The latest volume in a series which is rapidly accumulating critical superlatives. Described by International Piano as "one of the most gifted pianists of his generation", Mark Viner is steadily gaining a reputation as one of Britain’s leading concert pianists; his unique blend of individual artistry combined with his bold exploration of the byways of the piano literature garnering international renown. Having set down dazzling accounts of the knuckle-breaking studies and solo Concerto, Mark Viner here shows his ability to distil the spirit of Alkan’s more intimate and spiritual works. Alkan’s piano works are of colossal substance and difficulty, earning him the nickname of “the Berlioz of the piano”. Even today only a handful of pianists can do justice to the fierce demands of his music. But it wouldn’t be fair to let the technical difficulties distract the listener from his truly original, personal style, full of wit, energy and deep feelings. Liszt is reputed to have said that Alkan was the only pianist before whom he felt ill at ease to perform, so daunting was Alkan’s technique. However, Alkan was a serious scholar of Jewish learning and ancient biblical texts, a preoccupation, not a pastime, that took precedence for him over music and the piano. The atmosphere and design of this Op. 72 cycle (completed in 1867) harkens back to the grave passion instilled in the earlier 25 Préludes Op. 31 (1847). Several of the pieces venture beyond evocations of devotion to present psychologically probing dialogues of conflict and reconciliation. From the Revivalist sturdiness of the cycle’s opening number through the inward contemplation of No. 2 to the austere fugue of No. 3 and beyond, Alkan continues to spring surprises on the listener, including sudden harmonic clashes which abruptly break the tonal fabric and anticipate 20th-century trends of modernism. To the Op. 72 cycle, Mark Viner adds a rarely heard Etude which Alkan originally composed for a pianistic encyclopedia compiled by his former professor. He concludes with theEtude "Alla barbaro" which was rediscovered as recently as 1996: it remains utterly arresting, unique and decades ahead of its time. In his authoritative booklet essay, Viner introduces every piece on the album in detail. This is the 5th instalment of the complete recording of the piano works by Charles-Valentin Alkan by Mark Viner. © Piano Classics

The rediscovery of music by female composers came a bit later to France than it did to Britain or the U.S., but the new label La Boîte à Pépites is changing that with a series of generous releases illustrated by nifty drawings of the composers. The label does a real service here with this double-album revival of vocal music by Rita Strohl (songs, plus a fascinating set for narrator and piano), who lived from 1865 to 1941. It is hard to understand the neglect of her music, which was praised by Henri Duparc and programmed by Pablo Casals in its own time. In these songs, it is a bit hard to hear the "compositrice de la démesure" ("composer of excess") promised by the album's subtitle; perhaps that is still to come in the label's series, but Strohl did expand upon her models -- Franck, with some Wagner and Debussy -- in striking ways. Perhaps the best-known Strohl work so far is the uniquely dramatic and programmatic cello sonata called Titus et Bérenice, presumably still to come from La Boîte à Pépites. However, the songs here are hefty in their ambition and reach, sounding in no way derivative of anybody else. Strohl offers her own set of Pierre Louÿs' lesbian Songs of Bilitis that could easily be programmed with Debussy's set of three. The second disc in the set is devoted mostly to settings of Baudelaire and other poets; the two cycles, written in 1891 and 1894, would have been received as entirely contemporary in their time. Most interesting of all is the set of narrations, titled Quand la flûte de Pan; they have Symbolist texts by the little-known Marie de Courpon, who was also a composer, and the relationship between text and music is fluid. The performances are by major artists, including the soprano Elsa Dreisig and baritone Stéphane Degout, which bodes well for the future of a series that has started promisingly indeed.© James Manheim /TiVo

With two studio recordings under their belt (the 1972 Caricatures and the 1973 Le Cimetière des Arlequins), Ange struck artistic gold with Au-Delà du Délire. All the elements came together this time, producing France's best symphonic progressive rock album of the 1970s. Christian Decamps' medieval imagery (echoed in the music by occasional minstrel-type folk song structures) is assisted this time around by Biblical themes, something noticeable in the song titles. His voice is not the only center of attention anymore, as instrumental passages take more room and arrangements become more intricate. "Exode" actually takes off when the verse is over and the guitar and Mellotron start working on an instrumental crescendo. The pastoral "Ballade Pour Une Orgie" ("Ballad for an Orgy") is the lightest track, along with the almost pop "Fils de Lumière" ("Son of Light"). The other tracks are darker and very substantial. The soft piano and violin intro of the opener "Godevin le Vilain" ("Godevin the Villain") leads into a full-blown bombastic song. "Les Longues Nuits d'Isaac" ("Isaac's Long Nights") is heavy on guitars and is the rockiest number Ange played in these first years of existence. "Si J'Étais le Messie" ("If I Were the Messiah") is a showcase for Christian Decamps' theatrical talents, his soliloquy being backed by minimal musical flooring. Au-Delà du Délire also contains two theatrical pieces that would become classic material: "La Bataille du Sucre," the story of a time when there was no sugar left on Earth, a piece complete with characters played by each member of the band, and "Au-Delà du Délire" which culminates in a anthemic instrumental section with one of Jean-Michel Brézovar's best guitar solos. On this album, Ange developed a heavy, dark, and bombastic sound (thanks to the Mellotron) they will partly abandon afterwards, as the transitional album Émile Jacotay exemplifies. But Au-Delà du Délire had such an impact on the French market that the label Philips reissued it on CD in a budget-price collection along with titles by songwriters like Jacques Brel, Georges Moustaki, and Serge Reggiani.© François Couture /TiVo

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Do not confuse the medieval vielle, which is played with a bow, with the vielle à roue, or hurdy-gurdy, whose strings are plucked by a wheel which is turned with a crank. The vielle is one of the older instruments, and it is typical of the Middle Ages. Larger models are similar in size to the modern viola, and it is related to a smaller instrument which would generally become known as a rebec at the end of the 14th century. The broad and generic meaning of the word vielle (or viola, in Occitan) was drawn out by the arrival of more specific terms like gigue (from the German-speaking world), rebebe (from the Arabic rebab) or crwth or rotte (from the Celtic fringe). The vielle is characterised by a flat casing, oval or oblong in shape, sometimes cut fairly low laterally, with a variable number of strings. In other words, there were many different versions of this generic instrument, and on this album we find it in many different shapes, sizes and regional origins. He leaves it to the listener to form their own view of the many different sounds, which vary so widely from each piece to the next; and whose manuscripts vary so widely in terms of their origins: Germany, Italy, Flanders, Occitania, and Celtic regions. The majority of these pieces are anonymous, but we can still identify Perdigon, the Ardechois troubadour from the early 13th century; the Flemish Johannes Ciconia (1370-1412) and the famous Burgundian Guillaume Dufay, who needs no introduction. The Miroir de Musique ensemble, led by Baptiste Romain, specialises in the music of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance; their members sing and play many different forms of vielle, harp, percussion instruments and the bagpipes! © SM/Qobuz

In November 2014, the Alice of Lewis Carroll crossed paths with Ibrahim Maalouf and Oxmo Puccino! Their meeting gave birth to a superb concept album, 'In the land of Alice ...' guided by the magic of the trumpeter and the might of the rapper's lyrical prowess. With the addition of the orchestra and choirs, both artists were building the backbone of a modern and multicultural opera. An ambitious project, full of good humour, freedom... a new complete work that has been discovered within a classic. © CM / Qobuz