Mirare

"Mantra is a sweeping epic of a work in which Stockhausen’s chief characteristics are apparent: stylistic rigour, the elaboration of a generative system of composition, the conception of a large-scale form, experimentation with electronics, and highly individual links with the divine and the cosmos. Stockhausen always believed that music was born of a single principle, deployed in a macroscopic universe. In Indian mysticism, a ‘mantra’ is a prayer that must be repeated many times; Stockhausen chose this term to designate a two-part melodic formula that is repeated throughout the work. But unlike the identical repetitions of India’s sacred utterances, Stockhausen puts his basic formula through many transformations. There will be nothing more than this ‘mantra’; nothing will be added or removed." (© Mirare / Philippe Manoury)

Revered since the height of the Classical era up to the simmering years of the 20th century, the string quartet represented an ideal genre to which composers entrusted their most innovative ideas. The Modigliani Quartet illuminates these brillant masterpieces, each bearing witness to a turning point in the lives of their authors. Brimming with poetry, audacity and a thirst for life, the singular narratives of these quartets herald the advent of new horizons. © Mirare

There is no shortage of performances of the two Bach cantatas on this release by the Ricercar Consort and the Collegium Vocale Gent, under the direction of gambist Philippe Perlot. They are two of the most imposing among Bach's examples of the form, with two large sections, a variety of movement types and elaborate orchestration, and Bach strove to impress with both. Good readings are available in cycles by conductors John Eliot Gardiner, Masaaki Suzuki, and others, but there's a lot to be said for Perlot's approach, which has been developed over a deliberate set of recordings of cantatas that have something to say to each other. Here, he chooses cantatas that show Bach wrestling with the contrast of music that embodies the public side of worship with the private, pietistic side so common in earlier cantatas like the Cantata No. 21 ("Ich hatte viel Bekümmernis"), BWV 21. In that 1713 work, Bach gives the chorus a lot to do, setting it in contrast with emotionally intense arias to which the singers here, especially countertenor Carlos Mena, do full justice. The Cantata No. 76 ("Die Himmel erzählen die Ehre Gottes"), BWV 76, from ten years later, the choruses are returned to their usual place at the beginning and end of each section, but the range of moods for the soloists is expanded. It adds up to an unusually detailed and musically skilled exploration of these cantatas and to an album to which listeners will return repeatedly. The rich instrumental work is ideally backed by Mirare engineers working in Belgium's Eglise de Beaufays. © TiVo

On the occasion of the recording of Pierre Boulez's Anthiphonie, Florent Boffard brought together three composers around the sonata, an emblematic musical form. A robust architecture in Beethoven's work, it becomes, through its confrontation with Boulezian modernity, an open and multiple form. The bringing together of the three universes highlights the timeless power of the musical word, when genius imposes its style. © Mirare

The new album from Pierre Hantaï, who is momentarily moving away from his dear Scarlatti, is a veritable gem! The French harpsichordist opens this masterful recital recorded in January 2020 in Haarlem (Netherlands) by Nicolas Bartholomée's team and dedicated to four suites by Georg Friedrich Haendel through one of the least known, HWV 426, the first issue of Book I of 1720. Immediately, his fingers immerse this eclectic, cosmopolitan world, where neighbouring Italy and France collide seamlessly, in a resplendent sunshine. Once again, the phrasing dazzles as much as the science that the worthy heir of Gustav Leonhardt displays in grasping the diversity of character as he does in painting landscapes in changing light.Here, the Suite in F major, HWV 427 is a miracle. It is a moving, opening Adagio, with an unheard-of melancholy fullness, in which the "art of touching the harpsichord", of singing, of making polyphony shine, is carried high. So much so that the perpetual movement of the Allegro that follows may initially startle you, Pierre Hantaï's metrical regularity is astonishing, even in the more ornate repeats. However, the lines never seem tight, which makes you look at the choreography, undoubtedly reproducing the outlines of an imaginary Gavotte: an unforgettable sensation! The second Adagio is a sort of prelude, before a bugle fugue, not so distant here from the most joyful fugues of J. S. Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier.The focus of the recital is the spacious and rather sombre Suite in D minor, HWV 428; at first the traditional Präludium, Allemande, Courante, then suddenly, a long Air whose theme is tenderly unfolded, morphing into a strange world of "harmonic" ramblings, as if improvised, launched like rockets by the harpsichordist - a work in its own right!On all levels, an enthralling recital, to be treasured, which will give many people the opportunity to enjoy Handel's Harpsichord Suites once again. © Pierre-Yves Lascar/Qobuz

The musicians of Les Ombres pay tribute to Luigi Boccherini. The free and audacious composer was an insatiable traveler and the inventor of the string quartet whose belatedly acknowledged genius has now earned him a major place in the history of music. © Mirare

Three young musicians playing three young composers’ trios with piano. It’s Trio Zeliha’s debut album and it’s a masterpiece. Violinist Manon Galy, cellist Maxime Quenesson and pianist Jorge González Buajasan all have plenty of experience playing the grand masters’ works, both solo and in trio. They’ve also received encouragement and endorsements from the great Menahem Pressler. There’s a great deal of talent between them and their strong personalities complement and bounce off one another.Shostakovich composed Piano Trio No. 1 in C Minor in 1923 when he was 17 years old. You can already hear his signature style coming through with his sarcastic, abrasive harmonies. He reused one of the themes the following year in First Symphony, never turning his back on his early works. Known for his famous – and somewhat overplayed – waltzes, Anton Arensky’s personality really shines through in Trio in D minor. The work was written in 1894 in remembrance of the cellist Karl Davidov who founded the Russian cello school, much like Tchaikovsky had done a few years earlier when he composed a memorial trio for his friend and mentor Nicolai Rubinstein. Arensky’s long beautiful trio depicts the life of his late friend with an expressiveness that the three young musicians take to new heights.Mendelssohn also uses the D minor key in his First Trio. Though instead of communicating tragedy, it conveys a wildly romantic appetite for life. The Trio Zeliha add light and dark shades to this frenzy while never losing sight of form and elegance. In addition to the three amazing musicians, the quality of the sound recording is worth mentioning. With a tasteful texture and a spicy flavour, it does absolute justice to the youthful enthusiasm of the works and their performers. © François Hudry/Qobuz

Although best-known as a composer of orchestral and operatic music, Georges Bizet (1838-1875) was also a virtuoso of the piano, for which he left a number of first-rate works. This recording assembles several of his piano pieces and transcriptions alongside arrangements of his works by other composers. This music "without words", whether inspired by the art of his contemporaries, Romantic Germany, the Orient and Venetian gondolas, reveals all the subtlety of his style and his melodies for the nineteenth-century king of instruments. © Mirare