How to put something into words that is difficult or impossible to grasp? Something like feelings or thoughts? One possibility would be to turn those emotions into music, as in Victor Hugo's famous quote, “Music expresses that which cannot be put into words and that which cannot remain silent”.Lucas Debargue goes for one simple word - Żal. It describes a particularly complex feeling of sadness, regret, or loss, through which, however, greater enlightenment can be achieved at the same time. With this arguably unusual title, it quickly becomes clear that Żal is not simply a new interpretation of familiar material. Debargue, accompanied by violinist Gidon Kremer and his ensemble Kremerata Baltica, devotes himself in this project wholeheartedly for the first of his time to the works of Polish composer Miłosz Magin.Almost all aspiring pianists are taught pieces by Bach, Beethoven or Chopin at an early age, and Lucas Debargue is no exception. Eventually, however, thanks to his first piano teacher, Christine Muenier, the latter had the opportunity to explore Miłosz Magin's music from the same beginning. When Debargue played Magin's Nostalgie du pays as an encore at a concert in Paris in 2017, he was contacted by none other than Magin's granddaughter herself. With the support of his close colleague Kremer, he decided to record a total of six of the composer's works, his sixth album to date on Sony Classical.Beginning with the Andante for violin and piano, the spark of this enchanted music is immediate. The piano and the violin are introduced as equal instruments, dreamy, melancholy harmonies are developing, coupled with dance-like aspects, with the influence of Debussy and Ravel quickly apparent. In the following Piano Concerto No. 3, the impressionistic, partly atonal phrases become even more clear. Debargue proves himself once again here as an outstanding concert pianist - sensitive and sentimental and at the same time powerful and energetic in the middle movements - always serving the composer. This is also the case with Kremer, as he demonstrates in the later Concerto Rustico No. 1. Here the Polish roots of the composer become particularly clear, as Magin incorporates the two traditional dances Kujawiak (slow) and Oberek (rhythmically moving). Via the Four Vocalises and Nostalgie du pays, the performers close the album with the climax Stabat Mater, a highly spiritual work to which the artists pay all tribute and which musically and respectfully takes up its title Żal one last time. © Lena Germann/Qobuz

French clarinetist Patrick Messina, principal clarinetist of the Orchestre National de France, has been heavily talked up by Yehudi Menuhin and others, and this 2012 release of Mozart's clarinet evergreens should thus find a large audience of listeners eager to sample his work. The results are mixed, but they show that the hype is at least potentially justified. The less successful of the two works on the program is, oddly, the one with another marquee name. Conductor Riccardo Muti leads Messina and the Orchestre National in the Clarinet Concerto in A major, K. 622. Muti is not really a Mozartian, and here he's rather uncomfortable; leaving aside the needlessly puffed-up orchestral tutti in the finale, he doesn't coordinate well with Messina, and the two seem unable to agree on just how hard to push their unusually fast tempos. There's nothing to make you pick this recording from among the dozens of other versions of this concerto out there, but the situation changes with the Clarinet Quintet in A major, K. 581, where Messina is joined by the Philharmonia Quartet of Berlin. This is an altogether tighter performance, and here you can see what the fuss is about with Messina: his uncanny quiet in the theme of the slow movement, for instance, will linger in the mind long after the performance is finished. Radio France's live sound is impressively clear, and in general, although imperfect, this album announces the arrival of a major clarinet talent. © TiVo

With his carefully crafted concept album entitled "Vox Humana" cellist Isang Enders presents a study in sound and the portrayal of a musical network of contacts. For his third release on the Berlin Classics label he has painstakingly chosen French works from four centuries and approached each of them in a very individual manner, setting himself and his audience the challenge of not simply listening, but of perceiving. Isang Enders sees Claude Debussy as the starting point for his approach. "The first time I played Debussy, my teacher at the time told me: 'use a lot of bow, minimum pressure, lots of air'. Yet Debussy gives precise instructions above each note as to how to play it. Creating one's own individual interpretation within such strict lines has to be based on timing and nuance. You have to open up your wardrobe, so to speak, seek out every colour and structure available. It's a laborious process". From Debussy and his nuances, Isang Enders then casts his gaze into the past and into the future. He views Marin Marais as a musical forefather of Debussy, whose music is "unbelievably vocal, much more so than one might think". After the Baroque pioneer Enders turns his sights deep into the 20th century – via Stravinsky, the Boulanger sisters Lili and Nadia to Messiaen, "the logical successor to Debussy". The heart of the matter for Enders is always the question: How do the individual composers' sound concepts differ and how do they transpose them to the cello with its tone that is close to the human voice? Most of the works on the "Vox Humana" album were not originally written for cello; Enders had to arrange them, which allowed him to concentrate more closely on each work. He arranged Debussy for example for cello and guitar; he plays the Marais with two cellos and Messiaen with the harmonium, organ and the rare theremin, "in essence an electric "vox humana". I follow the spirit that emanates from the work in question: the sacred, choral tonal language of Clair de lune, the pert last movement by Nadia Boulanger, the fire and imagination to be found in the Intermezzo and the Pantomime. And then back to Marais with Les Voix humaines, where one really has the impression of hearing a person singing". Isang Enders speaks of Baroque and Impressionist legato slurs, of the aesthetics of precision, of nuance and contrasting structures, thereby creating a huge arc between various eras and gathering all of the works closer together, while allowing them each individually to expand their richness of detail. His musical partners on "Vox Humana" are also his personal companions: he knows pianist Sunwook Kim, Scottish guitarist Sean Shibe and his cello colleague Mischa Meyer through his active concert schedule in all parts of the world, from his student days or in his position as leader of the cello section with the Saxon Staatskapelle of Dresden, which he achieved at the age of 20. He first met the famous theremin player Carolina Eyck, who tours the world with her special instrument, in a youth orchestra and last but not least, his father is featured on the album too, playing harmonium and organ. © Berlin Classics

Download not available
2021/22, a cultural season unlike any other, brings the 30th anniversary of Cypres. Musical renewal and reinvention is of the essence for any record label in today’s environment. An enterprising spirit; a constant quest for newly composed works; firm roots in the local musical landscape; representation of prestigious names and advocacy of young talent: all these are elements that constitute our particular creative formula. Now that we are 30 years old we can confidently take pleasure in sharing our musical philosophy with you. This first recording of our anniversary season provides a showcase for two gifted sisters who go back a long way with Cypres. Their joy in performing together is palpable as they present a programme that is original in its conception, intimate and deeply touching. This album contains a number of pieces that evoke memories – the musical equivalent of photos in a box in the attic. Some are original compositions for this instruments set, others have been arranged by the two sisters for the occasion. What would Frédéric Chopin have thought when he heard this arrangement of his Etude No. 7, Op. 25 sounding like a dialogue between cello and harp? This music is the very essence of life: a subtle sway of memories, flashes of light, tears, death and smiles. © Cyprès

Download not available
September 27th, 2021 mark ten years since Henri Druart passed away. As one of the leading clarinettists in post-war France, he was appointed as soloist in the main orchestras and concert bands. In particular, he was serving in the newly created Orchestre de Paris when he recorded this album with members of the strings section and Aldo Ciccolini, performing Mozart’s Clarinet Quintet and Clarinet Trio. Among the loveliest chamber works ever composed by Mozart, they are inextricably linked to the name of Anton Stadler, the first “clarinet hero”, dedicatee of one, and creator of both. © Warner Classics