classical

Album release: November 2016

JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH
Actus Tragicus (Cantatas BWV 106, 150, 131, 12)
Vox Luminis, Lionel Meunier

BACH // Nach dir, Herr, verlanget mich, BWV 150: IV. Chorus "Leite mich in deiner Wahrheit"

The first disc of the quartet founded by Nicolas Van Kuijk, a programme of Mozart, was awarded a ‘Choc de Classica’ and ‘Diapason Découverte’. Now they return to their roots with key works from the French repertory: the single quartets of Maurice Ravel and Claude Debussy and the Chanson perpétuelle of Ernest Chausson, in which they are accompanied by the mezzosoprano Kate Lindsey, who recently joined Alpha, and the pianist Alphonse Cemin, also well-known on the label. The Quatuor Van Kuijk gives these works all their youthful impetuosity.
The quartet is already a BBC New Generation Artist, having won First Prize and the Haydn and Beethoven Prizes at the Wigmore Hall International String Quartet Competition, and First Prize and the Audience Prize at the Trondheim International String Quartet Competition. It has just joined the roster of ECHO Rising Star artists for the 2017-18 season.

Release date: September 2017

Après un premier disque consacré aux quatuors de Mozart (récompensé par un Choc de Classica et par un Diapason Découverte), le quatuor fondé par Nicolas Van Kuijk retourne à ses racines en abordant les oeuvres phares du répertoire français : les uniques quatuors de Maurice Ravel et de Claude Debussy ainsi que la Chanson perpétuelle d’Ernest Chausson, accompagnés par la mezzo-soprano Kate Lindsey, qui vient de rejoindre le label Alpha et le pianiste Alphonse Cemin, lui aussi habitué.
Le Quatuor Van Kuijk redonne à ces oeuvres toute leur fougue et leur jeunesse. Déjà BBC New Generation Artist, Premier Grand Prix et Prix Haydn et Beethoven au concours international de Quatuors à Cordes du Wigmore Hall et lauréats des premier prix et prix du public au concours international de quatuor à cordes de Trondheim, le Quatuor Van Kuijk vient de rejoindre les artistes ECHO Rising Star pour la saison 2017-2018.

Sortie de l'album : septembre 2017

String Quartet in F Major, M. 35: II. Assez vif, très rythmé

Luca Marenzio was the most brilliant representative of the sublime art of the madrigal during the last twenty years of the sixteenth century. Whereas the style of his early works is light, fluid and transparent, in his maturity Marenzio’s language turned towards a more complex, introspective attitude that made him the most emblematic musical exponent of Late Renaissance melancholy. L’amoroso & crudo stile brings together some of Marenzio’s finest madrigals, aiming to reproduce the most intimate expressive facets of a music of extraordinary beauty and profound humanity. With the emotional intensity and deep respect for the poetic text that distinguishes the ensemble, RossoPorpora begins in this debut recording its personal exploration and celebration of the madrigal,
the earliest and still unsurpassed representation of Italian musical identity.

Learn more : https://lnk.to/MarenzioLAmorosoSo

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Luca Marenzio // Quai vive Salamandra

With Véronique Gens / Orchestre National de Lille / Alexandre Bloch
Chausson: Poème de l'amour et de la mer & Symphonie Op. 20

Ernest Chausson is a most unusual figure in French music, positioned at the crossroads where the romanticism of Berlioz and Franck meet the language of Wagner and the symbolism of the young Debussy. His Poème de l’amour et de la mer is a unique score for the period and certainly his greatest work; simultaneously a profane, naturistic cantata, a monologue, and a song cycle, it was composed between 1882 and 1892.

Véronique Gens is recording this cycle for the first time, although she has already issued ‘Le temps des lilas’ with Susan Manoff at the piano for her disc Néère (ALPHA 215), about which Ernst Van Bek wrote in Classiquenews: « it mesmerises with the nuancing of its colours, the allusive precision of every sung word ». Véronique Gens’ talent is equally on display in this recording too, with the Orchestre National de Lille – an orchestra she already knows well – under Alexandre Bloch, its new chief conductor, whose appointment and first concerts and recordings have already caused a sensation…  The Symphony in B flat major completes this programme: a summit of French symphonic writing, for some a milestone as important as the Symphony in D of Chausson’s teacher César Franck!

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À la croisée du romantisme de Berlioz et de Franck, du langage wagnérien et du symbolisme du jeune Debussy, Ernest Chausson est une figure singulière de la musique française. Le Poème de l’amour et de la mer, partition unique dans le paysage musical de l’époque, certainement son chef-d’œuvre, à la fois cantate profane, monologue, cycle de mélodies, est composé entre 1882 et 1892. Dès 1886 cependant, la dernière section de la partition, Le Temps des lilas, est publiée isolément en tant que mélodie pour voix et piano. 

Véronique Gens enregistre ce cycle pour la première fois, mais elle a déjà gravé Le Temps des Lilas avec Susan Manoff au piano pour son disque Néère (ALPHA 215), qui « hypnotise par la justesse des couleurs, la précision allusive de chaque mot vocal » écrivait Classiquenews … Véronique Gens retrouve ici un orchestre qu’elle connaît très bien, l’Orchestre National de Lille, sous la direction de son nouveau chef, Alexandre Bloch, dont l’engagement et les premiers concerts et enregistrements font sensation. La Symphonie en si bémol majeur complète ce programme : sommet du répertoire français, jalon aussi décisif que la Symphonie en ré de Franck (maître de Chausson) selon certains !

Chausson: Poème de l'amour et de la mer, Op. 19: I. La fleur des eaux

Fauré: Nocturnes

With their poetry, their passionate and intimate lyricism, their refined style that gradually reveals hidden depths, the thirteen Nocturnes of Gabriel Fauré are the most significant group of works in his oeuvre for solo piano. Composed over a period of forty-six years (between 1875 and 1821), they bear witness to the composer’s remarkable stylistic evolution. From a form of expression rooted in romanticism, to an aesthetic fully aligned with 20th-century modernity, Fauré can be said to have shaped his musical personality like a sculptor. His Nocturnes are not all of equal importance, but as a whole their diversity and development offer a perfect panorama of his art. Éric Le Sage, one of the French piano school’s main representatives, whose many recordings for Alpha include the complete chamber music of Fauré, here interprets the repertoire closest to his heart.

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Par leur poésie au lyrisme intime et passionné, par leur écriture raffinée révélant peu à peu une profondeur inédite, les treize Nocturnes de Gabriel Fauré forment l’ensemble le plus significatif de son oeuvre pour piano seul.  Composés sur une période de quarante-six ans (entre 1875 et 1921), ils témoignent de l’admirable évolution stylistique du musicien. D’une expression ancrée dans le romantisme à une esthétique de plain-pied dans la modernité du XXe siècle, Fauré s’épanouit, sculpte sa personnalité musicale. Tous ses Nocturnes ne sont pas d’égale importance, mais ils forment un recueil dont la diversité et la progression offrent un parfait panorama de son art. Éric Le Sage, l’un des représentants les plus incontournables de l’école française de piano et qui a signé de nombreux enregistrements pour Alpha (dont l'intégrale de la musique de chambre de Fauré), interprète ici son répertoire de prédilection.

FaurÃ© Nocturnes - Eric Le Sage

Fauré: Nocturne No. 10 in E Minor, Op. 99

With Céline Frisch

Two years after releasing her CD dedicated to Book I of J.S. Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier, Céline Frisch now presents the second volume of this musical landmark. Bach compiled Book II in 1744, twenty-two years after Book I. It took until 1801 for both volumes to be printed: from then until the present day they have inspired countless composers. After a series of recordings with the Ensemble Zimmermann she helped to found, Céline Frisch returns to the harpsichord recital, for a programme of this, her very favourite music. Through these preludes and fugues, she reminds us that far from being technical exercises, the Well- Tempered Clavier is a work of pure pleasure and constant renewed discovery. As Robert Schumann declared: ‘You should frequently play the fugues of the great masters, particularly those of J.S. Bach. Make the Well-Tempered Clavier your daily bread.’

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Deux ans après la parution d’un disque consacré au premier livre du Clavier bien tempéré de Jean-Sébastien Bach, Céline Frisch présente aujourd’hui le deuxième volume de cette œuvre emblématique. Bach compose le deuxième livre 22 ans après le premier, en 1744. Ces deux volumes ne seront toutefois imprimés qu’en 1801 et inspireront de nombreux compositeurs au fil des siècles. Après une série d’enregistrements avec l’ensemble Café Zimmermann dont elle est la co-fondatrice, la claveciniste revient au récital avec un programme puisé dans sa musique de chevet. A travers ces préludes et fugues, elle nous rappelle qu’au-delà d’un exercice technique, le Clavier bien tempéré est aussi une œuvre de pur plaisir, comme une constante redécouverte. « Jouez fréquemment les fugues des bons maîtres, particulièrement celle de Jean-Sébastien Bach. Faites votre pain quotidien de son Clavier bien tempéré » déclarait Schumann.

Bach: Prelude I in C Major, BWV 870

Sandrine Piau, Le Concert de la Loge & Julien Chauvin
ALPHA 445
Release Date: May 2019

Sandrine Piau’s first recital for the ALPHA Label, with Susan Manoff (Chimères – Alpha 397), proved an enormous hit (Diapason d’Or of the year, Choc of the year, and Gramophone Editor’s Choice). Her new project is a recital with orchestra celebrating French song of the period when it moved from the private salon to the concert hall. Planned in partnership with the Palazzetto Bru Zane, this programme evokes anticipation, desire, pleasure, memory, in short all the vagaries of love experienced by a romantic heroine… To verses of the poets Hugo, Lamartine, Gautier, and Verlaine, Sandrine Piau has selected song settings by Saint-Saëns (‘L’attente’, ‘Papillons’), Massenet (‘Extase’, ‘Aimons-nous’), and Vierne, as well as by the rarely-heard Dubois, Guilmant, and Bordes… Julien Chauvin and his period instrument ensemble combine these songs with orchestral pieces (the ‘Pavane de la belle au bois dormant’ from Ravel’s Mother Goose Suite, and Debussy’s ‘Danse profane’ for harp and orchestra). The disc also presents excerpts from Nuits d’Été by Berlioz, and ends with the famous classic ‘Plaisir d’amour’ by Martini.

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Après un premier récital chez ALPHA avec Susan Manoff, Chimères (Alpha 397), qui a remporté tous les suffrages (Diapason d’Or de l’année, Choc de l’année, Gramophone Editor’s Choice), Sandrine Piau signe un récital avec orchestre qui célèbre la mélodie française à l’époque où elle passe du salon privé à la salle de concert. Conçu en partenariat avec le Palazzetto Bru Zane, ce programme évoque l’attente, le désir, le plaisir, le souvenir, bref les méandres de l’amour de l’héroïne romantique… sur des textes des poètes Hugo, Lamartine, Gautier, Verlaine, Sandrine Piau a choisi des mélodies de Saint-Saëns (L’attente, Papillons), Massenet (Extase, Aimons-nous…), Vierne, ainsi que des rares Dubois, Guilmant, Bordes… Julien Chauvin et son ensemble sur instruments anciens combinent ces mélodies avec des pièces d’orchestre (Pavane de La belle au bois dormant de Ma Mère L’Oye de Ravel ou la Danse profane pour harpe et orchestre de Debussy). Le disque présente aussi des extraits des Nuits d’Eté de Berlioz et se conclut sur le célèbre Plaisir d’Amour de Martini.

Si j'ai aimé

MASSENET: Le Poète et le Fantôme

Alpha has been a noted reference in the world of classical music since its inception twelve years ago. Today, the label is broadening its horizons, welcoming outstanding new artists and opening its doors to an array of innovative projects.

Vocal repertoire becomes a major focus of the new ALPHA: Véronique Gens has just recorded a recital of French songs with Susan Manoff as part of an ongoing collaboration with the label. The baritone Georg Nigl also joins Alpha. He will collaborate with Andreas Staier on a Bach album. The new generation is represented by Gaëlle Arquez and the soprano Mari Eriksmoen. She will record a programme of songs by Grieg, Strauss and Wolf in April in the framework of the partnership between ALPHA and the Academy of the Aix-en-Provence Festival.

Outstanding instrumental soloists have also signed with ALPHA: the pianist Anna Vinnitskaya presents the Shostakovich concertos with Kremerata Baltica. Others will be announced soon.

Collaborations with major orchestras are being finalised, but we can announce multi-year projects with Hervé Niquet and with Le Concert Spirituel (Vivaldi Gloria & Magnificat for double choir to be released this fall). Equally noteworthy are the Beethoven symphonies recorded by Martin Haselböck and the Wiener Akademie in the halls where they were first performed.

ALPHA is also expanding its chronological scope, since the label is launching a series with the Ensemble Intercontemporain and Matthias Pintscher and will release a program by Peter Eötvös. For the twentieth century, Arthur Honegger’s Jeanne d’Arc au bûcher has just appeared, with an incredibly intense narrator, the actress Marion Cotillard.

As part of the new series ALPHA OPERA, a DVD collection has been created in conjunction with major institutions such as the THEATRE ROYAL DE LA MONNAIE in Brussels and the Opéra Royal du Château de Versailles, featuring top ensembles including Les Talens Lyriques under Christophe Rousset and Le Concert Spirituel under Hervé Niquet (Don Quichotte chez la Duchesse by Boismortier, directed by Corinne et Gilles BENIZIO, aka SHIRLEY & DINO).

ALPHA remains faithful to the artists who have made its history and its reputation. Vincent Dumestre and Le Poème Harmonique will present a disc of Airs de Cour in the autumn. Bruno Cocset has recorded a second volume of works by Barrière, and Olivier Fortin, Alexis Kossenko, Lucille Boulanger, Arnaud de Pasquale, Céline Frisch and Café ZIMMERMANN will also offer new releases. The ambitious Haydn 2032 project continues under the direction of Giovanni Antonini, while the ‘Château de Versailles’ collection presents recordings of Campra and Leclair by Olivier Schneebeli and Sébastien d’Hérin respectively.

In order to strenghten the label on the international scene, ALPHA will bring together all its house artists with those who recorded for ZIG-ZAG TERRITOIRES. This merger will make for greater coherence among the 600 recordings in the existing catalogues (especially in the field of early music, the strong point of both labels) and the new releases. By the end of 2015 ALPHA will thus offer a chance to renew acquaintance with such major artists as the Belcea Quartet, Doulce Mémoire and Denis Raisin Dadre, Nelson Goerner in Chopin, Tedi Papavrami in Bartók, Amandine Beyer, Mario Ceccato, and Alexei Lubimov and many others. Another highlight of the year is the seventieth birthday of Jos Van Immerseel: with Anima Eterna Brugge, he will present a magnificent Schubertiade as well as a symphonic programme with Janácek and Dvoràk.

Since December 1st 2014, the label is directed by Didier Martin.

String Quartet in F Major, M. 35: II. Assez vif, très rythmé

Alpha Classics

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