The New Collection July - December 2013
The independent music group Outhere produces around one hundred recordings every year, ranging from early music to contemporary, by way of jazz and world music. These are released all over the world in both physical and digital form. Outhere’s success is founded on the consolidation and articulation of labels with a strong individual identity, which today number nine: Aeon, Alpha, Arcana, Fuga Libera, Outnote, Phi, Ramée, Ricercar, and Zig-Zag Territoires. The group’s philosophy gives pride to place to the quality of its relationship with the artists, meticulous attention to the realisation of each project, and its openness to new forms of diffusion and relations with the public.
Table of Contents Aeon p.4 Alpha p.5 Arcana p.10 Fuga Libera p.12 Phi p.13 RamĂŠe p.14 Ricercar p.16 Zig-Zag Territoires p.19
Philippe Hersant
AECD 1334
Instants Limites
Ensemble vocal Ædes Mathieu Romano, cond. Pascal Gallois, bassoon Régis Pasquier, violin Jean-Luc Menet, flute
013 Release 09/2
Once again, the inmates of Clairvaux have been given a chance to express themselves, this time in a work specially composed by Philippe Hersant whose talent is put to the service of texts written by the prisoners in the framework of writing workshops. A highly moving experience and highly moving music. The booklet of this album will be accompanied by photographs of prisoners such as we have never seen, made by the inmates themselves within the prison. An object with multiple entries as we like them ... www.philippehersant.com
György Ligeti
AECD 1332
Complete String Quartets - Sonate Quatuor Béla
Release 11/2
013
Coupled on disc, the two string quartets of György Ligeti, who died in 2006, by the very young Béla Quartet. Past masters in the interpretation of this music, they are appreciated in particular for the work of precision, refinement, commitment and musicality, work in which energy and subtlety alternate in a constant research for colours, harmonies, rhythms and contrasts. These two works, of rare intensity, sometimes of blazing brilliance, allow to understand why Ligeti’s music, albeit so complex and rigorous, can nonetheless appeal to a very wide audience. Continuous creativity and daring. www.quatuorbela.com
4
A la Gloire de Dieu et du Roi
Alpha 954
Splendeur de la Musique sacrée sous Louis XIV
Special price
Release 07/2
013
During the reign of Louis XIV (1638-1715) sacred music took three essential forms: the large-scale grand motet (specific to the French court), the smaller-scale petit motet, and organ pieces alternating with plainchant. All three forms were brought together at Versailles in the daily celebration of the king’s mass. They were also the components of the important religious ceremonies that were held at the principal churches of Paris, such as Notre Dame and the Sainte-Chapelle, which maintained a body of first-rate musicians. Sacred music at Versailles included the ordinary daily office, but also the performance on special occasions of pieces such as the Te Deum. The famous ‘pomp’ of Versailles, as illustrated by the glorious Te Deum setting by Marc-Antoine Charpentier heard on this recording, involving soloists, a large chorus and an orchestra with trumpets and timpani, co-existed with exceptionally intimate works, such as Lalande’s Miserere or the petits motets composed by Du Mont, which illustrate the most personal aspect of French sacred music of the Baroque era. Finally, organ music played a part in religious ceremonies throughout the kingdom, in the cathedrals of the provinces and in the Royal Chapel. At Versailles four organists shared the task of playing the instrument commissioned by Louis XIV, with each one taking a quarter of the year. Francois Couperin and Louis Marchand were among the most famous of the royal organists.
Musiques de Cour et d’Opéra pour Louis XIV
ALPHA 955
Special price
Release 07/2
013
The divertissements of the French court, renowned throughout Europe, were at their height during the reign of Louis XIV (1638-1715). Earlier genres, especially the air de cour and the air de ballet, were transformed in the tragédie lyrique, introduced by Jean-Baptiste Lully. Within a few decades the combined talents of Molière and Lully, then Molière and Charpentier, produced the comédie-ballet (a fine example is Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme, the ‘Turkish March’ from which has remained famous to this day), while the brilliant duo formed by Quinault and Lully worked on tragédies lyriques. These genres were to leave their mark on French music for the next hundred years and to influence European music as well.
5
Antonio Vivaldi
Alpha 193
Estro Armonico - I
Café Zimmermann
013 Release 09/2
Having attracted attention in particular for the energy and boldness in its approach to the works of J. S. Bach (Bach’s complete works for instrumental ensemble on Alpha), Café Zimmermann is now exploring the repertoire of the Red Priest, beginning with Estro Armonico, one of the most emblematic masterpieces of the Baroque repertoire. The great clarity of the ensemble’s interpretations as much as the quality of its instruments (including a quartet by the Italian instrument maker Guadagnini), and Pablo Valetti’s fiery virtuosity are present to make us rediscover this masterful work. www.cafe-zimmermann.com
Ludwig van Beethoven
ALPHA 194
Moonlight Sonata - Waldstein - The Storm
Alexeï Lubimov, fortepiano (Erard 1802)
There are projects on which the artistic director of a record label straightaway asks himself a few questions. For example, when it comes to recording Beethoven’s three ‘greatest hit’ sonatas, recorded a multitude of times by the leading pianists.
013 Release 09/2
However, a forte-pianist of the calibre of Alexei Lubimov already constitutes one good reason to implement the project, as does the choice of the facsimile of an Erard piano (1802, copy made by Christopher Clarke) of which the original was within Beethoven’s reach. Above all, this recording presents a double interest: - the ‘cross-disciplinary’ thinking that preceded the recording, strictly speaking, and which was an integral part of the project. It brought together Christopher Clarke (builder), Thierry Maniguet and Jean-Claude Battault (curators), Alexei Lubimov, Catherine Kintzler (musicologist), Karoly Mostis (tuner), and the laboratory of the Cité de la Musique in Paris; - the possibility of sharing, in a digibook, this reflection on the instrument, its technique, the way to play it and the impact that all this has on the interpretation. At no moment does the result of this pluridisciplinary thinking restrain the performer’s intentions - on the contrary! It is the source of new energy, both contemporary and highly respectful of the sources’ intention.
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3 CDs ALPHA 816
Johann Sebastian Bach Missae Breves
Ensemble Pygmalion Raphaël Pichon, cond.
In the Baroque musical landscape, Pygmalion is the major revelation of these last few years. In the tradition of the greatest conductors, Raphaël Pichon, has realized one of the most accomplished cycles of the ‘five’ Missae Breves, including the Mass in B minor in its original ‘brief’ version of 1733. On the occasion of the ensemble’s first opera release, Alpha is offering you the opportunity to (re)discover the complete cycle at an special price.
Reissue Special price
Release 09/2
013
2 CDs ALPHA 951
www.ensemblepygmalion.com
Jean-Philippe Rameau Dardanus
Ensemble Pygmalion Raphaël Pichon, cond.
After the exploration of Bach’s ‘five’ Missae Breves concluding with the success of the original version of the B minor Mass, Ensemble Pygmalion has recorded Rameau’s Dardanus following a series of concerts unanimously hailed by the critics.
013 Release 09/2
Although superior from the dramatic point of view, this second version of Dardanus proposed by Pygmalion has never, until the present day, been resurrected, with the exception of the famous aria ‘Lieux funestes’ from Act IV. A new edition was carried out (by Gilles Rico) based on the 1744 edition, also incorporating the numerous variants integrated by Rameau between 1744 and 1760, as he constantly strove to enrich the music’s emotional power. Originally stemming totally from the restrictive form of Lully’s tragédie lyrique but also attesting to a pronounced taste for ‘extraordinary stories’, this work presents a more intimate, human sense of the drama, thereby tracing a very clear path towards the psychological explorations of the Classical era.
www.ensemblepygmalion.com 7
Cantate Deo (A due tenori)
ALPHA 535
Ensemble Accordone Marco Beasley & Marco Beasley
Release 10/2
013
Marco Beasley offers us an original way to discover the Italian religious repertoire for two tenors of the nascent Baroque. In fact, his fantastic experience as a singer allowed him to record these ‘sacred concerts for two voices’ alone, thanks to the technique of re-recording. A new dimension opens up to the listener thanks to the astonishing artistic coherence offered by this technique. And beyond technique, this disc attests to the emotion, both double and unique, guiding the musical gesture. In addition, this recording will allow to discover numerous unjustly forgotten composers such as Donati, Caprioli, Giamberti, Sances et al., whose qualities of writing are comparable to those of the great Monteverdi (represented here by the Salve Regina and Jubilet tota civitas). The programme is judiciously rounded off by three magnificent sonate da chiesa by Castello, Marini and Fontana. On no account should this blockbuster disc be missed!
Gabriel Fauré – Vol. 4
ALPHA 603
Pieces for piano 4 hands
Eric Le Sage, piano Alexandre Tharaud, piano Emmanuel Pahud, flute François Salque, cello Quatuor Ebène
013 Release 10/2
8
For the fourth and penultimate volume of his Fauré series, Eric Le Sage has been joined by Alexandre Tharaud, Emmanuel Pahud, and François Salque, long-standing accomplices, in order to record these pieces for four hands. Recipient of numerous prizes both in France and abroad, this complete Fauré seres is already asserting itself as a reference for the interpretation of Gabriel Fauré’s chamber music with piano. www.solea-management.com/Eric-Le-Sage www.alexandretharaud.com www.emmanuelpahud.net www.salque.com www.quatuorebene.com
6 CDs ALPHA 818
L’Arpeggiata – Christina Pluhar Landi, Kapsberger, Cavalieri, La Tarantella, All’Improvviso L’Arpeggiata Christina Pluhar, cond.
Between 2000 and 2005, L’Arpeggiata and Christina Pluhar opened up new ways in the rediscovery and interpretation of the Baroque repertoires. The five recordings made for Alpha are some of the greatest disc successes in these repertoires and still stand as references, thanks to the exceptional quality of their artistic and sound achievement.
Reissue Special price
013 Release 10/2
ALPHA 703
1 DVD
These five recordings are henceforth offered at a reduced price. www.arpeggiata.com
John Blow
Vénus et Adonis - Ode à Sainte-Cécile
Les Musiciens du Paradis (Bertrand Cuiller, cond.) Soloists: Marc Mauillon, ténor Céline Scheen, soprano Directed by Louise Moaty
After the successes of Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme and Cadmus & Hermione, Alpha is continuing its audiovisual exploration of lyric repertoires offering, for the first time on DVD, John Blow’s Venus and Adonis, accompanied by his Ode to Saint Cecilia. All the components that contributed to the success of the first two DVDs are again present here: body movements, ballets, candle lighting, ‘restored’ English... This is also the occasion to discover the conducting talent of Bertrand Cuiller, whose approach to these works features relief, virtuosity and sensitivity.
013 Release 11/2
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9
Antonio Vivaldi
A366
Sonate à flauto solo
Lorenzo Cavasanti, recorders Sergio Ciomei, harpsichord and organ Caroline Boersma, cello
013 Release 08/2
Vivaldi wrote for the recorder practically throughout his composing life, from the youthful little sonata RV 52 to the much more complex concerto RV 441 written in old age. While the five recorder concertos are among his most popular works, with a long list of recordings, Vivaldi’s output of sonatas has curiously attracted very little attention and has never been the subject of a specific investigation. Lorenzo Cavasanti fills this major gap by offering us the first complete recording of the sonatas for recorder and basso continuo, including Vivaldi’s recently discovered Sonata RV 806. This recording also provides an opportunity to sample the various recorders used in Vivaldi’s Venice, with each of the seven sonatas using a different instrument. The result is a reference recording for followers of Vivaldi and recorder players alike, enhanced with liner notes by the authoritative Federico Maria Sardelli, author of Vivaldi’s Music for Flute and Recorder (Aldershot, Ashgate, 2007) and editor of the Vivaldi Catalogue (RV). Lorenzo Cavasanti has earned an international reputation as a concerto soloist performing with many leading ensembles and orchestras including Le Concert des Nations (Jordi Savall), Accademia Bizantina (Ottavio Dantone), I Sonatori della Gioiosa Marca, Europa Galante (Fabio Biondi).
Antonio Pandolfi Sonate à Violino solo, Op. 3
A369
Ars Antiqua Austria Gunar Letzbor, violin
013 Release 09/2
10
Antonio Pandolfi, was born in Montepulciano (Tuscany), a place already famous at the time for its red wine. Shortly thereafter his family moved to Venice, then Antonio was engaged in the service of the Princess de’ Medici in Innsbruck, like many other Tuscan composers. After which we can localize our musician in Messina (Sicily) as a violinist of the chapel of the cathedral, where he murdered the Roman castrato Giovanni Marquett. Pandolfi fled, embarking a French ship, first sailing to France before reaching Madrid, where he managed to put himself at the service of the Spanish Habsburgs and remained to the end of his life. Gunar Letzbor gives us a full-blooded performance of the first collection of six sonatas (Opera Terza) – the second collection (Opera Quarta) was released in 2011. What is noteworthy in the printed works of his that have been preserved is that Pandolfi dedicated almost all of his Sonatas to colleagues, encountered in music chapels and that he gave each work the name of one of them. Whether Pandolfi, in his music, alluded directly to specific characteristics of the dedicatees remains a mistery.
Georg Philipp Telemann
A371
Ouvertures
Ensemble Zefiro
Release 10/2
013
For German composers who came of age around 1700, the overture-suite for fourpart string ensemble with occasional oboes, flutes, or other winds, represented all that was new and fashionable in the realm of instrumental music. Just how many examples of such works Telemann wrote during his long career is unknown, but the 125 surviving works establish him as not only the most prolific composer of overture-suites, but also the most significant. The three works recorded here, catalogued as TWV 55:D15, d3, and B10, belong to a group of five overture-suites scored for the combination of three oboes and strings. Using three, rather than the standard two, oboes supported by a bass instrument allowed Telemann to balance the four-part string ensemble with one consisting of winds. Although this “double-choir” instrumentation was unusual during the eighteenth century, Telemann’s good friend, Johann Sebastian Bach, also used it in the original version of his D-major overture-suite, BWV 1069, and his First Brandenburg Concerto, BWV 1046 (adding two horns).
Marco Marazzoli
A370
Occhi belli, occhi neri - cantate romane Soledad de la Rosa Ensemble Mare Nostrum Andrea de Carlo, cond.
Release 11/2
11
013
Marco Marazzoli’s cantatas occupy a pride of place in the history of Italian Cantata. The originality of the style and the scale of the production (379 cantatas!) place him among the great names of the rich musical landscape in Rome in the XVIIth cent., such as Luigi Rossi and Giacomo Carissimi. We know that the cantatas were played at the Palazzo Barberini, but also in private house of musicians, for example, that of Luigi Rossi, where he met great artists to listen to and discuss music. Especially in these compositions Marazzoli expressed his skills and his talent. The characteristics that distinguish them are absolutely surprising melodic lines that anticipates the great arias that will appear years later, and a great variety of form, style and subject. Bold in using unusual intervals, he was always at the service of the development of the ‘affetti’ of which the texts of famous poets of the era like Baldini, Casini, Giulio Rospigliosi (later Clement IX), were full. Being a good singer himself, he explored the vocal skills of the performers, and that’s why his music requires a total control of vocal technique where legato, colorature, and extreme textures are a way to bring the listener to the absolute delight.
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Paul Hindemith
FUG 713
Three Pieces for cello and piano, op.8 - Sonata for cello and piano, op.11 no.3 - Sonata for solo cello, op.25 no.3 - Variations on ‘A frog he went a-courting’
H H IN D E M IT solo cello Sonata for lo & piano Works for cel
Release 10/2
A FU GA LIB ER
ert, cello Judith Erm alle, piano Daan Vandew
013
Judith Ermert, cello Daan Vandewalle, piano
The year 2013 marks the fiftieth anniversary of the death of Paul Hindemith, one of the most important composers of the twentieth century. It is for this reason that the German cellist Judith Ermert decided to record the repertory for cello and piano, too rarely played and recorded. With the Belgian pianist Daan Vandewalle, a specialist in avant-garde music, she embarks on a journey that explores all facets of Hindemith’s artistic development, ranging from the post-Romantic language of the Three Pieces for cello and piano op.8 to his own rhythmic style, known as Motorik, which echoes the industrial era in the Sonata for solo cello op.25.
Bram Van Camp – Portrait
FUG 715
Improvisations for Solo Violin - Music for Three Instruments De feesten van angst en pijn Het Collectief Vykintas Baltakas, cond. Liesbeth Devos, soprano
013 Release 11/2
12
After recording the music of the Belgian composer Bart Vanhecke (released on Fuga Libera FUG 706), Het Collectief decided to devote a second project to a young Belgian composer, Bram Van Camp. For this recording, the ensemble is augmented by the Lithuanian conductor Vykintas Baltakas, the Belgian soprano Liesbeth Devos, and three guest musicians. They perform Improvisations for Solo Violin (violin: Wiebert Aerts), Music for Three Instruments, and the song cycle De feesten van angst en pijn on poems by Paul Van Ostaijen. Bram Van Camp’s music has its roots in the music of Bartók, Stravinsky, and Berg, but is also influenced by the colours of jazz. His works are premiered at international venues such as Ars Musica and the Flanders Festival, notably by Het Collectief, who gave the first performances of all three pieces recorded here.
Carlo Gesualdo – Responsoria 1611
LPH 010
Responsoria et alia ad Officium Hebdomadae Sanctae spectantia Collegium Vocale Gent Philippe Herreweghe, cond.
013 Release 09/2
The second project of Collegium Vocale Gent and Philippe Herreweghe for Phi to focus on Renaissance music is devoted to one of the most remarkable of all composers: Carlo Gesualdo. Both his life, characterised by extravagant and excessive behaviour, and his compositions left their mark on the history of music. Although best known for his secular music, he also wrote an almost equivalent number of sacred works that demonstrate his fervent faith. The Tenebrae Responsories comprise a set of pieces for Holy Week, in all twenty-seven motets for six voices, a psalm, and a hymn, published under his own supervision in 1611. As in his madrigals, the music is underpinned by many unexpected chromatic variations that create expressive images evoking tears, the earthquake, the despair of Christ on the cross, etc. The acoustics of the church of the village of Asciano in Tuscany, where the programme was recorded in 2011, create the perfect soundscape for this music.
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Petitiones Cordis
RAM 1208
Cantiones Sacrae (1585 – Stadtarchiv Stralsund) J. DES PREZ, H. ISAAC, C. NON PAPA, L. SENFL, L. LECHNER, ... Schola Stralsundensis Maurice van Lieshout, dir.
Release 08/2
013
The manuscript Stralsund MS 229, which dates from 1585, is a collection of sacred motets held in the Stadtarchiv of Stralsund, a German Hanseatic town on the Baltic. There were probably six part-books originally, but only four have survived. The manuscript contains 105 works, composed mainly for five or six voices. It spans several generations of composers, from the late fifteenth to the end of the sixteenth century; it therefore includes works composed before and after the Reformation. The variety of styles is impressive, ranging from early Franco-Flemish polyphony to Italian madrigals and works from central Germany. In order to bring back to life the many famous or less well-known gems of the manuscript, the founder of Schola Stralsundensis, Antonie Schlegel, and its musical director, Maurice van Lieshout, have tirelessly researched and compared sixteenth-century manuscript and printed scores all over Europe. The programme recorded here contains a wide selection of works from the manuscript. The title Petitiones cordis comes from Eucharius Hoffmann’s motet setting of Psalm 37: In Domino spera et fac bonum, delectare in Domino, et dabit tibi petitiones cordis tui . www.scholastralsundensis.de
Fede e amor
RAM 1304
Virtuoso solo arias for countertenor and obbligato trombones from the Imperial Court in Vienna A. CALDARA, J.J. FUX, M.A. ZIANI, F. TUMA, F. CONTI ... Ensemble La Fontaine Alex Potter, countertenor
013 Release 09/2
This recording explores some of the lesser-known music from eighteenth-century Vienna that combines solo voice with virtuoso trombones. During the first half of that century, the city’s musical life experienced an unprecedented blossoming. The Habsburg rulers Leopold I (1658-1705), Joseph I (1705-1711) and Charles VI (17111740) took the “Holy” part of their title very seriously and paid for a huge amount of elaborate sacred music to be performed on a regular basis by court musicians, a major element of which was the performance of large-scale Oratorios in the Imperial Chapel. Many of the arias presented on this CD are drawn from that repertoire. The music, much of it recorded here for the first time, is by established composers such as Caldara and Fux as well as lesser-known figures like Ziani, Porsile, Tuma and Casati. Alongside countertenor voice and trombones, the ensemble also includes bassoon, violins and continuo, thereby creating an attractive variation of colour and timbre throughout the recording. This is a disc which promises to surprise and delight as it brings to life unjustly neglected gems from a fascinating time.
www.alexpotter.info
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Portus felicitatis
RAM 1302
Motets, Arias and Overtures Johann Georg REUTTER the younger. La Gioia Armonica Monika Mauch, soprano Stanislava Jirku, alto
013 Release 10/2
After having been the single most influential composer of church music in Vienna for three decades, enjoying the estimation of both Charles VI and Maria Theresia, Reutter establised himself as the most successful composer of opera in Vienna during the 1730s. Reutter is one of the few composers who composed for the pantaleon (salterio) and whose composition for this legendary instrument have survived. As Caldara had done before him, Reutter used the pantaleon as an obbligato instrument in several arias of his operas and oratorios. Our programme features four arias for obligato salterio, as it is called in the scores, one of them in the fancyful combination with solo lute. With this programme La Gioia Armonica will continue the endeavours of its debut CD for RAMÉE, dedicated to original compositions for the pantaleon by Antonio Caldara. (RAM 0405).
Il primo libro d’intavolatura di liuto
RAM 1306
Pièces de luth by Michelagnolo Galilei and his father, Vincenzo Galilei Michelagnolo GALILEI Anthony Bailes, lute
Release 11/2
013
Michelagnolo Galilei, the younger brother of the famous Galileo, was a professio nal lutenist at the court of Maximillian of Bavaria. In this, he followed in the foots teps of his father, Vincenzo, also a lutenist but equally renowed as a theorist and one of the initiators of Count Bardi’s influential Florentine “Camerata”. Both Mi chelagnolo and Galileo were taught to play the lute by their father and the music included in this programme would have been known to and played by both bro thers. In 1620 Galileo helped finance Michelagnolo’s Il primo libro d’intavolatura di liuto. For this reason, most of the pieces for this project have been chosen from this publication. Despite being relatively unknown, it contains repertoire of high musical quality, reflecting the new thinking of the day and displaying both Italian influence: as in the poetic toccatas, stylistically close to the toccata de durezzo e ligature; and the new seventeenth-century French style as evinced by the correntes and voltes. As such the collection is a unique amalgam of forms encountered in no other publication of lute music. The book also contains passamezzi with their salterelli, a genre found in countless sixteenth-century collections and fulfilling the same function as the “twelve bar blues” in our own time.
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Johannes Schenck
RIC 336
Le Nymphe di Rheno
Wieland Kuijken, bass viol François Joubert-Caillet, bass viol
Release 08/2
013
Born in Amsterdam and based in Germany, Johannes Schenck blended the musical influences of the English viol school and of Marin Marais. Each volume of his works has its own individual character: the volume entitled Le Nymphe di Rheno contains twelve sonatas for two bass viols without figured bass. Schenck here makes use of the Italian sonata form, as he does in the church sonatas as well as the chamber sonatas with their dance movements. French influences can also be felt in the various rondeaux and minuets and above all in the monumental Chaconne of the Sonata in G major. Two splendid musicians here meet face to face. Wieland Kuijken, one of the pioneers of the viola da gamba revival and the teacher of dozens of today’s most talented musicians, needs no further introduction. François Joubert-Caillet belongs to the new generation: a pupil of Paolo Pandolfo, he performs with many ensembles including Leonardo Garcia Alarcon’s Cappella Mediterranea and Clematis. This CD was recorded in the wonderful atmosphere of the superb Romanesque church of Notre-Dame de Centeilles in the Minervois region of France.
Music in Europe during the Renaissance
RIC 106
Release 09/2
013
Jérôme Lejeune continues his History of Music series with this boxed set devoted to the Renaissance. The next volume in the series after Flemish Polyphony (RIC 102), this set explores the music of the 16th century from Josquin Desprez to Roland de Lassus. After all of the various turnings that music took during the Middle Ages, the music of the Renaissance seems to be a first step towards a common European musical style. Josquin Desprez’s example was followed by every composer in every part of Europe and in every musical genre, including the Mass setting, the motet and all of the various new types of solo song. Instrumental music was also to develop considerably from the beginning of the 16th century onwards. The musical excerpts that we have chosen include works by the most important composers of France, Italy, Germany, England, Spain and the Netherlands active during the 16th century. This boxed set is released in collaboration with the Château d’Écouen (Musée national de la Renaissance) in connection with the exhibition devoted to Renaissance music that will open there in September 2013.
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François-Joseph Gossec
RIC 337
Thésée : tragédie lyrique in 4 acts first performed at the Académie royale de musique in Paris in 1782. Les Agrémens Chœur de chambre de Namur Guy Van Waas, cond.
Release 09/2
013
“The father of the symphony”; “bard of the Revolution”: these two phrases sufficed to describe Gossec from the beginning of the 19th century onwards and created a reputation for him that musicographers and music historians of the following century made almost unalterable. Gossec had, however, always been interested in the operatic stage, as can be seen from his works in the more modern genre of opéra comique as well as in the more traditional tragédie en musique. Appointed to provide music for the largest musical institutions of his time, Gossec created more than twenty theatrical works; these enjoyed varying degrees of success but nonetheless reveals a dramatic composer of the first water. His operatic masterpieces, however, are indisputably the two tragédies lyriques Sabinus (1773) and Thésée (1782). Thanks to a superb cast and the talent of Guy Van Waas in this repertoire, Gossec’s tragedy here reveals its full dramatic power. The recording will be accompanied by a book, a new style of presentation that Ricercar will be using from now on for its operatic productions. This project has been produced by the Palazzetto Bru Zane of Venice and is the first in a series of collaborations with Ricercar.
Marc-Antoine Charpentier
RIC 338
Noëls pour les Instruments Symphonies pour un reposoir
Les Dominos / Les Agrémens Chœur de Chambre de Namur - Les Solistes Florence Malgoire, cond.
Release 10/2
013
The instrumental works of Marc-Antoine Charpentier are hardly known at all. Many of these works were intended for religious use, the most famous of these being the Messe pour plusieurs Instruments au lieu des orgues that had previously been recorded by La Fenice and Jean Tubéry for Ricercar on RIC 245. The Symphonies pour un Reposoir were intended to accompany a procession outdoors where no organ would be possible. The largest part of this recording, however, is devoted to the collection of Noëls pour les Instruments that Charpentier intended for orchestra with organ accompaniment. Our performance remains true to the original score and follows Charpentier’s own instrumentation as well as the various organ registrations that he specifies. We have also included the original versions of the above carols with their many verses exactly as they appear in French carol collections from the beginning of the 18th century. A Christmas recording to be sampled throughout the year! 17
8 CDs RIC 339
Guillaume LEKEU (1870-1894) Complete Works
In 1994 Ricercar released a boxed set of the principal works of Guillaume Lekeu to mark the centenary of Lekeu’s early death at the age of twenty-four.
Release 11/2
013
This collection allows the listener to follow the young composer’s development step by step from his first sketches written at the age of fifteen to his Sonata for piano and violin and the Unfinished Quartet, his masterpieces; brought up on Beethoven’s music, he was enthralled by Wagner’s works and was supported and encouraged by Eugène Ysaye. Regardless of the fact that this music lies firmly outside the musical periods and styles that make up the core of Ricercar’s work, Jérôme Lejeune has rethought this original release; he has placed the works in chronological order and provided them all with revised and extended commentaries with the intention of creating a better understanding of the stylistic development of a composer who, if he had lived, would have been one of the most important musical innovators of the early 20th century alongside Debussy and Schoenberg. This boxed set of 8 CDs contains a large number of works recorded here for the first time, including chamber works, piano pieces, songs, the complete symphonic works and the cantata Andromède that was composed for the Prix de Rome. Performers include not only celebrated Belgian artists such as the Liège Philharmonic Orchestra under Pierre Bartholomée, the Grumiaux Trio, Luc Devos, Philippe Koch, Luc Dewez, Greta de Reyghere, Bernard Foccroulle, Marie Hallynck and Jean-Claude Vanden Eynden but also the splendid British piano quartet Domus and the late Philippe Hirshhorn, the violinist who, together with Jean-Claude Vanden Eynden, recorded a memorable performance of the Sonata for piano and violin that remains definitive to this day.
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Claude Debussy
ZZT 326
Images, livre 1 – Etudes, livre 2 – Estampes – L’Isle joyeuse Nelson Goerner, piano
Well known for his interpretations of the works of Frédéric Chopin and Serge Rachmaninov, appearing on concert platforms the world over, the great Argentinian pianist Nelson Goerner is joining the Zig-Zag Territoires label.
013 Release 09/2
‘Obviously, from the performer of these pieces - of all the pieces on this disc -, one will expect mastery and sensitivity. But even more is necessary: gifts of a colourist; an imagination of the settings; a vision of the sound planes and space. And also, for these pieces that are heirs to and the summary of such a glorious tradition, it also calls for broad knowledge and culture of the piano repertoire. The performer of the Etudes stands at the arrival of an itinerary, that of the keyboard «en blanc et noir». He must know everything and play almost everything. Nelson Goerner is that performer.’ (Dominique Jameux) Discover more about this project in this video! www.nelsongoerner.com
2 CDs ZZT 327
Arcangelo Corelli Concerti Grossi, op.6
Gli Incogniti Amandine Beyer, violin and cond.
Release 09/2
013
There is nothing surprising in the fact that Amandine Beyer and her ensemble Gli Incogniti should tackle Arcangelo Corelli’s Concerti Grossi, Op. 6. Indeed, the 12 concerti making up this opus represent a form of apogee of this musical genre in the Baroque era and, at the same time, testimony to the great Italian composer’s exceptional talent as a violinist and conductor. Amandine Beyer recorded these concerti in concert, at the Arsenal in Metz, France, once again demonstrating her dual talent as violinist and ‘band leader’, who already dazzled listeners with her recording of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons and which is indispensable in performing such a cycle. Let us wager that this recording, alternating between jubilation and meditation, and honouring the 300th anniversary of Arcangelo Corelli’s death, will mark a milestone in the interpretation of these magnificent works.
www.gliincogniti.com www.amandinebeyer.com
19
Johann Heinrich Schmelzer
ZZT 334
Sacro-Profanus
Ensemble Masques Olivier Fortin, harpsichord and artistic direction
Release 09/2
013
With this first project for Zig-Zag Territories, the musicians of the Canadian ensemble Masques under the direction of the harpsichordist Olivier Fortin demonstrate their passion for the music of the Austrian Baroque composer Johann Heinrich Schmelzer. Like most of his contemporaries (Biber, Walther, Sances), Schmelzer gives music a dual purpose: ‘Music is a pleasure for the saints and for men; it is an act of devotion, but also a symbol of human virtue.’ His collection Sacro-profanus concentus musicus is a masterly illustration of this credo. Ensemble Masques – formed of a core of six instrumentalists specialising in Baroque music – offers us sonatas for five and six instruments from this collection, alternating with character pieces like Die Fechtschule (an evocation of battle), Die Polnische Sackpfeiffe, and the famous Lamento sopra il morte Ferdinandi III. This varied programme highlights the diversity and the Italian inspiration of Schmelzer’s music. www.ensemblemasques.org
Arnold Schoenberg - Heinz Holliger
ZZT 328
A. SCHOENBERG Verklärte Nacht (Transfigured Night), Op.4 (1899) Kammersymphonie (Chamber symphony) No. 2, Op. 38 (1906/39) A. WEBERN Langsamer Satz (1905) (Transcription of the version for string quartet by Heinz Holliger) Orchestre de chambre de Lausanne Heinz Holliger, cond.
013 Release 10/2
First collaboration of Zig-Zag Territoires with the great conductor, composer and oboist Heinz Holliger, and with the Lausanne Chamber Orchestra, this disc brings together pivotal works of the two Viennese composers, works written prior to abandoning tonality and still strongly linked to what went before but already offering glimpses of what the atonal adventure would be. Heinz Holliger is a very great master for whom many composers have written. Also boasting a rich catalogue as a composer, he has played and conducted all over the world. With this very fine disc, he gives us particularly moving, committed interpretations of works that are sometimes enclosed in useless carapaces, backed up in that by a Lausanne Chamber Orchestra at the top of its form. www.heinzholliger.com
20
Pictures at an Exhibition / E.Krivine
ZZT 329
Modest MUSSORGSKY – Maurice RAVEL Pictures at an Exhibition Nicolaï RIMSKY-KORSAKOV Scheherazade
Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg Emmanuel Krivine, cond.
Release 10/2
013
9 CDs ZZT 333
For this second collaboration between the Luxembourg Philharmonic Orchestra, Emmanuel Krivine and Zig-Zag Territoires, two major Russian works were chosen. Both make the orchestra sound sumptuous with, for the first, the complicity of that fantastic colourist and orchestrator Maurice Ravel, and for the second, the skill of a composer nicknamed ‘the magician of the orchestra’. Emmanuel Krivine excels in these works, which demand much of all the musicians and necessitate as much commitment as perspicacity from the conductor, at the service of scores magnifying the fantastic musical instrument that is the modern symphony orchestra. www.opl.lu/fr
Ludwig van Beethoven The Complete Piano Sonatas
François-Frédéric Guy, piano
Reissue Special price
Release 10/2
013
This set brings together Beethoven’s complete piano sonatas, recorded live by François-Frédéric Guy during the concerts he gave at the Arsenal in Metz, France. It bears witness to François-Frédéric Guy’s impressive maturity in face of a monumental cycle, his generosity and great musical integrity. He sheds fascinating light on this cycle, of course recorded many times but here approached with an élan and a spontaneity unique to concerts. As a bonus in this set: the video recording made during a concert given at the Opéra Garnier in Monaco on 20 June 2013 with the Pastorale, Moonlight and Hammerklavier Sonatas. www.ffguy.net
21
Camille Saint-Saëns
ZZT 321
Complete Works for violin and orchestra Complete Works for cello and orchestra
Soloists of the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège Christian Arming, cond.
013 Release 11/2
22
This ambitious project consists of a recording of the complete music for violin and orchestra and cello and orchestra by Saint-Saëns. It marks the beginning of an intensive collaboration between Zig-Zag Territories and the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel. This institution based in Brussels is an internationally renowned centre for artistic training, reserved for top-level young musical talents. Each year, new musicians prepare for their solo career at the Chapel, helped by great performers such as the violinist Augustin Dumay, the cellist Gary Hoffman, and the pianist Maria João Pires. Accompanied by the Liège Royal Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of the Viennese conductor Christian Arming, the young violinists and cellists of the Chapel present not just the most frequently performed concertos of Saint-Saëns, but also a chance to discover such little-known works as the First and Second violin concertos and the Second Cello Concerto.