The output of sisters Nadia and Lili Boulanger has found much greater exposure than it had at the last turn of the century, but that changes with this complete survey headed by mezzo-soprano Lucile Richardot and pianist Anne de Fornel. This release is, of course, essential for aficionados of music by women. Three hours of songs in essentially consistent styles might seem a lot for general listeners, but in fact, there are many features of interest beyond simply the presence of a valuable reference resource. One is the moderate but definite difference in style between the two sisters. Although Nadia was the elder, it was Lili who pushed the Debussy language in new directions, and Nadia soon stopped composing after her sister's untimely death. The two sisters did share an orientation toward the same poets, and the album offers a deep dive into the world of Silvestre, Verlaine, Samain, and Maeterlinck. Richardot and de Fornel are sensitive interpreters of those texts, and they approach each of these songs in fully individual ways. Sample Nadia's L'échange: one of her last compositions, it depicts a downer of a lament about a woman drawn into love for an alcoholic. They also recruit excellent collaborators, namely baritone Stéphane Degout and soprano Raquel Camarinha as well as violinist Sarah Nemtanu and cellist Emmanuel Bertrand in the small chamber works that break up the flow of songs. With fine sound from an auditorium at La Seine Musicale in Paris, this is a release that will find a durable place in collections. It landed on classical best-seller charts in early 2023. © James Manheim /TiVo

Born in Paris in 1830, Auguste Tolbecque arrived in Niort, in the Deux-Sèvres department, 26 years later after marrying a woman from the very same town. This is where he laid down his roots and started a family, spending his time organising and enlivening the musical goings-on of the small town in in Western France. Auguste Tolbecque’s dedication to baroque music and instruments from the past would nowadays have made him a totally contemporary musician. He was fascinated by a past that Mérimée and Viollet-le-Duc were indeed dedicated to preserving with their work on masterpieces of Roman, gothic and Renaissance heritage. But while the musician may have preserved instruments, he appeared to resist playing them, the fact being that it was not yet in fashion to experiment with the styles of playing from past times. It’s thanks to the initiative of cellist and Tolbecque connaisseur Christophe Coin that this album saw the light of day with the presentation of over twenty of the forgotten composer’s works. An instrument-maker, composer and cellist, (Saint-Saëns dedicated his First Concerto to him), author of operettas and operas that have since faded away, Tolbecque has waited a long time for his moment in the spotlight since his death just after the end of the First World War. Inaugurated in November 2019, a century after his death, the brand new Conservatoire Auguste Tolbecque in Niort prolongs this event with this release dedicated to his chamber music, mainly his work for cello and piano, but also for the organ and 2 and 4 hands on the piano, in keeping with the style of the Second Empire. © François Hudry/Qobuz

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

Max Bruch had the unfortunate circumstance of writing his most popular, enduring composition -- the Violin Concerto in G minor -- very early in his career. No other piece, either during his lifetime or since, has appeared on-stage or recording with the same frequency. Still, Bruch produced several quality works that still merit consideration. This Ars Produktion disc features cellist Friedrich Kleinhapl and the Czech Radio Symphony Orchestra performing the few (four) works for cello and orchestra along with a transcription of the Op. 85 Romance for Viola and Orchestra. Bruch was one of a handful of composers who refused to bend to the musical trends of his times; as such, his music is deeply romantic and highly lyrical. These works for cello and orchestra are no exception, and Bruch accentuates the vocal capabilities of the instrument throughout these works. Kleinhapl's playing is ideally suited for such writing. His tone is exceptionally pure and legato, allowing him to easily sing through his instrument. His rendition of Kol Nidrei -- by far the most well-known of the works on the program -- is full of yearning, repentance, and fulfillment. The beauty and care with which he plays make listeners pay attention and appreciate these often underestimated pieces. The disc concludes with solid, though at times dreary, performance of the Op. 79b Suite for Orchestra. Ars' sound is clear, warm, and vibrant. © 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

For its second recording for Cypres, Kheops Ensemble immerses us in works that give pride of place to the clarinet, an instrument whose expressive possibilities fascinated the most original creators in the Habsburg capital at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. Brahms's Trio Op. 114, dominated by autumnal colours, is an end-of-life work, imbued with a form of renunciation and resignation. The Four Pieces, Op. 5, dedicated to the master Schönberg, exude a striking expressiveness, the kind of expressiveness that Berg has always managed to preserve in all his research. In his Trio, Op. 3, Zemlinsky, who makes no secret of his admiration for Op. 114, develops an intense and tumultuous harmonic universe that marks the generational leap with Brahms. Kheops Ensemble, a variable-geometry group combining winds and strings under the sign of individual virtuosity at the service of the collective, radiates maturity and carries the colours of chamber music high in Belgium. © Cyprès