Here is all the chamber music composed by Gabriel Fauré between 1875 and 1924. These recordings, now viewed as benchmark versions, feature some of the finest artists on the French and international scene: violinist Daishin Kashimoto, cellist François Salque, violist Lise Berthaud, pianist Alexandre Tharaud, flautist Emmanuel Pahud, clarinettist Paul Meyer and the Quatuor Ébène. An exceptional project initiated by the pianist Éric Le Sage, whose 2019 recording of the thirteen Nocturnes completes the anthology.

Jodie Devos is sorely missed. Aged just thirty-five, she died on 16 June 2024. Wishing to perpetuate her memory and her art, we have decided to publish this boxed set containing all of the recordings she made for Alpha Classics over a period of ten years: six albums that bear witness to the exacting standards, sensitivity, eclecticism and curiosity of this unusual soprano who was loved by all. Also included is a concert she gave at the Gaume Festival in August 2017; this deeply moving programme reveals another side of Jodie, notably her love of American music and song, from Gershwin to Michel Legrand. All profits from the sale of this boxed set, which includes all the texts from the original albums, will be donated to the Jodie Devos Fund, created in 2025 to perpetuate the transmission and promotion of the operatic art that she held so dear.

Juri Reinvere, born in Tallinn in 1971, is an Estonian composer with a passion for theology and psychology; he has also written poetry. His collaboration with Paavo Jarvi began in Parnu, the birthplace of the Estonian Festival Orchestra, in 2016. This programme begins with And tired from happiness, they started to dance, in which feverish rhythms are followed by moments of ecstasy. Debussy's music here comes to mind, as does the glistening brass in Bruckner's symphonies. This is followed by a playful double concerto for flute - Reinvere had studied the flute, and it was thanks to this that he was able to join a military band instead of fighting in the Soviet army. On the ship of fools is inspired by the key phrase of a 16th-century novel: Mundus vult decipi, ergo decipiatur (The world seeks to be deceived, therefore let it be deceived). "People deceive each other on Facebook and Instagram", comments Reinvere, whose music is both heady and troubling.

ISTANPITTA: Dances of 14th Century Florence

Alpha Classics continues its collaboration with the Ensemble Intercontemporain and presents a programme devoted to compositions by its conductor and artistic director, Matthias Pintscher. bereshit, ‘in a beginning’ in Hebrew, is a piece on the subject of divine creation. The architecture of the work refers to the idea of the growth of the elements out of nothingness to their finished state: the colours, the harmonies are therefore always redefined by what precedes and follows them. Songs from Solomon’s garden – still in a highly spiritual dimension – explores amorous passion through the shir ha shirim (Song of Songs). The poetic density of this text is underlined here, with the only repeated phrase of the work taking on a quasi-incantatory signification: ‘she-cholat ahava ani’ (for I am sick of love).

The young tenor Reinoud Van Mechelen, whose career is currently in full flower, appears as a guest soloist with today’s leading conductors of Baroque music. He has decided to devote his first solo album to a composer whom he interprets with elegance and contagious joy: Johann Sebastian Bach. The title ‘Erbarme dich’ naturally evokes for music lovers the celebrated alto aria from the St Matthew Passion; but it is also the incipit of a sorrowful, sensuous aria for tenor and flute from the Cantata BWV 55. In fact, a substantial corpus of cantatas written by the Kantor in Leipzig between 1724 and 1726 feature a close dialogue between tenor voice and flute. Bach excels in this art of discourse and enjoys underlining or contradicting the text by sketching with the flute lines full of exacerbated vocality. This art of interweaving voices attracted Reinoud Van Mechelen and the flautist Anna Besson, who have chosen, along with the organist and harpsichordist Benjamin Alard, to structure their programme around Bach arias featuring obbligato organ and traverso. This album marks the birth of the ensemble founded by Reinoud Van Mechelen, A Nocte Temporis, and the start of his collaboration with Alpha, which will extend over several years.

The repertory for piano four hands is very large and was very popular, especially in the period between 1780 and 1950, with both professional pianists and amateur players in the home. Jos van Immerseel and Claire Chevallier chose for this recording a selection of ‘dances’ by three masters of the genre, who show a certain affinity with one another and composed the works in question within a short period of time (1878-81). Brahms wrote twenty-one dances, from which the artists have chosen the less well-known books, nos. 11 to 21. He wrote these works while living in Vienna where he got to know Hungarian folk music through the street musicians, which inspired these works. Grieg loved his country, its atmosphere and culture, and this drove his composition. He wrote: “To turn Norwegian nature, Norwegian folk life and Norwegian poetry into music. This goal appeals to me, and I feel strongly that through it I will achieve something.” Dvorak’s Slavonic Dances for piano four hands are largely inspired by the aforementioned dances by Brahms. The three composers were also pianists and knew the keyboard instruments of their time. The benchmark for them was the German style of piano construction. They knew all the possibilities but also the limitations of their instruments. For this recording, the duo chose a Bechstein grand piano of 1870, believing that a masterly restoration of a masterly instrument of the composers’ time offers a better chance of listening to the music as the composers conceived and heard it.

After several recordings on Ricercar and a first disc on Alpha, Actus Tragicus, containing early Bach cantatas, 'of staggering profundity, purity and beauty' (ffff Telerama), Lionel Meunier and his ensemble Vox Luminis devote this new project to two showpieces by Handel and Bach. Of these two composers born in 1685, the first travelled to Italy in 1707 and made a powerful impression in Rome with the creation of his Dixit Dominus, while the second produced one of his finest compositional tours de force in the Magnificat of 1723/32-35. Two works from the core repertoire of the Belgian ensemble, here fielding combined vocal and instrumental forces, which is perfectly versed in the style and expression of Baroque rhetoric. Vox Luminis is a Belgian early music ensemble created in 2004 by it's artistic director Lionel Meunier. Today, the ensemble performs over 60 concerts a year, appearing on stages in Belgium, across Europe and around the world. The size and composition of the group depends on the repertoire being performed but the core of soloists, mostly from the Royal Conservatory of the Hague, is joined by a continuo and additional (orchestral) instrument performers. It's repertoire is essentially Italian, English and German and spans from the 16th to the 18th century. Since it's inception, the ensemble is defined by it's unity and seduces as much through the personality of each timbre as it does through the colour and the uniformity of the voices. It is more than a fixed repertoire, the ensemble members wholeheartedly communicate their passion for early music and love for the audience.

Although Lully never held any post in the Chapelle du Roi, his influence on the development of the grand motet, so emblematic of the Grand Siècle, was of decisive importance. He wrote imposing motets celebrating the glory of God and the King for the great ceremonies at court. Of the many royal funerals, that of Queen Marie-Thérèse in 1683 was among the most grandiose. Lully's Dies iræ and de profundis were sung there. But his most celebrated motet was undoubtedly his Te Deum, which rang out for the first time in 1677 and became the king's favorite. In 1687 Lully directed it once again, but struck his foot violently with the heavy walking stick he used to beat time. The wound became infected and the gangrene gradually spread, causing the surintendant's death on 22 March. Such was the tragic destiny of the man who was capable of conveying the most brilliant glory but also all the anguish of death in the same vein of grandeur. That theatrical grandeur is the characteristic of this version recorded in the Chapelle Royale of the Château de Versailles. Lully is in the limelight again in 2019, on the occasion of the 350th anniversary of the Académie Royale de Musique (Paris Opéra), of which he was director from 1672 until his death.

Erkki-Sven Tüür, born in Estonia in 1959, writes music that is characterized by intense energetic transformation. The intuitive and rational approach is synthesized into a complete organic system. He is the composer of nine symphonies, ten concertos, numerous chamber works and an opera. Dedicated to his compatriot Paavo Järvi and composed to mark the centenary of the Estonian Republic in 2018, Tüür’s Ninth Symphony is entitled Mythos. According to the composer, this refers to the myths that arise about nations and how they have acquired their independence, and also deals with the long history of the Finno-Ugric peoples. Paavo Järvi and his Estonian Festival Orchestra have made the world premiere recording of this work, along with The Incantation of Tempest (Ormiloits, 2004), dedicated to the Estonian composer Veljo Tormis, and Sow the Wind, composed in 2015, inspired by climatic ‘gusts of wind’ and ‘whirlwinds’.

After its recording of Dvorák’s complete chamber music with piano, the Busch Trio now tackles three works by Franz Schubert, including his famous Piano Trio no.2. While the dying composer dedicated this masterpiece ‘to nobody, save those who find pleasure in it,’ as if urging them to enjoy the life that was gradually ebbing away from him, his “Notturno” for piano trio D 897 expresses an anguish and a sense of tragedy that makes it one of the most eloquent examples of Romantic lyricism. Schubert’s early period is represented by his very first piece for piano and strings, the single-movement Sonatensatz D28, which he composed at the age of fifteen. Written following the youthful Schubert’s expulsion from the Imperial Choir School in Vienna after his voice broke (he lost his mother the same year), this piece, still heavily influenced by Classicism, offers a troubling counterpoint to the works of his Romantic maturity, which reflect both the joy of creation and the suffering wrought by illness.

Max Bruch was eighty years old when, in 1918, he decided to return to the chamber music genre he had frequented in his early years. Stimulated by the violin virtuoso Willy Hess, he composed two string quintets and an octet, monuments to beauty and harmony, at the end of a tumultuous personal life and in the midst of a western world on the brink of collapse. After an album devoted to Beethoven’s chamber music, the Chamber Players of the WDR Sinfonieorchester now tackle one of the last chapters of German Romantic music, with pieces that constitute Bruch’s swansong.

This recording presents one of the most lucid and well-programmed portraits of john Adams to emerge, well, in a long while.

In this program, Paavo Järvi and the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich celebrate a composer of our time with works from different periods and citing a wide range of references, whether autobiographical or typically American. John Adams has assimilated numerous musical influences, and his personal style cannot be reduced to one of them: he is neither Minimalist, nor post-Minimalist, nor neo-Romantic. Some of his works can of course be said to belong to one or other of these movements, but he does not consider himself to be the representative of any particular tendency. If he refers to musical tradition in his works, it is always in a critical way and at the same time open to the influences of pop music, rock, and jazz.

REVIEW:

Paavo Järvi and the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich mightn’t be the first pairing one associates with the music of John Adams. But, as their new album – simply titled John Adams – attests, they’ve pretty much got the iconic American composer’s style down pat.

Rhythmically, the Swiss band really digs into the proceedings here. That’s especially true of their account of Lollapalooza, a whimsical 1995 curtain-raiser dedicated to Simon Rattle. Järvi’s tempo is notably slower than either Kent Nagano’s or Michael Tilson Thomas’s, yet, if the reading is less overtly edgy, it’s perhaps jazzier than its forebears. And it certainly doesn’t want for energy or textural clarity.

Similar qualities mark Slonimsky’s Earbox, another mid-‘90s effort. It’s brilliantly energetic, yes, but Järvi’s command of its structure is the real story: this is as coherent a Slonimsky as has been played, clearly drawing on all the threads of Adams’ style up to about 1996 while also suggesting what was to come in pieces like Naïve and Sentimental Music and Son of Chamber Symphony.

Also, My Father Knew Charles Ives, Adams’ semi-autobiographical 2003 tone poem that, last year, was the highlight of a disc from the Nashville Symphony. Järvi and the Tonhalle-Orchester are, generally, a bit more relaxed in their tempos than their counterparts in Tennessee, especially in the first movement. But the performance never slogs; rather, it overflows with atmosphere and color.

Rounding things out is a carefully-balanced account of Adams’ 1986 fanfare Tromba lontana. Perhaps less familiar than its more vigorous companion piece, Short Ride in a Fast Machine, Tromba lontana, with its delicately dancing textures, potently complements My Father Knew Charles Ives.

The end result is one of the most lucid and well-programmed portraits of Adams to emerge, well, in a long while. As such, it’s an excellent way to mark the composer’s 75th birthday this year – or just his general contributions to contemporary music, which, as this disc reminds, have been anything but commonplace or predictable.

-- The Arts Fuse (Jonathan Blumhofer)

The Busch Trio continues its Schubertian explorations in two works brimming with melodic invention and nostalgia: the Trio in B flat and the famous ‘Trout’ Quintet in A major. But to those who see Schubert as the embodiment of the gemütlich (cosy) face of Vienna, his output, and especially his chamber music, responds with a spirituality, an intensity, and sometimes even a fury that are far removed from the atmosphere of the ‘Schubertiade’.

Despite the ‘effortless musicianship’ (The Times) and great emotional sensitivity ascribed to the Busch Trio by the press and their loyal fans, these three musicians are guided by the head as much as the heart when playing music, being very much aware of what they are doing. ‘The more you know, the more freedom you feel’ is one of the key maxims of the ensemble.

REVIEW:

The Busch Trio rivals classics recordings by, among others, Rudolf Serkin and the Marlboro Festival ensemble's, for musicianship and might be the most varied and imaginative of all. In addition, the recorded sound is the best of the lot, both for balancing the five instruments and for beauty. The tempos in all three performances are close, so that is a non-issue. There’s such a palpable delight communicated by the playing that I find this new account irresistible. The variations on “Die Forelle” that give the quintet its nickname are done with the lyrical phrasing of an exquisite Lieder singer. This testifies to the virtue mentioned above, that we hear a unified musical mind in the interpretation. In other hands the “Trout” Quintet can veer into sameness by the end, which the Busch Trio counters with a finale that sparkles exuberantly.

I have no hesitation in ranking both performances at or very near the top of a crowded catalog. The old guard fades, and it is heartening that the new generation can express Schubert as beautifully as anyone from the past.

-- Fanfare

Enthusiasm, affection and style...all those qualities are here again in abundance [on the Busch Trio's second Schubert album], the B flat Trio radiant where the E flat is motivically combative, the Trout Quintet perhaps the sine qua non of works composed for companionable music-making.

The striding opening of the Trio is suitably outgoing here, vividly transmitting its melodic generosity, but this ensemble’s extroversion does not ignore the clouds that cover its essentially sunny outlook on occasion. The mood is appropriately tender in the Andante, quizzical in the Scherzo and urbane in the finale. The Busch Trio’s sympathy with this repertoire feels absolute, their communicative ardour evident throughout the performance.

The two trios are works on the largest scale, so don’t often come with much more than brief couplings to add a few minutes to the running time. So it’s a blessing indeed to have the B flat Trio coupled with a whole Trout Quintet, and not one that’s rushed through, either. The Trout is one of those works that seems indestructible: it’s virtually impossible for even the most half-hearted performance not to convey bags of charm and charisma. When it’s played with the affection that the Busch lavish upon it, it’s irresistible. The recording smooths the edges off the piano sound but enables the contribution of each player to be heard ideally. Omri Epstein’s piano bubbles and ripples infectiously but the whole is anchored by the buoyant bass of Naomi Shaham. A true delight from start to finish.

-- Gramophone

Ravel composed his Piano Trio M67 just before enlisting voluntarily in the First World War. Inspired by the Basque country and its zortziko dance, the Trio ends with a sombre, almost anguished fourth movement. A mood inspired by the impending war? In his Piano Trio No.2, op.67, Shostakovich too is affected by the horrors of war and the death of a close friend. For the first time in the Russian composer’s output, we hear a Jewish theme, a danse macabre echoing the terrible events of the time. Another point in common between the two works is that both include a passacaglia. For the Busch Trio, it was self-evident that these two heart-rending works should be brought together on the same album.

REVIEW:

The Busch Trio has the depth of musicianship to encompass the very different emotions of these great 20th-century chamber works. In the Ravel, the music’s dreamlike quality comes across particularly vividly, without any indulgence. At the same time, there’s no lack of urgency in the more agitated full-blooded sections that have a tremendous visceral energy.

After the Mediterranenan glow of the Ravel, the Shostakovich come as something of a shock. The Finale is the most challenging movement both for the players and the listeners. The Trio focus on holding back for as long as possible, so that when the climax is eventually reached – with the forceful restatement of the Trio’s opening material – the impact is absolutely overwhelming.

-- BBC Music Magazine

Olivier Messiaen composed his eight-movement Quartet for the End of Time in 1940 while imprisoned in Germany. He drew his inspiration from the Apocalypse written by Saint John the Evangelist, one of the few works he was allowed to keep in the camp. Het Collectif explores this work, never forgetting that it was at the heart of this harsh winter of war, in a context of misfortune, confinement and deprivation, that Messiaen had an angel speak, promising paradise and the end of time... Stalag VIIIa, composed by Tristan Murail, whose title refers to Olivier Messiaen's place of detention in Görlitz in 1940, completes this programme.

Singer Asmik Grigorian has chosen to record both versions of Richard Strauss's ultimate masterpiece, composed in 1948: the version with orchestra and the much rarer version with piano. For her, this work is associated with the idea of solitude, but not an unhappy solitude, rather a journey towards infinity: "Now all my senses long to sink into slumber. And the soul, unguarded, longs to soar up in freedom, so that, in night’s magic circle, it may live deeply and a thousandfold." writes Hermann Hesse in Beim Schlafengehen (Going to Sleep), the third song in the cycle. For this unique coupling, Asmik is joined by two long-time accomplices: conductor Mikko Franck, with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, and pianist Markus Hinterhauser, artistic director of the Salzburg Festival. The combination of the two versions opens up new sensations: after the well-known abundance of Strauss's orchestration an incredible sensitivity is revealed by the piano version.

German baritone Benjamin Appl celebrates Christmas through the enduring tradition of Bach chorales and popular carols, from as far afield as Germany, Austria, America, Britain, Sweden, France and the Netherlands. For this truly universal Christmas celebration he is accompanied by Germany's most famous children's choir, of which he was a member in his youth, the Munich Radio Orchestra and instrumentalists (including his own mother on guitar): "Christmas evokes intense memories and emotions in all of us. It takes us back to our childhood: that sense of magic and excitement, so often reawakened by the sight of a traditional Nativity scene, or the lights on a Christmas tree, or by hearing Christmas carols... It was with all these images in mind that I returned to my home town to record this album with 'my' boys' choir. When, after more than twenty years, I found myself back among the choristers and heard the familiar sound, the emotion was very intense."

By 2014 eric Montalbetti had amassed 20 years of experience as Artistic Director of the Radio France Philharmonic Orchestra, all the while he had also been composing, something he had been engaged in since childhood: an activity he did not publicly reveal until 2015. Conscious of the heritage of Debussy and Messiaen ('my very first heroes') as well as skilled in the serialism of Boulez - whose teaching courses he attended at the College de France - and fascinated by the sonic nuances of spectral music, eric Montalbetti seeks a point of convergence, a possible synthesis enabling him to blend modality and serialism, without rejecting the harmonic contours of composers such as Murail. This new album dedicated to Montalbetti's work includes a Flute Concerto, whose commission was encouraged by Emmanuel Pahud: it's telling title is Memento vivere (Remember that you must live).

The Italian conductor Ottavio Dantone breathes new life into Cesare in Egitto, an opera by Geminiano Giacomelli (1692-1740) based on a libretto written by Domenico Lalli with the assistance of a young collaborator not yet in his thirties: Carlo Goldoni. Cesare in Egitto, is considered to be Giacomelli's masterpiece; his drammi per musica enjoyed great success in Parma, Venice, Milan, Rome, Turin and Graz. He also influenced the most eminent musicians of his time: Vivaldi, for example, used arias by Giacomelli in his pasticcio Bajazet. This world premiere recording was made with the Accademia Bizantina and first-rate soloists at the Innsbruck Festival, where Ottavio Dantone has been music director since 2024.

Classical Music

DOWLAND / PHILIPS / FERRABOSCO / BYRD / COPERARIO / MORLEY:

In 1855 the organ world in Germany discovered Franz Liszt's performance of his most famous transcriptions on the organ of Merseburg. Yves Rechsteiner recaptures the magic atmosphere of these concerts.

Classical Music

Includes cto(s) by Johann Sebastian Bach. Ensemble: Café Zimmermann.