Giacomo Puccini achieved global renown as an opera composer, but the choral, vocal and orchestral works recorded here reveal little-known aspects of his output, including several rarities. Puccini's early training was in church music, with the Messa di Gloria a clear indication of his great talent. The recently discovered Preludio a orchestra shows his wider ambitions, with the Germanic influences of the Capriccio sinfonico resulting in music destined to reappear in operas such as La Boheme. The elegiac and prescient aria Ad una morta contrasts with the celebratory Inno a Roma, a rousing occasional piece that features plenty of Puccini's characteristic melodic flourishes. A digital EP of the Preludio sinfonico and the Requiem is also available for download and streaming (9.70398)

Claudio Santoro's late works are marked by great concision and considerable emotional density. The music on this album was written in the last months of his life. The Viola Concerto and the Concerto for Chamber Orchestra juxtapose restless energy and expansive - if at times desolate - lyricism. The powerful Symphony No. 13 shows Santoro's mastery of orchestration and form at it's peak, and the compact Symphony No. 14 was to be the last in a cycle widely acclaimed as the most significant of it's kind ever composed in Brazil.

This recording brings together two late masterworks by Brahms: the Op. 120 Clarinet Sonatas and the Op. 117 Intermezzi for piano, written in the tranquil setting of Bad Ischl. The sonatas, full of tenderness and quiet intensity, were composed for clarinetist Richard Muhlfeld, whose warm, lyrical playing reignited Brahms's desire to compose after a period of silence. This is music of dialogue, not declaration. Nicola Boud and Anthony Romaniuk perform on instruments close to those Brahms and Muhlfeld would have known: a replica of Muhlfeld's 19th-century boxwood clarinet and an 1875 Steinway piano. These choices bring a soft, transparent quality to the sound, inviting a more intimate listening experience. Expressive tools of 19th-century performance: rubato, flexibility, arpeggiation, are used not as effects, but as natural extensions of the music's emotional landscape. Brahms once called the Op. 117 Intermezzi "three lullabies of my grief." These restrained yet luminous pieces distil his late style into elegiac monologues, offering quiet spaces where time feels suspended. Together, these warm, reflective and deeply emotional works offer a glimpse into Brahms' final years.

Sir Georg Solti was a frequent guest conductor with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. Born in Hungary in 1912, he played a decisive role in rebuilding the Bavarian National Theatre after the war. From the 1960s onwards, he was considered one of the world's leading conductors alongside Leonard Bernstein and Herbert von Karajan. Georg Solti returned to Munich once more for a special concert on February 10, 1984, with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra in the Herkulessaal of the Munich Residenz. Aged 71 and at the height of his career, he conducted excerpts from Sergei Prokofiev's ballet Romeo and Juliet and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's Fourth Symphony. Works by these two Russian composers, as well as Bruckner and Mahler, suited him particularly well, as they sounded musically spirited and exceptionally transparent. Prokofiev's three-act ballet Romeo and Juliet was written in 1935 for the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, but it's premiere did not take place until 1938, in Brno in the Czech Republic. At the special concert in Munich in 1984 with Georg Solti, fifteen numbers from the ballet music were performed in chronological order. Pyotr Tchaikovsky dedicated his Fourth Symphony - composed in 1877/78 at the same time as his opera Eugene Onegin - to his patron Nadezhda von Meck. Despite their lengthy correspondence, they never actually met. In a letter to her dated March 1878, Tchaikovsky outlined the feelings he had experienced while composing his Fourth Symphony, though no specific programme can be discerned from them.

An award-winning English composer of international standing, and one of the leading composers of his generation, whose music has been performed, recorded, and broadcast in many countries, Edward Gregson celebrates his eightieth birthday in 2025. He continues to compose and perform as actively as ever. This album presents three major concertos, interspersed with two shorter works for piano and orchestra. A Song for Bram was written in memory of his great friend and advocate, the conductor Bramwell Tovey. A Song for Sue, re-working the central Nocturne from his Concertante for Piano and Brass Band (1966), is a 2024 tribute to his wife. One of the most performed of all his works, the Tuba Concerto was written for John Fletcher, who gave the first performance in 1977. Gregson's Concerto for Viola and String Orchestra 'Three Goddesses' was given it's first performance in 2023 by Rachel Roberts. The goddesses depicted in the three movements are Morrigan (Celtic warrior queen and earth mother), Aphrodite (Greek goddess of love and beauty), and Diana (Roman goddess of the hunt). First performed by these forces in 2020, the Oboe Concerto 'A Vision in a Dream' is inspired by Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem Kubla Khan. In following the narrative, Gregson comes closest in his series of concertos to producing a descriptive symphonic poem.

Les Presses Universitaires de France et Fremeaux & Associes proposent cette biographie de Victor Hugo, analysee et expliquee par Gerard Gengembre, agrege de Lettres modernes et specialiste de Victor Hugo. Comment rendre compte de la vie et de l'oeuvre de Victor Hugo, ce continent litteraire, selon Gerard Gengembre ? C'est a partir de ce defi que l'auteur entreprend une biographie critique de celui qui incarne, mieux que quiconque, les tensions et les grandeurs du XIXe siecle. ecrivain national, poete de genie, figure phare du romantisme, Victor Hugo fut royaliste devenu republicain, opposant farouche a Napoleon III, exile politique, visionnaire habite par une conscience humaniste. a travers son parcours se dessinent les luttes, les ideaux et les metamorphoses d'un siecle, portes par une oeuvre immense. Cette biographie retrace la trajectoire d'un homme pour qui la litterature devait non seulement refleter le monde, mais aussi contribuer a le transformer. Claude COLOMBINI FReMEAUX Presses Universitaires de France and Fremeaux & Associes offer this biography of Victor Hugo, analysed and explained by Gerard Gengembre, agrege de Lettres modernes and a specialist in Victor Hugo. How do you account for the life and work of Victor Hugo, that 'literary continent', according to Gerard Gengembre? It is with this challenge in mind that the author undertakes a critical biography of the man who embodies, better than anyone else, the tensions and greatness of the nineteenth century. A national writer, a poet of genius and a leading figure of Romanticism, Victor Hugo was a royalist turned republican, a fierce opponent of Napoleon III, a political exile and a visionary with a humanist conscience. His life's work reveals the struggles, ideals and metamorphoses of a century, underpinned by an immense body of work. This biography traces the career of a man for whom literature should not only reflect the world, but also help to transform it. Claude COLOMBINI FReMEAUX CD1 : VICTOR HUGO, UN CONTINENT LITTeRAIRE DU XIXE SIeCLE - LA ReVOLUTION - L'ESPAGNE, PARIS - LES PREMIeRES ARMES D'UN ROMANTIQUE CONTRE-ReVOLUTIONNAIRE - HUGO EN CHEF D'eCOLE - eCRIVAIN NAPOLeONIEN - LA BASTILLE THeaTRALE - LA BATAILLE D'HERNANI. CD2 : NOTRE-DAME DE PARIS - LUCReCE ET MARIE TUDOR - L'AMOUR POUR MLLE JULIETTE - NAPOLeON RENTRE a PARIS, VICTOR HUGO a L'ACADeMIE - LES FRASQUES D'UN PAIR DE FRANCE - LE TEMPS DE L'ACTION POLITIQUE ET LA ReVOLUTION DE 1848 - VICTOR HUGO, UN DePUTe RePUBLICAIN - VICTOR HUGO CONTRE LOUIS NAPOLeON BONAPARTE. CD3 : L'EXIL EN BELGIQUE PUIS a JERSEY - LES CONTEMPLATIONS a GUERNESEY - LES ANNeES D'EXIL VOLONTAIRE - LES MISeRABLES, ePOPeE DU XIXE SIeCLE - WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, LES TRAVAILLEURS DE LA MER ET L'HOMME QUI RIT - 1870-1873 : VIVRE ET PENSER LA ReVOLUTION - HUGO : LE PAPE LAiQUE OCTOGeNAIRE DIRECTION : OLIVIER COQUARD, PRODUCTION : CLAUDE COLOMBINI FReMEAUX POUR PUF-FReMEAUX

Electrifying debut album from a bold new voice in classical piano. British pianist Ophelia Gordon makes a striking debut with this album of works by Nikolai Kapustin, the Soviet composer whose music fuses the harmonic language and rhythmic drive of jazz with the formal precision of classical composition. Though Kapustin's music sounds improvised, every note is meticulously written - jazz in spirit, but classical in structure. Gordon brings rare authenticity to this repertoire, having tracked down long out-of-print vinyl recordings of Kapustin's own performances in a personal search for the composer's true voice. The programme is carefully curated to offer a compelling listening arc, capturing Kapustin's wit, lyricism, and fire with both intimacy and flair. Recorded on a characterful 1961 Steinway D, the album's sound is warm, immediate, and rich in detail - engineered with a microphone setup designed to balance the immediacy of a jazz trio with the depth and clarity of classical solo piano. This release marks two milestones: the first full Kapustin album by a British female pianist, and the first classical album by a BRIT School alum. With a growing reputation for fearless artistry and cross-genre fluency, Gordon offers a vital new perspective on one of the most original piano voices of the 20th century.

Les Presses Universitaires de France et Fremeaux & Associes proposent cette biographie de Christine de Pizan, analysee et expliquee par Claude Gauvard, professeure emerite d'Histoire du Moyen age. L'historienne medieviste Claude Gauvard nous invite a decouvrir Christine de Pizan, une figure meconnue mais essentielle de la France medievale. Ecrivaine novatrice des XIVe et XVe siecles, elle s'impose comme l'une des premieres femmes de lettres professionnelles, excellant dans l'ecriture poetique, l'analyse politique et la polemique. a travers son oeuvre foisonnante, ecrite en langue vernaculaire, Christine de Pizan defend avec force la place des femmes dans la societe. Premiere voix engagee dans la celebre querelle du Roman de la Rose, elle milite pour leur education et ose remettre en question les normes de son epoque. Conseillere des princes, elle s'adresse meme aux chevaliers pour leur enseigner l'art de la guerre. Claude Gauvard nous met en garde contre tout anachronisme : Christine de Pizan ne peut etre qualifiee de � feministe � au sens moderne du terme. Mais son audace et sa vision en font une figure resolument inspirante, don't l'heritage resonne encore aujourd'hui. Claude COLOMBINI FReMEAUX Presses Universitaires de France and Fremeaux & Associes offer this biography of Christine de Pizan, analyzed and explained by Claude Gauvard, Emeritus Professor of Medieval History. Medieval historian Claude Gauvard invites us to discover Christine de Pizan, a little-known but essential figure in medieval France. An innovative writer of the 14th and 15th centuries, she established herself as one of the first professional women of letters, excelling in poetic writing, political analysis and polemic. Through her abundant works, written in the vernacular, Christine de Pizan forcefully defended the place of women in society. She was the first to take part in the famous Roman de la Rose quarrel, campaigning for women's education and daring to challenge the norms of her time. An advisor to princes, she even addressed knights to teach them the art of war. Claude Gauvard warns against anachronism: Christine de Pizan cannot be described as a "feminist" in the modern sense of the term. But her audacity and vision make her a resolutely inspiring figure, whose legacy still resonates today. Audiobook. In French Claude COLOMBINI FReMEAUX CD1 - LA ROUE DE LA FORTUNE : CHRISTINE DE PIZAN, UNE eCRIVAINE MAL CONNUE - LA JEUNESSE ET L'eDUCATION DE CHRISTINE DE PIZAN - LE MARIAGE a 15 ANS AVEC L'HUMANISTE eTIENNE DE CASTEL - LES REVERS DE FORTUNE - DE SOLIDES APPUIS a LA COUR - DE LA POeSIE COURTOISE a LA COMPILATION - UNE OEUVRE POLITIQUE NOURRIE PAR ARISTOTE ET SAINT THOMAS D'AQUIN. CD2 - L'ENGAGEMENT POLITIQUE : LES OEUVRES POLITIQUES DE CHRISTINE DE PIZAN - UN CONTEXTE DeTERMINANT : LA FOLIE DE CHARLES VI - LA MISSION DE CHRISTINE FACE a LA GUERRE - INTERVENIR AUPReS DES PRINCES - CHRISTINE DE PIZAN a PROPOS DE LA SOCIeTe ET DE L'eTAT. CD3 - CHRISTINE DE PIZAN ET LE GENRE : LA QUERELLE DU ROMAN DE LA ROSE : UN eCHANGE DE LETTRES - CHRISTINE, eLUE PAR DIEU POUR eDIFIER LA CITe DES DAMES - LA PLACE DE LA JUSTICE DANS LA PENSeE DE CHRISTINE DE PIZAN - CONSEILLER ET eDUQUER - UNE FEMME eDUQUE LES CHEVALIERS - eDUQUER LES FILLES - LES FAIBLESSES DU SEXE FeMININ - LES FEMMES : DES MeDIATRICES DE PAIX - CHRISTINE DE PIZAN ET JEANNE D'ARC. DIRECTION : OLIVIER COQUARD, PRODUCTION : CLAUDE COLOMBINI FReMEAUX POUR PUF-FReMEAUX

Magali Bessone est professeure de philosophie politique a l'universite Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne, specialiste des theories de la justice et des reparations.L'auteure propose dans ces trois lecons de philosophie politique de presenter les grands questionnements de cette discipline ainsi que ses principaux concepts. Elle retrace dans l'histoire de la philosophie politique les moments cles de construction de certains outils indispensables pour penser notre present : la reflexion aristotelicienne sur la democratie et le pouvoir; la theorie critique elaboree par les philosophes de l'ecole de Francfort; ou encore le contractualisme du philosophe americain John Rawls, approfondi et critique par Susan Moller Okin et Charles W. Mills. Les outils reflexifs de la philosophie politique sont eux-memes des outils pour faire democratie, tel est le pari auquel nous invite Magali Bessone. Claude COLOMBINI FReMEAUX Magali Bessone is a professor of political philosophy at the University of Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne, specializing in theories of justice and reparation. In the history of political philosophy, she traces the key moments in the construction of certain indispensable tools for thinking about the present: Aristotelian reflection on democracy and power; the critical theory elaborated by the philosophers of the Frankfurt School; and the contractualism of American philosopher John Rawls, explored and criticized by Susan Moller Okin and Charles W. Mills. The reflexive tools of political philosophy are themselves tools for democracy, is the challenge Magali Bessone invites us to take up. Claude COLOMBINI FReMEAUX CD1 : QU'EST-CE QUI EST POLITIQUE ? QUESTIONNER LES CONCEPTS - QUI EST LE SUJET POLITIQUE : LA POLITIQUE PARLE GREC - LE PROBLeME CONTRE LA POLeMIQUE - NORMES ET VALEURS EN POLITIQUE - eTHIQUE ET POLITIQUE - LA THeORIE CRITIQUE DE L'eCOLE DE FRANCFORT - DE LA THeORIE CRITIQUE a LA PRATIQUE : TRANSFORMER LA SOCIeTe. CD2 : QU'EST-CE QU'UNE SOCIeTe JUSTE ? - L'INeGALITe EST-ELLE INJUSTE ? - L'INNOVATION DU CONTRACTUALISME - LE CONTRACTUALISME RAWLSIEN : LA POSITION ORIGINELLE - COMMENT CHOISIR LES PRINCIPES DE JUSTICE ? - LA FAMILLE AU CENTRE DE LA PENSeE DE SUSAN OKIN - PENSER LA JUSTICE SELON CHARLES MILLS. CD3 : LA DeMOCRATIE : LE MEILLEUR ReGIME POSSIBLE ? - LE PEUPLE : LA NOTION FONDAMENTALE DE LA DeMOCRATIE - LE PEUPLE : L'UNITe DANS LA DIVERSITe - JOHN STUART MILL EN FAVEUR DE LA LIBERTe D'EXPRESSION - LE PARADOXE CONSTITUTIF DE LA DeMOCRATIE REPReSENTATIVE - LES LIMITES DE LA CONCEPTION AGReGATIVE DE LA DeMOCRATIE - LA DeMOCRATIE CReATRICE. COLLECTION DIRIGeE PAR MICHAeL FOESSEL, PRODUITE PAR CLAUDE COLOMBINI EN COLLABORATION AVEC PAUL GARAPON

Jozef Wieniawski, younger brother of Henryk, was a prolific Polish composer and virtuoso pianist renowned throughout Europe. After studies in Paris he spent two years in Weimar studying with and absorbing the compositional style of Franz Liszt - Wieniawski's work combines the pianistic flair and poetic intensity of both Liszt and his fellow countryman Chopin. These qualities can all be heard in the virtuoso Polonaises and the tragic Ballade as well as the Piano Sonata in B minor - the pinnacle of Jozef Wieniawski's many contributions to the piano repertoire. Andrew Cannestra's recording of Polonaise No. 1 is available for streaming and download on a digital single (9.70388).

In 1725, Jose de Torres crafts the narrative of the royal funerals of Spain's first Bourbon monarchs. At the heart of this tribute, the Misa de difuntos para Luis I, the first Bourbon born on Iberian soil, blends with exquisite finesse the echoes of Versailles with the exuberant splendour of Spanish Baroque. The offering is here completed by the monumental Dies Irae by Francisco Corselli, a Franco-Italian composer, to the glory of Philip V. Alberto Miguelez Rouco revives these rare works, bringing the music of the Real Capilla de Madrid to life in the Royal Chapel of Versailles!

With Hail! Bright Cecilia, Henry Purcell, herald of the British Baroque, pays tribute to the patron saint of music through a score widely regarded as one of his masterpieces. Composed in 1692, this ode reflects both the artistic effervescence of 17th-century England and the central role of music in society at the time. Vincent Dumestre and Le Poeme Harmonique reveal the full expressive richness of Purcell's writing in a performance where jubilant brilliance, lyrical delicacy, and dramatic contrasts unfold with infectious vitality. Alternating between recitatives, solo arias, and sumptuous choruses, the score showcases Purcell's mastery of musical dramaturgy, balancing orchestral refinement with controlled theatricality.

In 1735, Porpora challenged Handel in London with Polifemo, a work that still resonates today as a vibrant ode to triumphant love. On the bewitching shores of Sicily, Galatea falls in love with the mortal Acis. This pure passion arouses the fierce jealousy of the Cyclops Polifemo, whose rage threatens to sweep everything away. But the unexpected arrival of Ulysses and the intrigues hatched by Calypso weave a complex web where gods and mortals clash. Carried by a constellation of exceptional soloists and conducted by Stefan Plewniak, this opera masterfully weaves together the legacy of a baroque golden age and the timeless power of myth.

Les Presses Universitaires de France et Fremeaux & Associes proposent cette biographie de Colette, analysee et expliquee par Lise Manin, ancienne eleve de l'ENS Lyon, agregee d'histoire. Elle a mene ses travaux de recherche doctorale au Centre d'Histoire du XIXe siecle (Universite Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne). Lise Manin nous presente une biographie de l'ecrivain Colette don't l'existence hors-norme se revele au travers des nombreuses sources mobilisees et de son oeuvre qui presente une dimension autobiographique. L'auteure retrace la vie d'une femme don't l'oeuvre multiforme a questionne les normes de genre dans la France des XIXe et XXe siecles, suscitant engouements et scandales. Personnalite dumilieu litteraire et theatral parisien, Colette a aime de facon inconventionnelle, s'est mariee trois fois et a vecu publiquement sa bisexualite. Romanciere, pantomime, journaliste, comedienne, critique de cinema et critique dramatique, marchande de produits de beaute, elle a ete animee par une creativite sans limites et par une faculte a se reinventer sans cesse. de cette vie riche et libre, il nous reste ses oeuvres qui ont inspire les nouvelles generations d'ecrivains comme Francoise Sagan, Jean Genet, Sartre et Simone de Beauvoir. Claude COLOMBINI FReMEAUX Presses Universitaires de France and Fremeaux & Associes offer this biography of Colette, analyzed and explained by Lise Manin, an alumnus of ENS Lyon and agregee in history. She conducted her doctoral research at the Centre d'Histoire du XIXe siecle (Universite Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne). Lise Manin presents a biography of the writer Colette, whose extraordinary life is revealed through the many sources she has drawn on and her autobiographical work. The author traces the life of a woman whose multifaceted work questioned gender norms in nineteenth- and twentieth-century France, sparking infatuations and scandals. A key figure in the Parisian literary and theatrical scene, Colette loved unconventionally, married three times and lived her bisexuality publicly. As a novelist, pantomime artist, journalist, actress, film and drama critic and beauty products retailer, she was driven by boundless creativity and a capacity for constant reinvention. From this rich and free life, we are left with her works, which have inspired new generations of writers such as Francoise Sagan, Jean Genet, Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir. Claude COLOMBINI FReMEAUX CD1 : DE SIDONIE-GABRIELLE COLETTE a � COLETTE WILLY � - NAISSANCE ET AFFIRMATION DE L'eCRIVAIN - 1873-1905 CD2 : DE � COLETTE WILLY � a � COLETTE � - TUMULTUEUSES MeTAMORPHOSES - 1905-1923 CD3 : UNE PERPeTUELLE QUeTE ET ReeCRITURE DE SOI - 1923-1954. DIRECTION : OLIVIER COQUARD, PRODUCTION : CLAUDE COLOMBINI FReMEAUX POUR PUF-FReMEAUX

De l'implacable Fingertips aux furieuses reprises de l'oncle Ray, cette anthologie regroupe entre autres les deux premiers albums de Stevie Wonder. Appele alors Little Stevie, ce genie precoce de 12 ans, egerie de la Tamla Motown, tape fort et pose les premieres pierres de la revolution soul ! Patrick FReMEAUX From his relentless "Fingertips" to the frenzied reruns of Uncle Ray's music, this anthology brings together (among others!) the contents of Stevie Wonder's first two albums, made when he was known as "Little Stevie". At the time, he was already a genius (at the age of twelve) and he became Tamla Motown's muse, a hard-hitting keyboardist who laid the foundations of the Soul revolution. Patrick FReMEAUX THE JAZZ SOUL OF LITTLE STEVIE : FINGERTIPS - SQUARE - SOUL BONGO - MANHATTAN AT SIX - PAULSBY - SOME OTHER TIME - WONDERING - SESSION NUMBER 112 - BAM. TRIBUTE TO UNCLE RAY : HALLELUJAH I LOVE HER SO - AIN't THAT LOVE - DON't YOU KNOW - THE MASQUERADE - FRANKIE & JOHNNY - DROWN IN MY OWN TEARS - COME BACK BABY - MARY ANN - SUNSET - MY BABY'S GONE. 45T : I CALL IT PRETTY MUSIC, BUT THE OLD PEOPLE CALL IT THE BLUES (PART 1) - I CALL IT PRETTY MUSIC, BUT THE OLD PEOPLE CALL IT THE BLUES (PART 2) - LA LA LA LA LA - LITTLE STEVIE WONDER & CLARENCE PAUL - LITTLE WATER BOY - CONTRACT ON LOVE - SUNSET. DIRECTION ARTISTIQUE : OLIVIER JULIEN