Malcolm Martineau follows up his acclaimed complete song collections of Duparc, Poulenc and Faure with a double album celebrating the complete songs of Maurice Ravel, performed by a bumper roster of singers: Lorna Anderson, Julie Boulianne, John Chest, Sarah Dufresne Dafydd Jones, Simon Keenlyside, Paula Murrihy, Nicky Spence and William Thomas. French composer Maurice Ravel known for his musical craftsmanship and clear style drew on elements of baroque, neoclassicism, modernism and later on, jazz in his compositions. His vocal works span 4 decades, from 1893 to 1933. Scottish pianist Malcolm Martineau is recognised at the highest international level as one of the UK's leading accompanists, performing worldwide alongside the world's greatest singers and with a discography of over 100 albums, including a number of award-winning recordings.

In 1674, Lully and Quinault unveiled a new collaboration: Alceste, a tragedie en musique combining the dramatic power of the Greek myth from which it was inspired with the musical richness of the French Baroque. Despite criticism from the rivals of Lully and Quinault, this opera seduced the court of Louis XIV, reinforcing the new genre of the tragedie en musique. Stephane Fuget explores a world where love, sacrifice and duty intertwine, supported by sumptuous arias and choruses of unprecedented expressivity, sublimely performed by Les Epopees and the Ch�ur de l'Opera Royal.

Alone in his workshop, the sculptor Pygmalion shapes a statue of incomparable beauty, to the point of falling hopelessly in love with it. He then implores Love to bring his creation to life, and, moved by his pure devotion, Love grants his wish. With Pigmalion, Rameau crafted his finest opera-ballet, showcasing the full brilliance of his genius to depict the transformation from marble to flesh and the passionate quest for love. Alongside this, Antoine Bailleux's version offers a fresh and novel interpretation of the myth. Camille Delaforge and the ensemble Il Caravaggio deliver a brilliant performance, unveiling the full evocative power and refined elegance of Rameau's style.

To mark the 150th anniversary of Bizet's death and the premiere of his immensely popular Carmen, Alpha Classics and Le Palazzetto Bru Zane now pay tribute to Celestine Galli-Marie, the singer who created the title role. A remarkable actress and singer, she created sixteen roles in fifteen years at the Opera-Comique, including Ambroise Thomas' iconic Mignon and Jacques Offenbach's Fantasio. Eva Zaicik is delighted to take on the roles created by such a colourful artist: 'Celestine embodied a certain idea of artistic and feminine rebellion. Her voice, charisma and unique theatrical approach brought to life characters who were free, complex and often struggled with the norms of their time.' Supported superbly by Pierre Dumoussaud and the Orchestre National de Lille, the French mezzo not only brilliantly embodies characters created by Bizet, Massenet, Offenbach and Thomas but also breathes new life into arias by Paladilhe, Poise, Deffes, Masse, Guiraud, Cohen and Grisar.

To follow shortly

For her fourth recital on Alpha Classics, mezzo-soprano Kate Lindsey has chosen to record two cycles, Schumann's well-known Frauenliebe und Leben and Faure's La Chanson d'eve, a much more unfamiliar work. What the two cycles have in common is that a woman is their protagonist: "both works deal with innocence, discovery, joy, sorrow and ultimately a deeper understanding of life that only experience can offer", says Kate Lindsey, who has named this new album Samsara, a Sanskrit word that evokes the cycle of life, from birth to death. Eric Le Sage, a great specialist in the music of Faure and Schumann, is the ideal partner for this introspective journey, which also features extracts from Schumann's sublime Myrthen as well as Faure's famed Clair de lune and Chanson d'amour.

Introducing Leia Zhu, a remarkable wunderkind on the violin, in her highly anticipated first release of an 8-album series dedicated to the captivating solo concertos of Saint-Saens. This album is a celebration of talent and artistry, showcasing the extraordinary capabilities of one of today's most promising young musicians. Delve into the virtuosic and challenging repertoire of Saint-Saens, featuring his Violin Concertos No. 1 & 2, along with the enchanting Introduction et Rondo Capriccioso, Op. 28 and the lively Havanaise, Op. 83. Leia Zhu's interpretations bring a fresh perspective to these masterpieces, blending technical prowess with emotional depth. Join us as we embark on this exciting musical journey through Saint-Saens' works, and witness the emergence of a new star in the classical music world.

French music specialist, Jean-Luc Tingaud, conducts a selection of Faure's secular choral and theatrical music - works that remain relatively little known. Setting a text by Victor Hugo, Les Djinns is heard in Faure's version for choir and orchestra, while his first venture into incidental music, Caligula, focuses largely on the lives of the women in the Roman court rather than the Emperor. Featuring both instrumental and vocal movements, Masques et bergamasques evokes the Arcadian allure of the French f�te galante style - antique, luminous and nostalgic. Also included is the premiere recording of Desire-emile Inghelbrecht's inventive and sympathetic arrangement of Faure's largest piano work, the Theme et variations.

No, Georges Bizet was not only the composer of Carmen, the French opera most frequently performed around the world. In a career spanning less than twenty years, he produced works in every genre: orchestral music, piano pieces, cantatas, operas, songs and more besides. He showed an early mastery of orchestration, and was soon able to give free rein to his taste for orientalism and folklore. This portrait offers a chance to discover works that were never performed during his lifetime, indeed some which had to wait until 2024 for their premiere. Of particular note is the 'ode-symphony' Vasco de Gama, which illustrates the Romantic taste for vast historical epics, and Le Retour de Virginie, a cantata for the Prix de Rome presented by the composer to his teacher in 1855. Piano music and melodies remind us that Bizet was also a sought-after salon composer, whose talent posterity has consecrated in songs like La Coccinelle and Les Adieux de l'h�tesse arabe.

On this double SACD, "Paths into Impressionism" are taken: starting with the two important Sonatas for Violin and Piano by Gabriel Faure, the first of which was already described as a masterpiece by Camille Saint-Saens, and four other short pieces by Faure, the great Salzburg violinist Thomas Albertus Irnberger and the German pianist Michael Korstick, who is already very familiar with the French idiom through many of his own recordings, present further works from the French and Belgian repertoire in their usual masterly and spirited interpretations: the Sonata by the early deceased Guillaume Lekeu, which was commissioned and premiered by Eugene Ysa�e, and Maurice Ravel's Sonata for Violin and Piano (with a Blues as the middle movement), which is characterized by Ravel's view that violin and piano were fundamentally incompatible. The resulting manifold parallel developments and bitonal frictions create specific stimuli, though without showing even the slightest hint of the music falling apart. Ravel's "Kaddish" and the "Berceuse sur le nom de Gabriel Faure", dedicated to his teacher, can also be heard, as well as the Sonata by Francis Poulenc, written in collaboration with Ginette Neveu and dedicated posthumously to Federico Garcia Lorca, and the fascinating work "Theme et variations" by Olivier Messiaen, which he dedicated to his first wife, a violinist, and which still contains many impressionistic elements.

Paris discovered Massenet's Griselidis at the Opera-Comique on 20 November 1901. The work is based on a medieval folktale retold by Boccaccio and Perrault, among others, and already set to music several times in the Baroque era. It gave Massenet the opportunity to handle the 'Gothic' colouring of which the early twentieth century could not get enough. The inventive libretto by Armand Silvestre and Eugene Morand explores unusually contrasted registers: the religious, the fantastical, the sentimental and the warlike. Above all, the presence of a scene-stealing Devil, saddled with a cantankerous wife, offers the possibility of contrasting the serious (or sublime) and the comic (or grotesque). Massenet thus produced a rare example of cross-genre equilibrium, a jewel of French demi-caractere, typical of the Opera-Comique repertory. Although the opera renounces spoken dialogue, theatrical declamation nevertheless creeps into a few particularly successful scenes. Two magnificent baritone roles - the Marquis and the Devil - oppose each other with the full trappings of Romantic vocality, while Griselidis makes a noble and introspective heroine, the perfect model of the French soprano.

SOMM recordings is delighted to release Frankly Speaking with Leopold Stokowski, which gives rare insight into the legendary maestro through live recordings of a performance, a rehearsal, and an interview. The CD features Stokowski conducting the BBC Symphony Orchestra and soprano Gloria Lane in a performance of El amor brujo by Manuel de Falla at the Royal Albert Hall on 15 September 1964; a rehearsal of El amor brujo and Berlioz's Roman Carnival Overture with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra at the War Memorial Opera House on 19 December 1952; and a Frankly Speaking BBC Home Service interview with Stokowski answering questions put to him by John Bowen, Reginald Jacques, and George Scott at the BBC Studios in London on 25 August 1959. Leopold Stokowski's unorthodox seating arrangements, his flexibility regarding free individual string bowings, his emphasis on vibrato and tone, and his idiosyncratic baton-less conducting technique, were some of the practical elements that defined his popularity and his uniquely lush sound-coupled with allowing himself free reign to alter details of the musical text in his performances. Yet there remains a highly elusive element in the art of a great conductor. The rehearsal presented on this release provides a glimpse into Stokowski's creative process. One the one hand, he was fastidiously detailed and precisely demanding to the point of being draconian, but he also admired and encouraged an element of spontaneity, and even improvisation, within the framework of his extreme insistence on precision. The performance of El amor brujo-one of Stokowski's favourite compositions-was recorded at a BBC Promenade concert, and provides a stellar example of the effect that he was able to achieve through his singular and charismatic approach to making music. The extended interview, heard here for the first time since it's original radio broadcast in 1959, illustrates the brilliant repartee, levity, and charm of which this extraordinary musician was capable. Through the breadth of his public success-including his appearance in the film Fantasia and, even more significantly, his recordings as the Music Director of the Philadelphia Orchestra, which he led from 1912 to 1936-Leopold Stokowski reached a more wide-ranging audience than was typical for classical music in his day, and did much to debunk the perception that classical music is "elitist." Together, Stokowski and the Philadelphia Orchestra racked up international sales figures that were unprecedented for orchestral discs, attracted a far-reaching following, and captivated an audience that ranged from classical music newcomers to some of his most celebrated fellow musicians.

In 2022, 19-year-old pianist Roman Borisov became the youngest winner of the prestigious Kissinger KlavierOlymp competition. After taking part in Alpha's 'Next Generation Mozart Soloists' collection (ALPHA991), he now presents his first solo recital in Alpha's ongoing 'Piano Stories' series, which he sees as a 'conversation with the past', featuring composers inspired by earlier styles to create new works. Born in 1870, the brilliant virtuoso pianist Leopold Godowsky composed twenty-four 'free arrangements' of music by masters of the Baroque. Among these, Roman Borisov has selected pieces based on works by Rameau, Corelli, Scarlatti and John Loeillet (whose pieces were originally mis-attributed to Lully)... In 1931, Rachmaninoff composed his last original work for solo piano: a set of variations on 'La Folia', a 15th-century dance theme that Corelli famously used in one of his violin sonatas. The encounter between the Baroque style and the harmonic richness of the Russian composer is fascinating. The superb Prelude, Chorale and Fugue composed by Cesar Franck in 1884, an obvious tribute to J.S. Bach, concludes Roman's pianistic journey through time.

The first collaboration on record of long-time recital partners Viktoria Mullova and Katia Labèque. Ranging from the Schubert Fantasy of 1827 to Stravinsky’s 1933 Suite Italienne, this fascinating programme spans a tremendously exciting 100 years, in which music changed radically, rapidly, and irreversibly. These works demonstrate the massive alterations wrought in those years; the contrast between the Romanticism of Schubert and Clara Schumann, and the innovation of Ravel and Stravinsky. Yet Stravinsky’s use of Baroque music and Ravel’s appropriation of jazz show that the 20th century embraced diverse influences, including those of the past. Viktoria Mullova and Katia Labèque have played this recital together many times, and, as is clear from this recording, relish each composer’s distinctive approach to writing for violin and piano. This is a re-release of the original 2006 production.

Thomas Jensen is hardly known as a Wagnerian, and yet this complete First Act of Die Walkure - with an all-star Danish cast - is paced and shaped with a keen ear for drama. CD2 continues to expand the Jensen discography with works by two composers intimately associated with Wagner, his father-in-law Liszt and his Belgian disciple Franck. The concert overture Piazza del Popolo is a forgotten showpiece which the Danish composer Walther Schroder drew from his score to a silent movie directed by A.W. Sandberg. All the previous volumes are available and in stock.

This program spotlights Gabriel Fauré’s orchestrated songs and his music for the stage, of which his suite from the incidental music for Pelléas et Mélisande includes some of his best-loved music. Performances of Fauré’s spectacular Wagnerian drama Prométhée are a real rarity, while the eloquent Shylock suite, based on Shakespeare, contains some of his most elaborate symphonic music. Fauré orchestrated only a small number of his more than 100 songs, but these include the transcendentally beautiful love song Les Roses d’Ispahan, with its harmonic subtleties and gorgeous coda.

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.

Ernani is a gripping drama about love and revenge by Giuseppe Verdi. Written in his unique style it brims with poignant arias, rousing choruses and enthralling ensemble scenes. The rebel leader Ernani recognises his father's murderer in the Spanish King Carlo and seeks revenge on him. Both men love Elvira - as does old Silva whom she is to be married to... Director Lotte de Beer and her set and costume designer Christof Hetzer devote themselves to the fictional plot which bears references to the 16th century. They demonstrate their rich scenic imagination in this production, conducted by Enrique Mazzola who "provides musically magic moments at the stand of the Wiener Symphoniker" (Schwabische Zeitung). "Great singers, fiery music and an action-packed staging" (Allgauer Zeitung). "A mixture of Tarantino's 'Kill Bill' and Monty Python's 'The Knights of the Coconut'." (Deutschlandfunk)

SOMM Recordings is pleased to present Music for Two Pianos by the French virtuoso pianist and composer, Camille Saint-Saens (1835 - 1921), whose output for solo and duo pianists totals almost 200 compositions. The programme on this release comprises original works for two pianos alongside selections transcribed by Saint-Saens from his orchestral pieces. The featured pianists, Artur Pizarro and Ludovico Troncanetti, made their piano duo debut in Lisbon in 2023 with a recital featuring the repertoire on this album.�The artists share a love of performing two-piano and four-hands repertoire, and they have plans to continue their collaboration with further projects on stage and in the studio. The renowned Portuguese pianist, Artur Pizarro, winner of the Leeds International Piano Competition amongst others, performs internationally as a recitalist, chamber musician, and soloist with the world's leading�orchestras and conductors.�The Italian pianist, Ludovico Troncanetti, is a graduate of the Milan Conservatory and is actively involved in reviving the works of the Russian pianist and composer Anton Rubinstein. The recital opens with Saint-Saens' transcription of Le Rouet d'Omphale (Omphale's Spinning-Wheel), the most famous of his four symphonic poems inspired by Greco-Roman mythology. Both this work and the Marche heroique had their premiere in the original version for two pianos, the march seeming to presage the war that broke out between France and Prussia in July 1870. The first and most substantial of Saint-Saens' original two-piano works is a set of Variations on a Theme of Beethoven, based on the Trio section of the Minuet from Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 18, the Hunt. The eight variations plus a fugue, presto, and coda require considerable ensemble skill from the pianists to pull off. From 1886-the year of the Organ Symphony and The Carnival of the Animals-comes Saint-Saens' tribute to Chopin, whom he had passionately admired since he was a student. Saint-Saens vividly evokes the spirit of the Polonaise without actually quoting any of Chopin's own works inspired by the national dance of his native Poland. Saint-Saens frequently wintered in North Africa; in fact he died in Algiers in December 1921. During an 1889 trip to Las Palmas in Northern Africa, he began composing his Scherzo for two pianos. It's a work with echoes of Debussy, Ravel, and Satie, which he cautioned would be difficult to read at sight and would require much practice. Caprice arabe, along with the symphonic poem Africa and the "Egyptian" Piano Concerto, is one of a trio of piano compositions inspired by Saint-Saens' journeys to North Africa. The recital ends with another caprice, the virtuosic Caprice heroique, which leans more towards being capricious than heroic, despite it's powerful opening and fugue-like ending.

Ever since 1995 at the latest, after the Auryn Quartet and Peter Orth released their highly acclaimed recording of Gabriel Faure's piano quintets for CPO, Primarius Matthias Lingenfelder and Peter had dreamed of recording Faure's works for violin and piano. Many years passed. In 2022, the Auryn Quartet retired from concert life. Before that, I wanted one last recording with them for TACET, no matter what, as a farewell. That didn't materialise. But Matthias still had the desire and energy. And so did Peter! So what could be more obvious than finally realising their long-cherished wish? The result is a serene, mature, virtuoso, sensitive and loving performance of this unconventionally beautiful repertoire.

Ernani is a gripping drama about love and revenge by Giuseppe Verdi. Written in his unique style it brims with poignant arias, rousing choruses and enthralling ensemble scenes. The rebel leader Ernani recognises his father's murderer in the Spanish King Carlo and seeks revenge on him. Both men love Elvira - as does old Silva whom she is to be married to... Director Lotte de Beer and her set and costume designer Christof Hetzer devote themselves to the fictional plot which bears references to the 16th century. They demonstrate their rich scenic imagination in this production, conducted by Enrique Mazzola who "provides musically magic moments at the stand of the Wiener Symphoniker" (Schwabische Zeitung). "Great singers, fiery music and an action-packed staging" (Allgauer Zeitung). "A mixture of Tarantino's 'Kill Bill' and Monty Python's 'The Knights of the Coconut'." (Deutschlandfunk)

Torn between her desire of a life of splendour and riches and her devotion to her true love Des Grieux (Reece Clarke), the alluring and capricious Manon (Natalia Osipova) pays the ultimate price. MacMillan's adaptation of Abbe Prevost's novel L'Histoire du Chevalier des Grieux et de Manon Lescaut?embodies his acute insight into human psychology and his mastery of narrative choreography. This is MacMillan at his best; finding full expression in the impassioned duets of the central couple, visceral and urgent in their desire.

Re-release of a previous ORFEO bestseller, the present album contains the premiere of the new production of Don Carlo from October 1970 in Vienna. The premiere was surrounded by a great scandal, caused by the Karajan's fans, who expected their idol to conduct the new production. However, Karajan entrusted the conductor Horst Stein with the new production and though Stein had until then been the favourite of the local audience, this time he was greeted with a torrent of 'boos" which were totally unrelated to his artistic performance. The singers, by contrast, were cheered to the rafters. The house had gathered together a cast for this production that was hand-picked right down to the smallest part. The booklet offers detailed information about the scandal and indignation surrounding the premiere together with archive photographs of the stage.

Torn between her desire of a life of splendour and riches and her devotion to her true love Des Grieux (Reece Clarke), the alluring and capricious Manon (Natalia Osipova) pays the ultimate price. MacMillan's adaptation of Abbe Prevost's novel L'Histoire du Chevalier des Grieux et de Manon Lescaut?embodies his acute insight into human psychology and his mastery of narrative choreography. This is MacMillan at his best; finding full expression in the impassioned duets of the central couple, visceral and urgent in their desire.

Following the conventions of the Paris Opera, Giuseppe Verdi was also obliged to compose ballet music for the French premieres or first performances of his stage works. Between 1847 and 1894, he wrote a total of seven so-called divertissements, some extensive, for Jerusalem, Les v�pres siciliennes, Le trouvere, MacBeth, Don Carlos, Aida and Otello. With catchy melodies, lively, accentuated rhythms, descriptive sound effects and vivid gestures, but above all with incredibly colourful instrumentation, he succeeded in giving new impetus to the ballet music of his day. While the ballet music was generally omitted from productions of Verdi's operas for a long time - with the exception of Aida - it has recently been performed increasingly often and linked to the dramaturgy of the respective work. These beautiful, well-crafted pieces of music should no longer be withheld from the public. On the new double CD from BR-KLASSIK, the Munich Radio Orchestra and it's chief conductor Ivan Repusic present Verdi's complete ballet music. In 19th-century Italian operas, a ballet was not part of the composition but was performed either between the acts or after the opera performance - and was usually a work created by a ballet composer who had little or no connection to the operatic work in question. The strict convention at the Paris Opera, however, was that an extensive dance interlude had to be included as a divertissement in the third act of a grand opera. So if an Italian opera composer wanted to have his works performed in Paris (and who would not, given the international importance of that great opera house in Europe's leading musical metropolis), ballet music had to be provided as well. In the case of works originally written for the Paris Opera, the ballet was included in the French-language libretto from the outset, and ballet music also had to be newly added to all existing works as well. Italian opera composers such as Rossini, Donizetti and Verdi were hardly ever enthusiastic about this French preference for extensive dance interludes in the third act, but they had to bow to convention. Verdi's ballet music for Les v�pres siciliennes (Les quatre saisons - The Four Seasons) and Jerusalem was the most extensive he created. In the dance sequence composed for Le trouvere, which utilises musical material from the gypsy scenes, he created a close musical and dramaturgical link with the stage action. He composed extensive ballet music for MacBeth to illustrate the Hecate scenes of Shakespeare's drama. In the third act of Don Carlos, a Ballet de la Reine entitled La Peregrina is performed in Queen Elisabeth's gardens to celebrate the coronation anniversary of the Spanish King Philip the following day. And for the premiere of Aida in Cairo, there were no obligations regarding the design of the dance interludes, which is why Verdi probably came closest to his ideal of linking the dances as directly as possible to the opera's plot. His shortest ballet music, with oriental-sounding dances, was composed for Otello.