (Harmonia Mundi). Additional recordings include Beethoven Ninth Symphony conducted by Giovanni Antonini (Sony) and Bach St. Matthew Passion with Riccardo Chailly (Decca).

Solo albums include "Sous l'empire d'Amour" – (Deutsche Harmonia Mundi 2017) with lutenist Luca Pianca, and “Au coeur des Alpes“ (Sony Classical 2018) songs from Switzerland. Just released: a new recording of Clérambault Les Fables de La Fontaine (B-Records) with Valentin Tournet and La Chapelle Harmonique.

Burak Çebi, an outstanding pianist and composer of his generation, captivates audiences with his poetic, introspective approach to music making. His playing is marked by tonal perfection, subtly structured voicing and a range of moods and colours, allowing meditative moments to unfold, for example, in the late piano sonatas of Beethoven and in Chopin’s nocturnes. Since his recent successes in competitions in Italy, Spain, and Turkey, the Germany-based artist has made guest appearances in Berlin, Munich, Hamburg, Leipzig and practically all of Turkey’s major concert halls. Çebi hails from a Turkish family of musicians with deep and extensive roots in the Western classical tradition.

Although he received his first music lessons at the age of five, it was not until age 12 that he began to train as a pianist at the state conservatory in Izmir. He completed his musical studies at the Hochschule für Musik in Nuremberg, earning a soloist diploma. He attended the master classes of Stephen Kovacevich, Jean-François Antonioli, Hüseyin Sermet, Abdel Rahman El-Bacha, Filippo Gamba, Bernd Glemser and Jura Margulis. He was awarded first prize in the Orchestra Sion International Piano Competition in 2013 in İstanbul, second prize in Forum Orihuela 2016 in Spain and second prize at IMA Inharmonia 2016 in Rimini, Italy.

His hometown Izmir also provided the setting for his solo and orchestra debuts, the latter with the Izmir Symphony Orchestra, playing Beethoven’s 4th piano concerto under the direction of Ibrahim Yazici in 2007. He has given recitals and chamber music concerts in Berlin (Philharmonie Kammermusiksaal, Haus des Rundfunks), Leipzig (Gewandhaus), Hamburg (Laeiszhalle), Bremen (Die Glocke), Dresden (Piano Salon), München (Steinway-Haus), Ankara (Bilkent Concert Hall, Staatsphilarmonie), Istanbul (Notre Dame de Sion, Cemal Reşit Rey Concert Hall), Izmir (Saygun Concert Hall, Hikmet Simsek Hall), Bayreuth (Steingräber-Haus), Bourges, Rostock, Hannover, Ingolstadt, Trier, Ludwigshafen, Bamberg and many other cities. He participated in events such as the Klavier Akademie Freiburg 2011, Géza Anda-Klaviertage 2011, Heidelberger Frühling 2010, International Chamber Music Courses in Schaffhausen (Switzerland), Chance 2009 Piano Festival in Tegernsee among others. In his recital at the world-renowned Reitstadel concert hall in Neumarkt-Oberpfalz on the occasion of the bicentennial of Schumann’s birth in 2010, Çebi played a full Schumann programme and gained critical acclaim.

Burak Çebi, who also won prizes in the context of the international piano competition held in Steinway-Haus Munich in 2008 and the Mozart Chamber Music Competition in Nuremberg, has also been awarded scholarships from DAAD, Sparda Bank Nuremberg, Berlin Gotthard-Schierse Fund, Deutscher Musikrat, Deutsche Orchesterstiftung and the Richard Wagner Assocciation.

In the early 18th century, the most important works of Baroque chamber and orchestral music were still almost exclusively intended for the ears of aristocratic audiences. The princely courts had close to a monopoly on the enjoyment of art new music; churches were the only place where common people could listen to the works of great composers. However, the rising European bourgeoisie, inspired by the ideas of the Enlightenment, increasingly challenged this aristocratic musical privilege from the end of the 17th century onwards.

The rapid spread of music printing made it possible to play music at home, among friends and family. At the same time, civic concert institutions sprouted up all over Europe. In 1678, the first bourgeois opera house in Germany was opened in Hamburg, the Oper am Gänsemarkt. In 1701, Georg Philipp Telemann founded a student music ensemble in Leipzig that organised public concerts under the name Collegium musicum; and in 1725, King Louis XV allowed the oboist of the royal chapel in the Tuileries Palace in Paris to organise a series for the general public, the Concerts spirituels.

Qiling Chen was born into a family of musicians in Guangzhou in China. She was nine when she started to study the flute at the Xinghai Conservatory in Guangzhou. By the age of sixteen she had already won the second prize in her country’s National Flute Competition and enrolled at Beijing’s Central Conservatory of Music. In 1989 she transferred to the Zurich Conservatory of Music, where her teachers included Aurèle Nicolet, Alexandre Magnin and Günter Rumpel. She graduated summa cum laude with diplomas in solo, orchestral and concert work. Among the various prizes that Qiling Chen has won at international competitions, suffice it to mention a first prize at the 1991 Concours National d'Exécution Musicale pour la Jeunesse in Riddes in Switzerland, a second prize at the 1992 International Flute Competition at Szeged in Hungary and a first prize at the 1996 Kiwanis Chamber Music Competition in Zurich, Switzerland.

Released in 1992, her first solo album included flute concertos by Bach, Vivaldi and Karl Doppler with the Heidelberg Chamber Orchestra. In addition to giving recitals and concerts with symphony orchestras and chamber ensembles, Qiling Chen also holds master_x005F_x0002_classes in Europe, China, Korea and Japan. She is additionally active as a jury member and committee organizer for various international flute competitions in Europe and China. She founded the Nicolet International Flute Competition in China in 2006 and has organized subsequent competitions in 2010 and 2014. She also founded the Boldern International Flute Festival in Zurich in 2008 and helped to organize two more festivals there in 2012 and 2016. In 2009 she co-founded the Asia Flute Federation with a number of Japanese and Korean musicians.

Qiling Chen has taught the flute and chamber music at Beijing’s Central Conservatory of Music (2005–07), at the Zurich Conservatory of Music (2009–13) and, since 2011, at the Kalaidos University of Music in Zurich. Yoshiko Iwai was born in Nagoya, Japan. At the age of 13, she won the West Japan Youth Music Competition. She studied with Prof. Hitoshi Kobayashi at Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music (Tokyo Geijutsu Daigaku). During this time she won 2nd prize at the 52nd Japanese National Music Competition. In 1987 Yoshiko Iwai moved to Germany to further her studies with Prof. Friedrich Wilhelm Schnurr at the Hochschule für Musik in Detmold and graduated in 1993 with highest honour (Konzertexamen). She also participated in masterclasses held by Prof. György Sebők.From 1993 to 1996 she taught at the Hochschule für Musik in Detmold.

Yoshiko Iwai has been awarded many major prizes at inter_x005F_x0002_national music competitions. She was a finalist in the 14th Clara Haskil Competition (Vevey, Switzerland), received the second prize at the 3rd European Chopin Piano Competition Darmstadt 1989 and won the first prize (Felix Mendelssohn-Bart_x005F_x0002_holdy Prize) at the Mendelssohn Competition Berlin 1991. In ad_x005F_x0002_dition, she won the second prize at the International Geza Anda Competition (Zürich, Switzerland 1994). She recorded several albums (Mozart piano pieces, Clara Schumann piano works and Paul Juon chamber music etc.) and participated in numerous broadcasting-productions. Yoshiko Iwai lives in Zürich and performes frequently in Japan, Switzerland and many other European countries. Since 2000 she works at the Zurich University of the Arts (Zürcher Hochschule der Künste).

This album is the fulfilment of a dream and the result of over five years of planning, developing and preparing a unique collaborative project between composers, arrangers and musicians – 6 pieces, 6 composers, 4 premieres – What inspired me to record this album was the fascinating way the sound of the bassoon blends with the string quartet. My choice of repertoire was based on pure pleasure – I chose works that I love to play, some original, others arranged, and asked composers I admire so much to write for this combination.

In two of the works I added the double bass, which enriches them very much and helps immensely to encounter different sound worlds. To create this with musicians of this calibre was simply wonderful. Their interest, curiosity and flexibility together with the skill, calm and experience of our sound engineer, Andreas Werner, and the fact that we were able to record in the legendary Radiostudio in Zurich, makes me feel so privileged. I couldn't be happier with the result which I hope you too will enjoy!

Winner of The International Opera Awards (2015), for Semiramide – La Signora regale, and Best Female Voice Finalist IOA (2016), the anti-Diva, as she likes to describe herself, Anna Bonitatibus is renowned for the noble passion with which she interprets titles between the most famous of ‘teatro musicale’, as well as the tireless commitment with which she promotes the divulgation of a rarer repertoire. She includes in her performed titles, seventy operas, from Claudio Monteverdi’s masterpieces to titles back to proscenium by Francesco Cavalli (Didone, Ercole amante, Calisto), crossing Händel’s operatic production (Agrippina, Deidamia, Giulio Cesare, Orlando, Tamerlano, Tolomeo, Ottone, Il Trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno) and composers from the Neapolitan school, from Pergolesi to Cimarosa, until her beloved Gioachino Rossini: La Cenerentola, Il Barbiere di Siviglia, L’Italiana in Algeri, Le Comte Ory, Il Viaggio à Reims, Tancredi and furthermore Cantate, Masses and the rare and preciouses Péchés de Vieillesse by the ‘pesarese’. As the embodiment of Cherubino from the Daponteian Le Nozze di Figaro, she has become one of the most acclaimed performers of Mozart. Then follows Don Giovanni, Così fan tutte, Mitridate Re di Ponto, La Clemenza di Tito, as well as sacred and profane repertoire by the Salzburgian composer. The Mezzo-soprano’s wide repertoire includes also Messa da Requiem by Giuseppe Verdi, Ginevra di Scozia by Simon Mayr and Enrico di Borgogna by Donizetti interpreted with great success at the Donizetti Opera di Bergamo (2018). The French repertoire includes Carmen, a role brilliantly debuted in Madrid (2018) and L’Enfant et les sortilèges by Ravel, Roméo et Juliette by Berlioz and Gounod as well as Les contes d’Hoffmann by Offenbach, Werther and Don Quichotte by Massenet. From first steps at the Teatro alla Scala, to Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich, to the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris, to the Teatro Real in Madrid, La Monnaie in Bruxelles, Staatsoper in Vienna, to Royal Opera House in London, Festivals (Salzburg, Florence, Munich, Bologna, Grange) and to the most renowned international concert halls (from Russia to United States), Anna Bonitatibus has collaborated with the most acclaimed conductors and directors: Sir Charles Mackerras, Riccardo Muti, Sir Antonio Pappano, René Jacobs, William Christie, Ivor Bolton, Myung Whun Chung, Alan Curtis, Roberto Abbado, Ottavio Dantone, Marc Minkowski and Luca Ronconi, Jerome Savary, Pier Luigi Pizzi, Dario Fo, David McVicar, David Alden, Sir Jonathan Miller, Kasper Holten, Emilio Sagi, Sven-Eric Bechtolf, David Pountney. The Convegno Internazionale Rossini 2017 opened their recent celebrations dedicated to Rossini150 and Anna Bonitatibus has been invited as interpreter for the special concert ‘Rossini e gli altri. La Gran scena’ produced by Fondazione Rossini di Pesaro. For the same celebrations, she participated at the Rossini Opera Festival 2018 and in September of the same year, she has been Rossini’s ambassador at the Seoul National University (South Korea) and at St. John College, Cambridge, with Recitals and Master Classes dedicated to Gioachino Rossini. Alongside her artistic activity, Anna Bonitatibus is engaged in the research and promotion of Lirica italiana da camera (Italian Art Songs) through the music publishing house Consonarte – Vox in Musica, founded by her and that counts on a collaboration with experts, musicians and scholars from renown European universities. The project seeks to renew appreciation of this immense musical patrimony for which valuable initiatives are undertaken, including the recent performances by the Mezzo-soprano at the Wigmore Hall in London. Among her most successful recordings: L’Infedeltà costante dedicated to Haydn; Un Rendez-vous, a portrait of Gioachino Rossini’s chamber music repertoire; Semiramide - La Signora regale, a musical itinerary from Porpora to García consecrated to the first Queen of Mesopotamia; La Tempesta, chamber Cantatas by the composer Marianna Martines, released for DHM/RCA/SONY. In DVD Il Barbiere di Siviglia for Hardy-RaiTrade, La Didone and Ercole amante by Cavalli (OpusArte) and Così fan tutte by Mozart (Arthaus), L’incoronazione di Poppea for Virgin Classic. In streaming, Anna Bonitatibus recently appeared in La Clemenza di Tito and Lucio Silla (La Monnaie, Bruxelles) and in L’Italiana in Algeri (Wiener Staatsoper, Vienna). Her latest recording (2018, BR Klassis) is the album ‘en travesti’: the recital, warmly acclaimed by audiences and press, crosses the parable of trouser roles composed for female voices and of which Anna Bonitatibus has always been an interpreter of reference.

The Swiss recorder player Isaac Makhdoomi enchants his audience with his great virtuosity and stylistic versatility. Together with the Piccante Baroque Orchestra, which consists of early music specialists from the Basel music scene, he takes us on a fiery virtuoso sound journey to the Venice of the "Prete rosso" Antonio Vivaldi. Like hardly any other composer of his time, Vivaldi helped the recorder and its variants to musical heights with his compositions. Stupendously virtuoso runs alternate here with beautiful cantilenas.

Kathrin Hottiger is a Swiss soprano. She studied with Liliane Zürcher at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts. Since graduating, she has continued her studies with Malin Hartelius. Kathrin Hottiger won third prize at the 2018 "Pietro Antonio Cesti" international competition for baroque opera in Innsbruck, Austria, and was a semi-finalist at the "New Voices" competition in 2019. She received a scholarship from Migros Kulturprozent in 2017 and 2018 In various master classes, Kathrin Hottiger has worked with Bernarda Fink, Edith Mathis, Ton Koopman, and Evelyn Tubb. In the summer of 2022, Kathrin Hottiger performed the role of Zelmira in Joseph Haydn's opera "Armida" at the Bregenz Festival. Further highlights of her career have included engagements in Moscow, Washington DC and Jerusalem. She has worked with ensembles such as the Thomanerchor and Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, the musica viva orchestra Moscow, Camerata Bern, the Orchester de chambre de Lausanne, the Südwestdeutsche Philharmonie Konstanz, and the argovia philharmonic under the baton of Rune Bergmann and Jan Willem de Vriend. In 2019, she sang the role of Eurydice in Gluck's opera "Orphée et Eurydice" at the Tchaikovsky concert hall in Moscow and in the Opera of Komi. In 2020, she gave her debut as Adele ("Die Fledermaus") at the Neues Theater in Dornach and in 2021 she sang Fortuna, Pallade and Damigella in Monteverdi's "L'incoronazione di Poppea" at Waldegg Castle. The CD produced during this production was released by Rondeau Production in Leipzig and is listed in the longlist 1/2023 of the German Record Critics in two categories. Further engagements include the roles of Amore ("Orfeo ed Euridice"), Venus ("Venus and Adonis"), and Gretel ("Hänsel und Gretel") at the Luzerner Theater, Switzerland. Kathrin Hottiger also enjoys singing in a chamber music setting. She regularly performs with the ensemble I Pizzicanti, based in Basel, which specializes in early music. In addition, she has a special love of the song, in particular of French and Scandinavian repertoire. Since spring 2022 she has been making music with the American-French pianist Pierre-Nicolas Colombat. Since 2017 she has given regular recitals as a duo with Edward Rushton.

An Homage to Swiss Art Song – The point of departure is the song cycle Lieder us um Tal (1981) (Songs of the Valley) by Eugen Meier (*1934), which is expanded with selected songs on the same themes by Swiss composer of the last two centuries.

An unusual instrument: piccolo flute. Interesting pieces, new sounds, perfectly interpreted.

On this new release, Bach's sonatas BWV 1027 - 1029 are combined with two stunning works by Arvo Pärt (Spiegel im Spiegel, Fratres).

Annette Bartholdy is one of the most sought-after violists of the young generation. Born in Berne, Switzerland, she is a winner of many national and international competitions and awards (“Schweizer Jugend Musikwettbewerb”, study awards from the “Schweizerische Tonkünstler Verein”, “Orpheus Förderungspreis”, Pro Musicis International Award). Annette Bartholdy has worked with masters such as Vladimir Ashkenazy and Andras Schiff and has appeared as a soloist with leading European ensembles such as the European Camerata.

Benjamin Engeli is one of the most versatile Swiss musicians of his generation. His career as a soloist, chamber musician and teacher has taken him to most European countries as well as to Australia, China, India, North and South America.

To this day, the Slavonic Dances remain Dvořák‘s most popular work. They represent his own quintessential musical style, which competently plays with a masterly invented folklorism.