The French label harmonia mundi has pulled out all the stops for the 2018 commemoration of the centenary of the death of Claude Debussy, by asking their "house" artists to record the works of the great French composer. Cultural ambassadors for Israel (not always an easy job), the Jerusalem Quartet was created in 1996 and quickly became known as one of the foremost ensembles of the genre, thanks to the power of their playing, the warmth of their performances, and a particularly dense and sensual instrumental colour. Their recordings – thirteen albums for the harmonia mundi label – regularly win awards and critical acclaim in the press. This new recording of the quartets by Debussy and Ravel (a now-classic pairing which seems to have decreed that the two bodies of work will be joined at the hip, even though their authors neither wanted nor observed such a kinship) clearly towers above an already-ample discography. Velvety sounds, dreamy poetry (a marvellous Andantino from Debussy's Quartet), unbridled wildness and youthful energy are all brought into this subtly-treated party, where flowery sentiments mingle as in a novel by Marcel Proust. © François Hudry/Qobuz

This album from the Quebec City Baroque group Les Violons du Roy is titled simply Vivaldi. You don't get quite the range implied; the program consists mostly of concertos with one instrumental sinfonia from an opera. But it is a delightfully diverse set, including big Handelian outdoor-oriented pieces with horns; pastoral concertos for multiple winds; and intricate, multiple-violin pieces including a lithe reading of the familiar Concerto for four violins, strings, and continuo, Op. 3, No. 10 (RV 580). Les Violons du Roy, under their longtime assistant conductor Mathieu Lussier, eschew the high-octane approach of contemporary Italian groups, and one can wish for the syncopations to rock a bit more when they are essential to the structure of a movement. But the group is quick and holds together well. Sample the little-played, three-movement Sinfonia from the opera La verità in cimento (tracks 17-19): the opening movement is a study in register and dynamics of which the total serialists would have been proud; the slow movement opens like a flower; and the miniature finale is over before you know it. The orchestra's energy never flags here or anywhere else, and the result is a very fresh album of Vivaldi concertos that will appeal even to those with lots of shelf or hard drive space already allotted to the composer.© TiVo

It's astonishing that over a decade after his death there are still major works by a composer of Messiaen's stature that have never been recorded. Part of the reason, in this particular case, may be the eccentricity of the instrumentation; it's a rare situation to find in one place the six Ondes Martenot virtuosos required to perform the composer's eight-movement, 35-minute suite Fête des belles eaux. It's appropriate that the first recording was released in 2008, the 80th anniversary of the invention of the instrument by Maurice Martenot. Ensemble d'Ondes de Montréal was formed in 1972, an outgrowth of the commitment of the Conservatoire de Montréal to offer a performance degree in the instrument. The quartet is joined by two guest ondistes for the recording of the Messiaen, a staple of its repertoire. Messiaen wrote the piece in response to a commission to provide music for a water and fireworks exhibition at the 1937 Paris Exposition. He was given precise timings for the duration of the fireworks and water displays, and tailored his score to match the visual show. There's no indication from the sound of the music that his imagination or creativity were in any way hemmed in by these restrictions; this is deeply expressive music that unfolds naturally and completely persuasively. The piece is revelatory in the variety of timbres the Ondes is capable of producing; it can sound like an über-cello, or a recorder consort, or take on a glistening gamelan-like delicacy. The most effective sections are the two long movements designated "l'eau," or water, which have an entirely otherworldly serenity. The composer describes the music in these movements, his favorites, as a prayer, "a symbol of grace and eternity." Most intriguingly, in their ecstatic melodies soaring over timeless, slowly evolving harmonies, these movements are clearly precursors to the fifth and final movements of Quatuor pour la fin du Temps, "Louange à l'Éternité de Jésus," and "Louange à l'Immortalité de Jésus." It's possible to hear the stratospheric, nearly impossible string parts in the quartet as the composer's attempt to reproduce the effortless purity of the sound of the Ondes Martenot. In any case, it's a gorgeous work, one that any Messiaen fan would want to hear. Feuillets inédits for Ondes Martenot and piano has been recorded before, but it remains a novelty, and it's a pleasure to have such a fine recording of the rhapsodic piece. The ensemble fills out the CD with an arrangement of the first movement of Ravel's String Quartet. The players essentially emulate the sound of strings, but since the music is so familiar, the electronic quality of the performance is more "interesting" than engaging. The sound of the recording is clean, atmospheric, and full.© TiVo

Léon Boëllmann’s Suite gothique, with its suave Prière à Notre-Dame and its spirited Toccata, rapidly became a beloved war-horse of organists throughout the world and gained the composer great renown. The Suite’s fame, however, caused other works by Boëllmann — who had been born in the same year as Debussy and who died in the same year as Brahms — to be forgotten. Patrick Davin chose to present Boëllmann’s symphonic works on this recording, the last he was to make before his untimely death. © Fuga Libera