Romantic Music

With this double album, François-Frédéric Guy opens the gate to his secret garden. This is his first discographic foray into the world of Chopin - a composer whose music soundtracked this French pianist’s childhood, and was played daily on the family piano by his father (who was incidentally a good amateur pianist). A particular favourite of his was Fantaisie-impromptu in C# minor, which Guy has selected to close this programme.Although he was introduced to Chopin’s music at a very young age, the French pianist had never dared to record the pieces within this programme. A few months of lockdown eventually encouraged him to bring this project to fruition. Such a programme needed to be played on the perfect instrument: one that would perfectly capture Chopin’s legato and long lyrical phrases. François-Frédéric Guy set his sights on a beautiful Pleyel – Chopin’s favourite piano. Built in 1905, this instrument seems to be the culmination of the Parisian manufacturer’s latest research.This programme lasts almost two hours and alternates Nocturnes, Études, Ballades and Waltzes with the incredible Fantaisie in F minor (which showcases Chopin’s full range of artistic skill and creativity), Sonata No.3 in B minor, the Polonaise-Fantaisie (whose contradictory title has long fascinated François-Frédéric Guy) and Fantaisie-impromptu. The latter was supposedly disliked by the original composer, but it serves as a moving finale here. © François Hudry/Qobuz

The Palazetto Bru Zane, the centre for French Romantic music in Venice, has an uncanny ability to rouse our curiosity for rare musical offerings. For each discographic release, the institution makes a point of indulging the listener, presenting them with only the very best: from the casting to the sound recording, not to mention the cleverly constructed programmes and the detailed illustrated booklets, everything is flawlessly produced. They essentially offer a first-class journey to the land of Romantic music. With Les Nuits de Paris, the institute once again proves it knows what it’s doing. At the helm, François-Xavier Roth and his ensemble Les Siècles take us on a dizzying tour of French society during the Belle-Epoque. At the time, the Parisian public routinely frequented dance venues—the upper classes went to the opera whilst the lower classes turned to cabarets, music halls and other “café-concerts”. Links were made between the profane and the sacred, the stylish and the mainstream. This cheerful disc sheds light on this entire dancing tradition. Alongside the great composers of the period (Massenet, Delibes and Saint-Saëns), the programme introduces other figures who were well-known in their time but have been somewhat forgotten today: Ernest Guiraud, Victorin Joncières and Ambroise Thomas. A special mention must go to Jeanne Danglas, one of the rare female composers to have been able to escape the patriarchal grip of the period.François Xavier Roth and his orchestra fully embrace the retro charm of these compositions, which might have been considered a little absurd if it weren’t for their radiantly joyful and deliciously playful performance. This is a wonderful journey through time. © Pierre Lamy/Qobuz

American conductor Marin Alsop continues her complete recording of Robert Schumann’s symphonies at the head of the ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, where she has a permanent post. Recorded in 2020 in the famous Golden Hall of the Vienna Musikverein, this new album is devoted to Symphonies No.3 and 4. It focuses on Gustav Mahler’s re-orchestration since it was long considered fashionable to regard Schumann as a poor orchestrator. Mahler’s revised version has already been recorded by Riccardo Chailly. However, the flamboyant complete work was performed in Dresden by Wolfgang Sawallisch with all the composer’s original orchestration, thus becoming a reference within the repertoire. Of course, you would have to examine the two orchestrations closely to fully grasp what Gustav Mahler changed. His main aim was to do Schumann ‘a favour’ by lightening what he considered too dense and bringing out the themes and dynamics. The hundreds of changes he made to each of the symphonies are hardly noticeable to the naked ear.What stands out most when listening to this new version is the vitality that Marin Alsop gives to the piece. She embraces Schumann’s endless lyricism by refusing ever to restrain it, even if that means leading it towards its conclusion like a wild horse. © François Hudry/Qobuz

“Unprecedented” is the right word to sum up this album entirely devoted to John Field's Nocturnes. Unprecedented because it is the first recording by Florent Albrecht, an extra-terrestrial of the pianoforte, who trained late in life after a first career in the luxury goods industry. After graduating from the Conservatoire of Geneva in 2018 and laureate of the Royaumont Foundation the same year, the French pianist has already performed at the Paris Opera and the Juilliard School, among others. An unprecedented album, as it features the world premiere of Nocturne in B flat major, posthumous Op.142, a score exhumed from the shelves of the St Petersburg library by Florent Albrecht. For the occasion, Qobuz presents this original and enchanting album exclusively for five weeks.The nocturne, a form made popular by Chopin, emerged at a time in the history of music when technical improvements in keyboard instruments enabled them to rival the expressiveness of the human voice. We do not know if it is John Field's writing talent or Florent Albrecht's fluid and airy playing—it is probably a subtle mixture of the two—but we come away from listening being convinced that the piano is the sole instrument capable of expressing the emotions of the romantic soul. The musician opts for a phrasing that is both clear and supple, perfectly suited to his instrument (a Carlo Meglio from 1826), whose rounded and slightly trembling timbre, sometimes close to a cimbalom, acts like a soothing balm for the soul. A truly calming interlude. © Pierre Lamy/Qobuz

Previous instalments of the Beethoven sonata cycle from Frank Peter Zimmermann and Martin Helmchen have met with wide acclaim. Described as "conversations by a perfect instrumental pairing" in BBC Music Magazine. This the third and final volume brings together Beethoven's last three works in the genre, composed between 1801 and 1812. The centre-piece is the Ninth Sonata, the famed "Kreutzer"-Sonata. The title page of the first edition described the sonata as "written in a highly concertante style" and it does indeed surpass everything that had previously been written in the genre, in terms of scale as well as technical and compositional complexity. It is preceded by the more lightweight Sonata No. 8 in G major, in which ideas and motifs chase each other until the end of the whirlwind finale. Also in G major, Beethoven’s Tenth and final Violin Sonata closes the volume. It was composed almost ten years after the "Kreutzer", and is certainly less spectacular. In no way is it a step backwards in artistic terms, however: exchanging drama and heroics with songful intimacy, it is rather one of the works through which Beethoven freed himself from the depression into which he had fallen after renouncing his "Immortal Beloved". © BIS Records

The compositions on this album, broadly considered, are connected with Beethoven’s efforts on behalf of the theater, and they also attest to his desire to compose for the larger public without having to lower his standards. The center here is formed by his music for Goethe’s Egmont. The Dutch Count Egmont failed in his resistance against the tyrannous rule of the Duke of Alba and was executed. The decisive factor in Beethoven’s choice of this subject must have been that Goethe himself assigned a dramaturgically important role to music above all at the end of his play, and in his composition Beethoven followed these pretextual givens to the letter. When Egmont, in prison prior to his execution, sees the vision of his beloved Klärchen as the personification of liberty, then Egmont’s words and the musically designed vision join together in a melodrama. The album also includes three overtures and Wellington’s Victory, in which Beethoven combines the older tradition of the “battaglia,” the musical depiction of a battle, with victory pathos. Its effect lies not so much in the masterful treatment of the musical material itself as in the development of a spatial dimension for a realistic battle scene and in the big sound overpowering the listener, in short: in its theatrical character. During Beethoven’s lifetime it was his most successful composition. © CPO

Emmanuelle Bertrand and Pascal Amoyel celebrate their twenty years together as a cello and piano duet. It is hardly surprising that they chose to mark this anniversary with the music of Brahms, a composer who has been a constant on their beautiful journey together: beyond his two ultra-romantic sonatas, they take the listeners to an even deeper emotional realm, that of his lieder, splendidly “sung” here by the cello! © harmonia mundi

The time has come at last to rescue the history of music from the male condescension that has relegated female composers to the status of a handful of oddities. Heir to Beethoven, revered in Paris through the teaching of her foreign teachers Hummel and Reicha, Louise Farrenc left behind her a collection of strong and dramatic symphonic works. Unlike Clara Schumann or Alma Mahler, Louise Farrenc was not hindered by a husband who set her to cooking, cleaning or bearing many children. Coming from an artistic background and strongly encouraged by her husband, she had every opportunity to develop as a composer, but also as a pianist, teacher, editor and musicologist.This album is the first volume of Louise Farrenc's complete set of three Symphonies conducted by Laurence Equilbey at the head of the Insula Orchestra, which she assembled in order to explore little-known repertoire, in particular to bring to the forth works by the great forgotten composers such as Fanny Hensel-Mendelssohn or Clara Schumann.Despite the success she was beginning to enjoy in Paris, Louise Farrenc found it very difficult to stage her symphonic works in the French capital. It was in Brussels that her Symphony No. 1 in C minor was first performed. Its writing follows brilliantly in the wake of the best of the 1840s, in a style where craftsmanship competes with the influences of the great masters of the time: Beethoven, Schubert and Mendelssohn.Premiered this time around in Paris under the direction of François-Antoine Habeneck, whose interpretations of Beethoven's symphonies are known throughout Europe, the more personally written Symphony No. 3 in G minor begins with a cantilena for solo oboe preceding an Allegro full of dramatic energy, syncopations and harmonic surprises.In her symphonies, Louise Farrenc has managed to combine contemporary Viennese style with great intensity and originality. Far from being mere curiosities, Farrenc's symphonies deserve to be included in the repertoire of French orchestras, like those of Albéric Magnard, which are also forgotten in his own country, but that's another story... © François Hudry/Qobuz

His Debussy and Chopin recordings for harmonia mundi already offer ample evidence that Alain Planès is highly adept at selecting a period instrument best suited for the repertoire. For this complete recording of the Chopin Nocturnes, he has chosen a superb 1836 Pleyel – dating from the same decade during which many of these masterpieces saw the light of day. With this instrument’s unique colour palette at his fingertips, our poet of the keyboard deftly recreates the delicate magic of these immortal pages in which the composer, fascinated by the art of bel canto, developed a new approach to making the piano sing. © harmonia mundi

Clara Wieck, who in 1840 was to become Clara Schumann, was a significant figure in the lives both of her husband Robert and of Johannes Brahms, to whom the Schumanns became mentors. The double inspirations of Clara and of the writer E.T.A. Hoffmann’s fictional Kapellmeister Johannes Kreisler are the connecting threads on this debut recording by pianist Elena Fischer-Dieskau, in which Robert’s capricious, moody Kreisleriana is joined by two sets of piano pieces by Brahms. These three works – all of which Clara read in manuscript directly after their composition – reflect youth, maturity and old age. Fischer-Dieskau, member of a musical family which from her grandfather onwards has been deeply associated with the music of the Romantics, captures their wide spectrum of expression, from impulsiveness to autumnal mastery. © Delphian Records

Fourty years on from his first release of this complete collection, cellist Yo-Yo Ma has become a venerable, white-haired gent, as has the pianist Emanuel Ax. "Hope Amid Tears" is the title of their new album, which they recorded at Seiji Ozawa Hall in Lenox, Massachusetts. And hope certainly was in high demand in August 2020 when the Covid-19 pandemic was ravaging the world, and the USA in particular. And what could be more hopeful than Beethoven's humanist message? The Five Sonatas for Cello and Piano (for piano with cello accompaniment for the first two, in fact) are drawn from three different periods of Beethoven's artistic evolution. The first two are still rooted in the eighteenth century, and represent the first important works of the classical period. The Sonata No. 3 in A major, Op. 69, then sees the cello's horizon broaden. The instrument sets itself free, and really speaks in the first person. It is presently joined by the piano, in a style that mirrors great contemporary works such as the Fifth Symphony, the "Pastorale" Symphony, the Coriolan Overture and the "Razumovsky" Quartets.  The musical discourse is syncopated; the dialogue resembles a conversation between two people who are taking it in turns to get worked up into a passion.The last two Sonatas, Op. 102 date from a difficult time in the composer's life, when he was unwell and increasingly isolated by his deafness. These were fallow years where his productivity and creative energies seemed to be flagging. The more involved and inaccessible fugal writing style rendered many works from this period difficult to understand. The firm friendship and longstanding musical partnership between Yo-Yo Ma and Emanuel Ax have shaped this new recording. The musicians speak the same language, with the same intentions and the same phrasing, and their performance is enriched by their experience and maturity. © François Hudry/Qobuz

Julian Bliss and James Baillieu present a recording Johannes Brahms’ Clarinet Sonatas, Op. 120 and an arrangement of his 4 Ernste Gesänge, Op. 121 arranged by Bliss. These late works were inspired by the great clarinetist Richard Muhlfeld, principal clarinet of the Meiningen Court Orchestra, without whom we would not have had this clarinet repertoire. Julian Bliss is one of the world’s finest clarinetists, excelling as a concerto soloist, chamber musician, jazz artist, masterclass leader and tireless musical explorer. He has inspired a generation of young players as creator of his Conn-Selmer range of affordable clarinets, and introduced a substantial new audience to his instrument. Julian started playing the clarinet aged four, going on to study at the University of Indiana and in Germany under Sabine Meyer, turning professional aged twelve. Described by "The Daily Telegraph" as "in a class of his own", James Baillieu is one of the leading song and chamber music pianists of his generation. He has given solo and chamber recitals throughout the world and collaborates with a wide range of world-class singers and instrumentalists. As a soloist, he has appeared with the Ulster Orchestra, English Chamber Orchestra, and the Wiener Kammersymphonie. copy; Signum Classics

For the first four years of their marriage, Robert and Clara Schumann kept a joint diary, a project which Robert described as "a record of our wishes and our hopes, and the means whereby we may convey to one another any requests we may have to make, for which words may not suffice...". In the imaginative recital "Album für die Frau", Carolyn Sampson and Joseph Middleton combine songs by both composers into something similar – the depiction of a relationship seen through the eyes of both parties. Using the eight songs from Robert’s song cycle Frauenliebe und –leben to poems by Adalbert von Chamisso as the framework, they add songs as well as some piano solos in order to create a fuller and more complex picture. The result seems to suggest that the experiences of our "Frau" are richer than Chamisso and Robert Schumann imagined: while love, marriage and motherhood dominated much of Clara Schumann’s life, Robert’s death in 1856 signaled the start of a four-decade widowhood during which she resumed her stellar career as a pianist. As a team, Carolyn Sampson and Joseph Middleton have released a number of acclaimed discs, including "Fleurs", featuring flower-themed songs by composers from Purcell to Richard Strauss and Britten, "A Verlaine Songbook", exploring settings of the poetry of Paul Verlaine, and "A Soprano’s Schubertiade", a Schubert anthology. © BIS Records

If the global pandemic allows it, the young baritone Andrès Schuen is expected in Papageno (The Magic Flute) at the Vienna Opera in spring 2021. He will be Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro) at the Aix-en-Provence Festival in the summer of the same year, and then Guglielmo (Cosi fan tutte) at the Salzburg festival.Hailing from the Italian Tyrol, close by Austria, Andrès Schuen has a solid CV. He studied song under Wolfgang Holzmair and Brigitte Fassbaender, and lieder under Daniel Heide. It is the latter that he has chosen again as a partner for this new album dedicated to the Schöne Müllerin (The Beautiful Miller) by Franz Schubert after the great success of their album Wanderer released in 2018.His fine, youthful and manly timbre works wonders throughout this cycle. It is a voyage through the joy and hope of youth, a joy soon tarnished by the cruel disillusionments of life. In the manner of an actor, and above all, a storyteller, Schuen gradually goes from laughter to tears and resignation. His style is unaffected, with a probity and simplicity that pleases. Accustomed to the Schubertiades of his neighbouring Schwarzenberg which he often visits, Andrès Schuen is supported by the attentive but somewhat matte piano playing of Daniel Heide, specialist in lieder and accompanist to the greatest voices of the day. © François Hudry/Qobuz

For his new recital published on the Decca label, Benjamin Grosvenor has chosen Franz Liszt, whose music has followed him since his childhood thanks to his grandfather's initiation. Dedicated to the pianistic monument that is the Sonata in B minor, the English pianist's programme aims to bear witness to the various aspects underlying the Hungarian composer's creation with emblematic compositions (Petrarch's Three Sonnets), original ones (Lullaby), as well as the extraordinary power of re-creation that Liszt distilled in his paraphrases; here we find the Reminiscences of Norma after Bellini and his arrangement of Schubert's Ave Maria.Every concert and every recording of Grosvenor's music is long awaited and desired, so rich is his personality and his extraordinary pianistic mastery. His recent album devoted to the Frédéric Chopin Concertos confirmed the pre-eminence of this pianist within a well-to-do brotherhood.His vision of the famous Liszt Sonata is immediately among the most inspired. Like a bird of prey, Grosvenor knows how to wait for the right moment to pounce on the chords with diabolical precision and contained rage, in a dramatic Mephistophelian tension. At the same time, the fluidity of his piano opens the door to the twentieth century and particularly to Ravel's world so dependent on the Liszt lesson. It is known that Brahms had fallen asleep when Liszt played his Sonata to him after a probably drunken dinner. Nothing probable here with this powerful evocation of life and death. Magisterial! © François Hudry/Qobuz

Recorded 2020 Salle Molière, Palais de Bondy, Lyon (France)

Johannes Brahms composed only a small number of original works for piano four hands, but arranged almost all of his chamber music and orchestral works for this instrumentation. He played most of them immediately after their completion with Clara Schumann and greatly appreciated her opinion. In his Hungarian Dances Brahms brilliantly transformed original Hungarian melodies and rhythms into multi-coloured orchestral works. The Blüthner grand piano from 1867 shows how Brahms made perfect use of the entire keyboard in his writing for four hands. The various registers appear completely transparent and clear. It is not generally known that Brahms was a great admirer and friend of Johann Strauss. And he loved waltzes! Thus Brahms also created an instrumental version of his Liebeslieder-Walzer for piano four hands. Robert Schumann’s last theme, which he wrote for his so-called "Ghost Variations" immediately before being admitted to a mental hospital, is used by Brahms in his homage to Schumann, which was written immediately after his death in 1856: the Variations on a Theme by Robert Schumann, Op. 23 for piano four hands, which ends with an impressive funeral march. For the piano duo Wyneke Jordans & Leo van Doeselaar it was an obvious choice to conclude their series with recordings of four-handed piano works by great German composers on period instruments with Brahms. © Passacaille