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FRANZ SCHUBERT / EUGÈNE YSAŸE / IVAN WYSCHNEGRADSKY / ANDRZEY PANUFNIK
Exile Patricia Kopatchinskaja, Thomas Kaufmann, Camerata Bern [ Alpha Classics / CD - released 24/Jan/2025 ] This programme brings together composers who, for the most part, were compelled to flee their homeland. |
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BELA BARTOK / FRANCIS POULENC / MAURICE RAVEL
Deux: Music for Violin & Piano Patricia Kopatchinskaja (violin) Polina Leschenko (piano) [ Alpha Classics / CD - released 10/Apr/2018 ] "Every reading here works like a dream; no doubt in part because the three main works' Hungarian folk roots are a perfect partner to her own Moldovan folk heritage." Gramophone Editor's Choice Feb 2018 |
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W. A. MOZART
Mozart: String Quintets K. 515 & 516 Quatuor Van Kuijk; Adrien La Marca [ Alpha Classics / CD - released 25/Sep/2020 ] "Time and again, they seem to me to catch this music exactly where it speaks most powerfully: balanced perfectly - poignantly - between laughter and tears." Gramophone Editor's Choice Awards Issue 2020 |
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FRANCIS POULENC / PAUL SCHOENFIELD / BELA BARTOK / SERBAN NICHIFOR
Take 3 Reto Bieri (clarinet), Patricia Kopatchinskaja (violin), Polina Leschenko (piano) [ Alpha Classics / CD - released 15/Mar/2024 ] "[The playing] can affectionately embrace the whimsical to the manner born, but equally bristles with spellbinding virtuosity, compelling insight and crests a lifeforce carrying all before it." 5/5 BBC Music Magazine |
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SCHUMANN / DEBUSSY / WOLFE / POULENC / etc
Chimère Sandrine Piau (soprano) Susan Manoff (piano) [ Alpha Classics / CD - released 20/Apr/2018 ] "Piau's is a voice that can bloom sensuously at the top, and which she controls exquisitely...this is one of the most fascinating, satisfying and moving recital discs to have come my way for some time. It's beautifully recorded too." Gramophone |
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BERLIOZ / DUPARC / KOECHLIN / DEBUSSY / RAVEL / BRITTEN
Reflet Sandrine Piau (soprano), Orchestre Victor Hugo, Jean-Francois Verdier [ Alpha Classics / CD - released 15/Mar/2024 ] "It almost goes without saying that the performances are magnificent...Warmly supported by the Orchestre Victor Hugo under Jean-François Verdier and captured in glowing sound, Piau has created another sublime album." 5/5 BBC Music Magazine |
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VARIOUS COMPOSERS
Mozart y Mambo: Cuban Dances Sarah Willis (horn), Havana Lyceum Orchestra, José Antonio Méndez Padrón [ Alpha Classics / CD - released 9/Sep/2022 ] Following the phenomenal success of the first Mozart y Mambo album, Sarah Willis returns to Cuba not only to record two more Mozart horn concertos but also to create a landmark original work that takes its place in Cuban music history. In Mozart y... |
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Sarah Willis (horn), Havana Lyceum Orchestra; José Antonio Méndez Padrón
Mozart y Mambo: La Bella Cubana [ Alpha Classics / CD - released 8/Sep/2023 ] "My dream of recording all four of the Mozart horn concertos has been fulfilled at last. Little did I know that this long-held dream would come true in Cuba of all places and with a Cuban orchestra! I have learned so much about Cuban music and how to... |
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PYOTR ILYICH TCHAIKOSVKY
Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 5 & Francesca Da Ramini Tonhalle Orchester Zürich, Paavo Järvi (cond) [ Alpha Classics / CD - released 13/Nov/2020 ] Paavo Järvi, Principal Conductor and Music Director of the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich since October 2019, here launches a complete recording of Tchaikovsky's symphonies, the first in both his rich discography and that of the Swiss orchestra: 'When I... |
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ANTON BRUCKNER
Bruckner: Symphony No. 7 Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, Paavo Järvi [ Alpha Classics / CD - released 27/Jan/2023 ] "Järvi's new account of Symphony No. 7 shows the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich in peak condition. Tempos never drag. The orchestral sound is detailed and expansive, woodwind expressive, brass white-hot. Colours are rich, tenderness offsetting majesty." |
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Various Artists
Viva! 30 ans d'art choral [ Alpha Classics / CD - released 25/Feb/2022 ] The Fondation Bettencourt Schueller is celebrating thirty years of commitment to choral singing. To mark the occasion, it has decided to bring together nineteen excerpts from recordings made by ensembles it has supported since 1989, thanks to the... |
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LEKEU / FAURE / BERLIOZ / MASSENET / SAINT-SAENS / CHAUSSON etc
Véronique Gens: Nuits Véronique Gens / I Giardini [ Alpha Classics / CD - released 24/Apr/2020 ] As the symbiosis between the art of the poet and that of the composer, the French mélodie became the jewel of the salons of the 'Belle Époque'. By placing a string quartet and a piano around the singer, Chausson's Chanson perpétuelle, Lekeu's... |
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BRUNEAU / FRANCK / GODARD / MASSENET / BIZET / etc
Véronique Gens - Visions Véronique Gens (soprano), Münchner Rundfunkorchester, Hervé Niquet [ Alpha Classics / CD - released 23/Jun/2017 ] "Gens and Niquet throw themselves into all this with an engrossing mix of abandon and restraint. Gens's trademark combination of purity of utterance and smoky tone speaks volumes." Gramophone Magazine Editor's Choice, July 2017 |
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ERNEST CHAUSSON
Chausson: Poème de l'amour et de la mer & Symphonie, Op. 20 Véronique Gens; Orchestre National de Lille; Alexandre Bloch [ Alpha Classics / CD - released 8/Mar/2019 ] 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... |
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MONSIGNY / EDELMANN / J.C. BACH / GLUCK
Rivales Sandrine Piau (soprano) / Véronique Gens (soprano), Le Concert de la Loge, Julien Chauvin [ Alpha Classics / CD - released 8/Apr/2022 ] 'Le Concert de la Loge provides support that is virile and tender, as appropriate. And the two singers are magnificent.' Gramophone Award WINNER 2023 - Voice & Ensemble |
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DUBOIS / HAHN / FAURÉ / GOUNOD / CHAUSSON / SAINT-SAËNS
Paysage Véronique Gens (soprano), Münchner Rundfunkorchester, Hervé Niquet [ Alpha Classics / CD - released 12/Jul/2024 ] "Her soprano is in remarkably good shape, supple and elegant, her diction exemplary and her phrasing exquisite, deftly capturing the mood of each song." Gramophone Award Finalist - Voice & Ensemble |
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MAX BRUCH
Bruch: String Quintets & Octet WDR Sinfonieorchester Chamber Players [ Alpha Classics / CD - released 9/Jul/2021 ] Max Bruch was eighty years old when, in 1918, he decided to return to the chamber music genre he had frequented in his early years. Stimulated by the violin virtuoso Willy Hess, he composed two string quintets and an octet, monuments to beauty and... |
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Alfa Mist
Bring Backs [ Anti- / CD - released 7/May/2021 ] Bring Backs marks Alfa's first release for the label ANTI- and is also the most detailed exploration of his upbringing in musical form. The album's nine tracks of groove-based intricacies, lyrical solipsism and meandering fragmentations are tied... |
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Alpha Steppa
3rd Kingdom (LP) [ Alpha Steppa / LP - released 14/Jul/2017 ] With a total of twelve tracks and an extensive list of featuring artists, 3rd Kingdom is an eclectic mix of traditional roots style reggae, UK bass and dubstep, future steppas, and world music. The majority of the collaborating artists Alpha Steppa... |
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Bloc Party
Alpha Games (LP) [ BMG / ADA / LP - released 29/Apr/2022 ] Bloc Party return with Alpha Games, their first new album since 2016's Hymns. Alpha Games, produced by Nick Launay & Adam Greenspan (Nick Cave, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, IDLES), includes new single 'Traps', which sees the band returning to the raucous,... |