Palestrina, 500 years on!

This year marks the quincentenary of the birth of Palestrina, one of the greatest musical minds of his time. Graham Ross and the Choir of Clare College, Cambridge, pay tribute to the Roman master of sacred choral music with a superb new album of his rarely heard or previously unrecorded works.

To add historical context, they offer further versions of the same texts as set by William Byrd, Robert White, and William Mundy. Musical discoveries galore!

Timeless Bach

With the release of the Mass in B minor, Raphaël Pichon and his ensemble Pygmalion continue their illuminating exploration of J.S. Bach’s masterpieces.

The absolute pinnacle of the Leipzig Kantor’s entire output, this visionary synthesis of profound emotion, spirituality, and humanity gives meaning to the world we live in while opening a window on the next. Enthused with the scope of the endeavour, the performers practically inhabit this timeless score and deliver a powerful reading that conveys all its mysteries and depth.

Mozart at his sunniest

1, 2, 3, or 4 players: Julien Libeer and three of his illustrious friends invite us to explore the Mozartian sound world in just such a variety of settings (solo, duo, trio, and quartet).

Above all, it is the cheerfulness and brilliance of Salzburg’s famous son that the performers allow us to sample in this intriguing programme. Here we have a sunlit sonata for solo piano; a violin-and-piano duo in which joy triumphs over disquiet; a flamboyant piano trio roughly contemporaneous with The Marriage of Figaro; not forgetting the piano quartet—a rarely encountered format pioneered by the composer who wittily explores the space midway between chamber music and concerto in his K. 478. The sense of drama in the overall concept is surely worthy of one of his operas!

Russia’s heart and soul

Stanislav Kochanovsky makes his label debut, with more releases to follow! For harmonia mundi, the versatile maestro has chosen to explore the orchestral music of nineteenth- and twentieth-century Russia.

An impressive podium presence, he decided two years ago to leave his native Russia behind to become chief conductor of the NDR Radiophilharmonie Hannover. His electrifying readings of Rimsky-Korsakov’s Capriccio espagnol and Tchaikovsky’s less well-known Orchestral Suite No. 3 are paired with a rare gem by Tcherepnin: the sparkling prelude to La Princesse lointaine. All of Russia’s heart and soul on full display!

J.S. Bach in Weimar

Paul Agnew and Les Arts Florissants continue their chronological survey of Bach’s life in music. As he borrowed from the French style and reshaped the Italian model of the concerto, the years of his residence in Weimar (1708-1717) left a lasting mark on the church-cantata genre and blazed a new trail for it.

Volume 2 in this series again invites us to compare Bach’s approach with that of his contemporaries, particularly when they set the very same text written by Luther — as in Telemann’s stunningly dramatic cantata “Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland.”

Discover more about this album and about “A Life in Music” by Paul Agnew & Les Arts Florissants.

Visionary Satie

Alain Planès, whose admiration for Erik Satie is no secret, pays the composer a vibrant tribute to mark the centenary of his death. Complemented by a largely unpublished selection of paintings and drawings in the accompanying booklet, this is a remarkable album!

Performing on a 1928 Pleyel grand piano, Alain Planès delivers a panoramic survey of this often witty, caustic yet visionary music that resists classification. He is partnered by Marc Mauillon in the songs and François Pinel in the four-hand pieces for this exploration of the finest compositions penned by the “Master of Arcueil.”

Schubert, from darkness to light.

For this second volume in their chronological traversal of Schubert lieder, Samuel Hasselhorn and Ammiel Bushakevitz explore the masterpieces dating from the years 1824 and 1825.

Schubert 200, episode 2: following a period of self-doubt and despondency at the diagnosis of a disease he knew to be incurable, Schubert regained hope thanks to the support of his friend, the baritone Johann Michael Vogl.

(The series continues…)

A love letter to the viola

In his fourth project with harmonia mundi, Timothy Ridout presents a programme of unaccompanied works for the viola that ranges from Telemann to Benjamin Britten and Caroline Shaw—a veritable love letter to his instrument, prized for its warm and soulful timbre.

Combing through several centuries of viola repertoire, the young British virtuoso contrasts the music of the Baroque (Bach, Telemann) with that of our time (including Britten’s rarely heard Elegy and Caroline Shaw’s in manus tuas). A ravishing performance full of youthful freshness!

Stravinsky, master of pastiche

After exploring the music of Olivier Messiaen, Gustavo Gimeno enters the singular universe of another twentieth-century titan: Igor Stravinsky. The composer had a special artistic affinity with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, and the musicians amply repay the debt in this new recording!

The two ballet scores heard here reveal a particular facet of Stravinsky’s genius: his skill in pastiche. Having drawn from the music of eighteenth-century Naples for ‘Pulcinella,’ he turned to Tchaikovsky for ‘The Fairy’s Kiss.’ On both occasions, he succeeded in transforming the exercise of homage into a distinctly personal work.

“Something rich and strange…”

Geoffroy Jourdain and Les Cris de Paris explore some of the most astonishing examples of late-Renaissance polyphony and find a fascinating echo in a contemporary work by Francesca Verunelli. A journey into the land of “strange harmonies”!

To shed more light on this puzzle in 16th-century music at the periphery of the now standard norms of harmony and tuning, they also present the world premiere recording of VicentinoOo, in which a modern-day Italian composer pays tribute to the microtonal pieces of Nicola Vicentino by employing his 31-note scale!

A cornucopia of night music!

To launch their exclusive partnership with harmonia mundi, Enrico Onofri and the Münchener Kammerorchester invite us to explore, in the company of Isabelle Faust, the poetic and colourful universe of Mozart’s serenades.

Continuing a time-honoured tradition of open-air music, Mozart raised this genre to an outstanding level of accomplishment. From his celebrated gem A Little Night Music to the Posthorn Serenade, alongside the majestic Haffner Serenade with Isabelle Faust as the stellar guest, here is our chance to experience a whole musical world brought vividly to life.

A Nordic getaway

Following their two earlier recordings devoted to Ireland and Scotland, Alix Boivert and The Curious Bards have crossed the North Sea to investigate the music of eighteenth-century Sweden and Norway.

Exploring traditional as well as classical repertoires, along with folk and courtly music, The Curious Bards invite us to discover the colourful and varied world of Scandinavian songs and dances.

Dream Théotime!

A year after the release of their magnificent first album of Vivaldi’s music – “Concerti per una vita,” – Théotime Langlois de Swarte and the orchestra of Le Consort turn to that composer’s most famous masterpiece: “The Four Seasons.”

To place this beloved cycle in context, they hold up a subtle mirror to other works by the Venetian composer that share the same musical gestures and tonalities, alongside Lambranzi’s rarely heard dances: an obvious if often overlooked source of inspiration for Vivaldi.

Palestrina, 500 years on!

This year marks the quincentenary of the birth of Palestrina, one of the greatest musical minds of his time. Graham Ross and the Choir of Clare College, Cambridge, pay tribute to the Roman master of sacred choral music with a superb new album of his rarely heard or previously unrecorded works.

To add historical context, they offer further versions of the same texts as set by William Byrd, Robert White, and William Mundy. Musical discoveries galore!