The whole of my work as a composer draws on and represents a continuation of the tradition of the forms and language of 20th century expanded tonal music. Initiated since the age of fourteen by Nicolas Bacri in organicity, the balance between counterpoint and harmony in form, I have gradually forged my identity around a poetic language influenced by other arts (most notably modern and contemporary painting and post-war French poetry). In this sense, my Lettera Amorosa flute quartet is inspired by literature, named after the homonymous collection by René Char, itself influenced by Monteverdi's madrigal. This first album is an opportunity for me to revisit six years of composition, choosing six pieces from my first ten works. As I write this presentation of the disc, in January 2022 (whilst writing my Opus 16 and Opus 17), I am aware that I am entering a second period of composition, in which my language is evolving: I now give more importance to the notion of 'musical gesture' and am working on integrating dissonance as a tool of expression. The Quasi Variazioni, Op. 7, which opens the programme, marks a turning point in the evolution of my first compositional period. In contact with my first instrument, I took a more abstract look at my use of harmony for the first time, with the idea of making it more distended and distant from tonality than it had been in my first opuses. Next on the album is the Sonata for Violin and Cello, Op. 8, the first work I composed for the violin. Recording it myself puts me back in the role of performer-composer, where the two sides influence each other. The writing is lyrical and French-inspired, reminiscent of the music of Maurice Ravel, which is very dear to me. Throughout the two contrasting movements that make up this sonata, the fusion of the two string instruments develops and intensifies to the point of creating the sonic illusion of a string trio, through the extensive use of double strings. These first two works, composed at the same time, form a diptych that I would like to present in mirror image of the three works that follow, centered around the flute. Greatly influenced by Maurice Duruflé's Requiem, I composed my Impressions liturgiques, Op. 2 for flute and piano at the age of fifteen. It was through this work that my interest in composing for the flute grew and led me to compose Mosaïque and Lettera Amorosa in particular. Mosaïque, composed at the table, presents a fusional duet between the flute and the clarinet in three brief tableaux, sometimes nostalgic, sometimes dreamy and concluded with a mischievous and virtuoso finale. Lettera Amorosa, which lends its name to the album, concludes the triptych around the flute and brings the flute together with a string trio. Composed of four movements, the quartet reflects the different impulses inspired by the phrases of the four poems by René Char. Last, but not least, a tribute to Nicolas Bacri with my 12 Preludes for piano, Op. 1, which I perform myself. The reflection of a first period with various facets, the Preludes are already evolving towards a sound material where the musical poetry personalises my musical language. The last Prelude, the longest and most tormented, turns towards a more chromatic writing, announcing my Poem, Op. 5. In performing three of my works, I was fortunate enough to be joined by extraordinary musicians who brought their soul and personality to my music. Thank you to Dana, Caroline, Hermine, Ionel, Joë and Paul for their friendship, talent and commitment. Our shared musical experience and love of contemporary music, and in particular the committed relationship we all have to creation, all come together to make this record a powerful symbol for me, a first milestone in my life as a composer. © Elise Bertrand/Klarthe Records

Recordings by Polish pianist Krystian Zimerman are a rare event, and eagerly awaited by his many fans. They surely won’t be disappointed with this new opus that brings together Szymanowski, Zimerman and legendary pianist Arthur Rubinstein.Returning to his roots, Krystian Zimerman pays tribute to his compatriot Karol Szymanowski on the 140th anniversary of the composer’s birth. This selection of little-known works testifies to the importance of Szymanowski within the piano repertoire. A long twenty-eight years separate Zimerman's recording of Masques, Op. 34 (made in 1994 in Copenhagen) from the rest of the programme, which was recorded in 2022 in the exceptional acoustics of the Fukuyama Concert Hall near Hiroshima.Nevertheless, the considerable lapse of time between these recordings doesn’t detract from the album's coherence. This is thanks to Zimerman's fluid, clear and readable sound, which—as we know—leaves nothing to chance. This fascinating recording reveals various facets of Szymanowski's compositional genius and features both his mature and early works, all of which were influenced by the great Chopin.Composed during the First World War whilst staying at the family estate in Ukraine, the three parts of Masques evoke Debussy, Scriabin and Stravinsky. However, each movement is overlaid with the orientalist perspective so typical of the Polish composer. A few carefully chosen Préludes and Mazurkas stand alongside the splendid Variations on a Polish Folk Theme for piano, Op. 10, composed by a young Szymanowski still in the process of mastering his mother tongue. © François Hudry/Qobuz

Fabio Luisi and his musicians from the Danish National Symphony Orchestra, for which he has been the musical director since 2014, worked extensively to play the vast corpus of Carl Nielsen's Six Symphonies before recording them for Deutsche Grammophon over three sessions in 2022. We immediately revel in the beauty of the sound recordings made in the warm acoustics of the Copenhagen Symphony Hall built by Jean Nouvel. With a reverberating sound giving an airy sense to the entire ensemble, the sound plans are clearly defined and always remain readable, without overloading or saturating the ears.In the Scandinavian countries and Northern Europe, the symphony took some time to really take off. In the 19th century, the Swedish recluse, Franz Berwald, did not have a following despite the very original and personal style he gave to his four symphonies. While a few adventurous composers have made attempts, it wasn’t until after the two masterful cycles by Sibelius and Nielsen that the genre really came into its own.Composed between 1892 and 1925, Carl Nielsen's Six Symphonies are, like those of Sibelius, six masterpieces. They represent an immense field of research, with an expressive power of great force. While the first two remain somewhat dependent on the Brahmsian model, they already demonstrate a very personal fearlessness, combining both style and harmony. The array of moods expressed in these works did not escape Maestro Fabio Luisi, who endeavoured, above all to exalt the dark and dramatic, even violent, side of Nielsen's music, demonstrating similar levels of drama previously created by Bruckner, Mahler, and Shostakovich. He is accompanied by an all-encompassing orchestra of exceptional quality, endowed with a great richness of tone and incredible sound power resources. It represents an essential gateway for appreciating a great composer’s music, one who’s symphonic repertoire can be considered somewhat “off the beaten track,” in a world where we usually say “well-worn.” © François Hudry/Qobuz

"From Afar" is a new album full of beautiful arrangements recorded on two pianos with the repertoire mirrored on both grand piano and upright piano. Inspired by a meeting with the iconic Hungarian composer György Kurtág, this album is a musical response with music from: Kurtág, J. S. Bach, Brahms, W. A. Mozart, Adès, Schumann, Birgisson or Kaldalóns. With beautifully evocative titles & forgotten melodies, Víkingur Ólafsson creates a thread of stories within a bigger structure: nature, home, childhood, family. © Deutsche Grammophon

Beyond the neglect of French Baroque music in general, it is a bit hard to understand why composer Pancrace Royer was almost completely unknown until Christophe Rousset came along to champion him, first in harpsichord music and now, with these suites of music drawn from operas, in orchestral music. In the 18th century, Royer was quite well known and admired among others by Rameau, whose music he helped along considerably. Royer certainly inhabited Rameau's stylistic world, but from the evidence here, his music is distinctive and merits the adjective "surprising" that Rousset has attached to it. It is colorful, given to unexpected turns of harmony, and vivid in its evocation of the exotic scenes of French opera. Sample the "Air pour les turcs" ("Air for the Turks") from Zaïde, reine de Grenade, with its crackling percussion. Royer challenged his orchestra with virtuoso ensemble writing in the likes of the "Premier et second tambourins" from Almasis, and Rousset and Les Talens Lyriques step up with precise, vigorous readings that one imagines would have made the composer overjoyed. The inclusion of two alternate versions for movements from Zaïde is also unusual and gives insight into the compositional thinking of the day. Essential for specialists and enthusiasts interested in the French Baroque, this album is a lot of fun for anyone, with only overdone church sound detracting from the overall effect. © James Manheim /TiVo

Studio recordings are rare things today. Orchestras are of such great quality that publishers prefer live recordings, which are much cheaper than long studio sessions, with their complex production workloads. And so this is a rather "old-fashioned" (it's fashionable) publication here from Decca, directed by Smyon Bychkov, a conductor who has rarely appeared on records for some years. Born in the Soviet Union in 1952, Semyon Bychkov was destined for a fine career in his country when, at the age of 21, he was offered the opportunity to replace the titan Mravinski at the head of the Leningrad (today St Petersburg) Philharmonic Orchestra. But his contract was cancelled because of his political opinions: a move that obliged him to seek refuge in the USA, where his career truly began in earnest. Obtaining US nationality, he became the director of the Paris Orchestra for ten years, before accepting a similar post at the head of the WDR Cologne Radio Orchestra. Named the resident at the prestigious Czech Philharmonia following the premature death of its leader Jiří Bělohlávek, Semyon Bychkov started work on this anthology of Tchaikovsky's symphonic works, including the six symphonies, the rare and little-loved "Manfred" Symphony (in its original, uncut version, including the harmonium stipulated by the conductor), the piano concertos and the Serenade for strings. This was marathon job taken at a record-breaking sprint between 2015 and 2019. In the course of this project, the Russian conductor undertook minute work on the scores and studying the personal history of the composer, in particular around the Pathétique Symphony. For him, it wasn't a requiem to Tchaikovsky, but rather a "revolt against death and not the idea of death itself". As for the famous First Concerto, played here by Kirill Gerstein, he presents the more intimate original version, which is less emphatic than the one we are used to hearing. A fine piece of work with what Bychkov has described as an ideal orchestra, which mixes the highest expression of the Slavic spirit with a Western spirit: a synthesis which sums up Tchaikovsky's music itself. © François Hudry/Qobuz

The music by Pierre Sancan on this album is all but unknown, even in France, and it may seem quite a surprise, even with the star power of the popular pianist Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, that it turned up on classical best-seller lists in the spring of 2023. The only possible explanation is that the music is a total delight. Sancan was a teacher of Bavouzet, among others, as well as a pianist; even the booklet here offers the disclaimer that he was born too late and wrote neoclassic music in the middle of the 20th century. It would be nice if the discourse could get away from this idea, the notion of inevitable progress being quaintly Victorian by now. In any event, the music is lively and light in spirit. Those who enjoy the similarly underrated Jean Françaix will love Sancan, but the most remarkable feature is that Sancan wrote truly virtuosic music. It is very French, not keyboard-banging virtuoso music in the Russian sense, but its technical demands are considerable. There is a fine piano concerto and some short piano pieces (hear the two-minute Boîte à musique), but the real highlight is the three-movement Sonatine for flute and piano, where the two instruments interlock in difficult skittering figures. Bavouzet surely knows this music better than anyone else, and his performance here with flutist Adam Walker is wholly compelling. This is a unique document, a wonderful window into a French tradition too often dismissed as academic.© James Manheim /TiVo

After well-received albums devoted to Bach and Schumann, pianist Piotr Anderszewski turns to music of his native Eastern Europe on this 2024 release, which made classical best-seller charts early that year. Anderszewski is known for his artfully curated and constructed programs, but this one is not so cohesive; the excerpts from Janáček's On an Overgrown Path set were recorded in 2016, while the short pieces by Szymanowski and Bartók were added in 2023. The Janáček works, though short, are of a slightly different kind from the other pieces, which are real miniatures. When Anderszewski gets to those, however, he hits his stride. Especially interesting are Bartók's 14 Bagatelles, Op. 6, presented in full. These aren't heard overly often. Anderszewski says that "the works recorded on this album carry within them a spirit of rebellion," which doesn't quite fit these short pieces, but then on his second try, he comes much closer: "No room here for stylization or decorum; they draw upon the very roots of music." Early works composed in 1908, they contain ideas that Bartók would explore over his entire career. They have folkish accents but also intensive exploration of mode and rhythm. Anderszewski's careful style is ideal here, and the listener hearing the whole set will become increasingly engrossed. Hardly less appealing are the six pieces from Szymanowski's 20 Mazurkas, Op. 50, which explore the folk dance model in a less radical but no less detailed way. For the lover of Eastern European music of the early 20th century, which is finally and rightfully finding a consistent place on concert programs, this is a recording that will merit multiple hearings.© James Manheim /TiVo

This is a nicely programmed album consisting of French song cycles spaced several decades apart from the 19th and early 20th centuries. One of them, the Mélodies Persanes ("Persian Songs") of Saint-Saëns, is not a common item; with its bouncy text-setting, nobody would compare it to the deep Eastern influences woven into various Ravel works, but then, Ravel was inspired to execute those by listening to Saint-Saëns. In Berlioz's Les nuits d'été and Ravel's Shéhérazade, contralto Marie-Nicole Lemieux has plenty of competition, but there is less for the Saint-Saëns. Another attraction is the work of the Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo under conductor Kazumi Yamada, neither a household name. The group is velvety smooth in the Berlioz cycle, with quiet and perfectly controlled string sound throughout. The strings match the voice of Lemieux beautifully; both have a luxuriance that fits the extravagantly Romantic texts of the Berlioz. So, everything is in place here, and listeners' reactions to the whole are likely to come down to their feelings about Lemieux's voice itself. It has a rapid, confident vibrato that is remarkably pitch-accurate as it moves up and down within her range. To these ears, it is beautiful. It also doesn't vary much according to the text; the Saint-Saëns songs and Ravel's Asie, which are intended to evoke exotic melodic traits, sound much like the Berlioz. A bit of sampling will likely determine one's enjoyment of the album in general, and there are certainly many things to like here.© James Manheim /TiVo

Maurice Ravel's orchestral works are universally regarded as models of the art of orchestration, and this 4-CD box set from Deutsche Grammophon presents them complete, in stupendous live performances by Lionel Bringuier and the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich. These recordings, made between 2014 and 2015, capture every aspect of Ravel's genius, from the colorful transcriptions of his piano pieces to works composed specifically for orchestra. While the ever-popular Boléro is a textbook example of how to use tone colors for a cumulative effect, such lavish pieces as the ballets Daphnis et Chloé and La Valse are sumptuous in their lush textures and vibrant sonorities. Bringuier is an enthusiastic advocate for Ravel's music, and his expertise is apparent in his meticulous interpretations and in the precision of the musicians, who play with rhythmic accuracy and polished execution. Featured soloists in these performances are the virtuoso pianist Yuja Wang, who is exciting in the Piano Concerto in G major and the Piano Concerto for the Left Hand in D major, and violinist Ray Chen, who delivers a compelling reading of Tzigane. In the remaining selections, the Tonhalle shines with brilliant luster, and Deutsche Grammophon's reproduction is first-rate, with its depth, detail, and dynamic range approaching audiophile quality.© TiVo

Recording Ravel's music on period instruments is the kind of thing that might raise a smile... until you realise just how much the production of instruments has changed in less than a hundred years: it's the return of catgut strings, skin drum heads, the French basson (and not the German system bassoon which is used across all the world's orchestras today), shaper tips, trumpets and trombones of French manufacture. At the head of his orchestra Les Siècles, François-Xavier Roth gives a new, orthodox, historically-informed version of Ma Mère l’oye (complete ballet), the Tombeau de Couperin and Shéhérazade, the long-neglected "ouverture de féérie" [Fairy Overture] which is pure Ravel. This return to the roots is clearly easier and more straightforwardly authentic for this period of music history, because, unlike earlier works, we possess recordings which date back to the 1920s, and even earlier, which can tell us about the style, the colours, the phrasing and the tempo. But it isn't enough just to have all this historical information to hand to make something interesting. What makes this record thrilling is that all the musicians in the Siècles are excellent, and François-Xavier Roth is a talented artist himself, who knows this music inside out. At which point, his complete recording of Stravinsky's Firebird has already struck us with its quality. This rediscovery of Ravel resounds with clarity and finesse; it is a feast of well-defined timbres which cuts against the "beautiful sound" which prevails in orchestras around the world today. © François Hudry/Qobuz

One fascinating thing about Krzysztof Penderecki's music is that his creative personality remained consistent, whether he was expressing it in a folk-influenced Bartókian idiom early in his career, in the extremes of high modernism in the 1960s or in the neo-tonal, almost neo-Romantic style of his later years. There is a thread of intensity, of exploiting instrumental possibilities, of a quintessentially modern sense of living on the edge that runs through his whole output. This is nowhere more true than in Penderecki's chamber music, and the thread is what the Meccore String Quartet captures well here. Although Penderecki's chamber music is fairly abundantly recorded, and one might find recordings of individual pieces here that are more to one's liking, the album, as a whole, has a satisfying cohesion. Given that the notes stress the idea of knowing Penderecki through his quartets, it is a bit odd that the music isn't taken in chronological order, but of course, it can be listened to in any order. In any event, the Shostakovich-like String Quartet No. 4 is placed last in the group and gets a fine, tense performance here. Another highlight is the lyrical Clarinet Quartet of 1993, with a haunting turn on the clarinet by Jan Jakub Bokun in the Serenade movement. The sound from the Krzysztof Penderecki European Centre for Music is quite hot, but this meshes well with the Meccore's general approach; the music here is "in your face" in the best way. This will fill a hole in many shelves or hard drives of European contemporary chamber music.© James Manheim /TiVo

This 2010 recording of Tchaikovsky's eternally popular Swan Lake ballet, with Mikhail Pletnev and the Russian National Orchestra might be ideal for dancing, but it is less ideal purely as a listening experience. On the whole, and in most of its parts, theirs is a highly dramatic and very fast-paced performance, filled with plenty of vigor, energy, color, and contrast. The score requires more pathos and bathos than depth and profundity, and Pletnev elicits from the Russian musicians a sweetly soulful and wholly polished performance. But this version misses the lightness and buoyancy of Gennady Rozhdestvensky's classic account of the work, a performance that sacrifices none of the work's drama, and allowing it space to dance. Pletnev's recording has many virtues, though, and the listener may find a place on the shelf for both his and Rozhdestvensky's versions. Ondine's sound is clean and lush, with plenty of detail. © TiVo

Praised for his meticulous fidelity to the composer's intentions, as well as for his rich tonal palette and the warmth of his expressions, Jean-Efflam Bavouzet has won many admirers for his five albums of the complete solo piano music of Claude Debussy. These recordings were produced by Chandos between 2007 and 2009, and they have now been gathered into a handsome box set; each disc is presented with its own cardboard sleeve and the original liner notes that accompanied each release. The roster of artists who have recorded Debussy's keyboard music is a long and distinguished one, though Bavouzet is easily ranked in the upper echelons, equal in stature among such luminaries as Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, Krystian Zimerman, Maurizio Pollini, Angela Hewitt, Pierre-Laurent Aimard, and Pascal Rogé. Experienced listeners will already have favorite recordings of the Préludes, Images, Estampes, and Études, as well as the perennially popular Suite bergamasque, Children's Corner, and other picturesque pieces. However, many will be won over by the consistency of Bavouzet's playing, and newcomers will find that his disciplined yet gorgeous readings are a great way to begin appreciating these charming classics. Chandos provides excellent sound that gives the piano a clear presence yet takes nothing away from Bavouzet's atmospheric colors or the radiant acoustics. Highly recommended.© TiVo