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Rameau: Castor & Pollux

Les Arts Florissants

Classical - Released March 8, 1993 | harmonia mundi

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Jacques Offenbach : La Vie parisienne (5 septembre 1954)

Jules Gresssier

Classical - Released April 15, 2014 | Ina, musique(s)

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Mozart: String Quintets K. 515 & 516

Quatuor Ébène

Quintets - Released March 10, 2023 | Warner Classics

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The 2004 edition of the ARD International Competition in Munich saw the paths of violist Antoine Tamestit and members of the Ebène Quartet cross. A meeting of champions on a day to remember, with these artists taking first place in their respective categories. Their collaborations have multiplied over the years, finally converging on a first joint recording entitled Round Midnight, which ended with a sumptuous rendition of Schoeberg’s Transfigured Night.But in this case the new ensemble is committed to the genius of Mozart, through his Quintet No. 3 K.515 and No. 4 K.516. In the first, the group explores the highly contrasting moods in Mozart's writing, alternating between the abundant energy of the first and fourth movements, and the melancholic lethargy of the second and third. A roller coaster of emotions, guided by clever playing and a lovely, enveloping tonality. On the other hand, Quartet K.516 has darker colours, the key of G minor in Mozart's work often being associated with distress and sorrow. It took on a particular meaning in 1787, at a time when the composer was worried about his father's health. The Ebène quartet and Tamestit draw a striking chiaroscuro from the score, magnified by intelligent choices with regards to the tempi, leaving room for perfect spaces that allow the piece to breathe. © Pierre Lamy/Qobuz
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Haydn : The Complete Symphonies

Joseph Haydn

Classical - Released February 2, 2009 | Nimbus Records

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Unlocked, Brescianello Vol. 2

La Serenissima

Classical - Released October 27, 2023 | Signum Records

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The title "Unlocked" for this album by the historical performance group La Serenissima and director/violinist Adrian Chandler refers to the making of the album as the musicians emerged from pandemic-time lockdowns. However, it also might indicate the status of composer Giuseppe Antonio Brescianello, whose music has been little explored even though he was among the first composers to write symphonies (here, "sinphonie") in Germany. Brescianello was certainly a transitional figure. It is likely that he encountered the music of Vivaldi in Venice before moving to Germany to work as a valet for the Electress of Bavaria (who paved his way to lucrative court positions). The works here, mostly taken from the composer's Op. 1 publication of Concerti & Sinphonie, resemble Vivaldi's in general sound, but the consistent harmonic rhythm of the Baroque is starting to break up, and in the violin concertos, especially there is a new kind of expressiveness. Chandler is quite effective in these, catching the small details that an audience of the time would have found new. In the final Ouverture for strings and continuo in A major, Brescianello seems a bit constrained by the French Baroque dance forms, but this sets off the innovations that were present in the concertos and symphonies. The second of a pair of albums devoted to Brescianello by La Serenissima, this may be of most interest to those fascinated by the pre-Classical era, but it is listenable in a Vivaldian vein for anyone.© James Manheim /TiVo
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Elisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre: Céphale et Procris

Reinoud Van Mechelen

Classical - Released February 9, 2024 | Château de Versailles Spectacles

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Debussy: C'est l'extase - La mer

Vannina Santoni

Classical - Released June 9, 2023 | Alpha Classics

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Casual buyers and browsers should note that the vocal works on this album, accompanied by orchestra, are not the original works of Debussy. They were made in 2012 by composer Robin Holloway at the request of the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra. They were performed at that time by Renée Fleming but have not been recorded until now. The settings are unorthodox and never boring, and they will probably strike different listeners in different ways. Holloway reorders the songs, believing that they were not intended as a sequenced set (probably debatable), inserts some of the composer's Verlaine settings in the new ordering, adds transitions between most of them, and tacks on a high-powered epilogue of his own. The end result, perhaps, is Debussy for the 21st century, amped up and intense, with hidden psychological themes and ideas wrung out and brought to the fore by the orchestration. There will be little disagreement, however, about two of the main attractions: soprano Vannina Santoni is a talented newcomer from whom one wants to hear more, and Mikko Franck, heard at the end in La Mer, is an excellent Debussy conductor; his rendition of this well-trodden work is full of detail and entirely absorbing. Santoni has a big voice that stands up to these orchestrations, and Alpha's sound from the Radio France auditorium keeps everything in balance. Nothing if not an intriguing Debussy release. © James Manheim /TiVo
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Psyché

Christophe Rousset

Classical - Released January 13, 2023 | Château de Versailles Spectacles

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Penderecki: Clarinet & String Quartets & String Trio

Meccore String Quartet

Chamber Music - Released May 5, 2023 | CapriccioNR

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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

Behind Closed Doors, Brescianello Vol. 1

La Serenissima

Classical - Released October 8, 2021 | Signum Records

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A contemporary of Vivaldi, Brescianello is a composer whose music languishes in relative obscurity. Whilst the mists of time have claimed some composers’ music for justifiable reasons, Brescianello’s music presents many compelling arguments for its restoration. Having first included Brescianello in La Serenissima’s 2014 season, they have since staged his opera Tisbe, recorded a violin concerto (included in the "Extra Time" programme), a trio sonata (Settecento) and other works. It is surprising that the Opus 1 was the only set of works that Brescianello chose to publish and La Serenissima have now been given the opportunity to start their exploration of this wonderful publication. © Signum Records
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Schubert: Impromptus, D.935 & Piano Sonata, D.960

Dasol Kim

Solo Piano - Released September 8, 2023 | Aparté

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Debussy: Complete Works for Piano

Jean-Efflam Bavouzet

Classical - Released October 1, 2012 | Chandos

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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
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Gloire Immortelle !

Hervé Niquet

Classical - Released November 17, 2023 | Château de Versailles Spectacles

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Camille & Julie Berthollet

Camille Berthollet

Classical - Released October 28, 2016 | Warner Classics

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This debut recital by teenage sisters Camille and Julie Berthollet (Camille plays both violin and cello, Julie the violin) consists of light music, but has an exuberant, fearless quality that suggests deeper things to come. The sisters arrange the program in the manner of a 19th century concert for the general public, with an orchestra trading tracks with a piano in the accompanist slot and a gleeful mix of familiar tunes, ethnic dances, folk-like melodies (here extended forward to Gershwin, whose Summertime gets a highly novel treatment), and movements of serious trios by Schubert, gorgeously played. This would all be enough in itself, but the real fun comes from the constantly shifting roles of the solo violins and cello, variously deployed in arrangements that have in some cases been around for a while (the Gluck tune appears in a setting by Fritz Kreisler), but have never been put together in quite this way. Sample the Paganini Caprice No. 24 and enjoy the deconstruction of Paganini's solo violin work into material for two violins and orchestra. The cleverness with which the whole program is put together belies the lightness of the material, and these are definitely young musicians to watch. Highly recommended.© TiVo
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Haydn: String Quartets, Op. 20, Volume 1, Nos. 2, 3 & 5

Dudok Quartet Amsterdam

Chamber Music - Released September 27, 2019 | Resonus Classics

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Fresh from their latest accolade as winners of a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award, the critically lauded Dudok Quartet Amsterdam embarks on a new project dedicated to Franz Joseph Haydn’s six Op. 20 String Quartets. This first installment of two volumes sees the quartet explore the C major, G minor and F minor quartets. With some of the most celebrated works from the quartet repertoire, the Dudok Quartet relish delving into the monumental and dramatic gestures within Haydn’s highly developed rhetorical style. © Resonus
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Beethoven: Symphony No. 4, Op. 60 & Leonore Overture, Op. 72

George Szell

Classical - Released July 20, 2018 | Sony Classical

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Bizet : Roma & Other Orchestral Works (HD 24/96.00)

Jean-Luc Tingaud

Classical - Released March 3, 2015 | Naxos

Hi-Res Booklet Distinctions 5 de Diapason
Apart from the opera Carmen, the Symphony in C major, and the suites of incidental music for the play L'Arlésienne, the music of Georges Bizet tends toward the obscure, despite its great tunefulness and obvious technical competence. For this CD, Jean-Luc Tingaud and the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra present two of the more significant minor works, the Roma Symphony and the Petite Suite, along with several shorter pieces that are infrequently played. The Overture in A major and the Marche funèbre in B minor are neglected because they are early works, though they are no worse than many French orchestral pieces of the time, and Bizet's knack for writing memorable melodies lifts them above mediocrity. The jaunty Patrie Overture has had a better track record with modern audiences and is often encountered as filler on recordings and on pops concerts. An orchestral version of five piano pieces from the collection Jeux d'enfants, the Petite Suite is usually paired on recordings with the Symphony in C major because of its similar lightheartedness. In the end, Roma is the most substantial work offered here, and Bizet's flair for dramatic scene painting and dark passions is on full display, anticipating the volatile atmosphere of Carmen. The performances of all the selections are first-rate, and this album is recommended for anyone who is curious about Bizet's less familiar music.© TiVo
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Dall'Abaco and the Art of Variation

Elinor Frey

Classical - Released February 9, 2024 | Passacaille

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Bastien et Bastienne · La Servante maîtresse

Gaétan Jarry

Classical - Released September 8, 2023 | Château de Versailles Spectacles

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Glass: Complete String Quartets - String Quartets Nos. 1 - 4

Quatuor Molinari

Classical - Released June 10, 2022 | Les Disques ATMA Inc.

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