Ballaké Sissoko, Vincent Segal, Emile Parisien & Vincent Peirani Les Égarés (2023) [official Digital Download 24 88]

Erik Satie is a beacon around which all kinds of musicians never cease to turn and marvel. And it’s been the case for more than 100 years. American minimalists (Glass, Reich, Adams, Riley, La Monte Young) today recognize in him a kind of spiritual father. Through this double-disc, I wanted to pay a tribute to him, through his works but also those of his friends, his followers and his heirs. I thus discovered new works never recorded (Cliquet-Pleyel, Mesens, Dortu, Fargeat) and also generated new compositions. My personal approach to sincerity also led me to choose, for the interpretation of his works, a piano that he could have known: a Blüthner from 1900. As a historically well-informed musician, the last track of the first disc, Je te veux, has been recorded on Pleyel droit from 1923, not very well tuned, with hazardous mechanics and a good cabaret taste.

After five triumphs at the Paris Opera, Chevalier Gluck, reformer of French opera and protege of Marie-Antoinette, created his last work in 1779: Echo et Narcisse, based on Ovid's Metamorphoses. Adopting the style of a pastoral, it was spurned by the public at its premiere, but is a tribute to the splendour of the French tradition. With the support of the Fondation Etrillard, Herve Niquet has resurrected Gluck's last opus, in which the fates of the nymph Echo, who repeats the last word she hears ad infinitum, and the proud Narcissus, condemned to love only his own reflection, intertwine: two perfectly Baroque myths!

Marin Marais published his last collection in 1725, eight years after the appearance of his Quatrième Livre de Pièces de Viole . He was no longer playing in the Chambre du Roi by that time and had moved to a house in the Faubourg Saint-Marceau where he cultivated plants and flowers in his garden. He continued, however, to give lessons to people who wanted to improve their viol playing. The Cinquième Livre de Pièces de Viole reflects this image of a peaceful life; today we regard it as the final testament of a musician who was looking back upon his past years as their undisputed master — and which he remains today.

Italian pianist Alessandro Deljavan has been astonishing audiences for more than two decades. Acknowledgements began at the age of nine when he won the prestigious Concours musical de France (1st Prize, Paris, 1996). He is embraced for his remarkable prowess and emotional intensity by audiences and colleagues alike.

After many musical collaborations, "Short Trip", "Cosmic Dream" (both albums recorded in quartet with Matt Penman & Obed Calvaire), members for years of the Philippe Soirat 4tet, saxophonist David Prez & pianist Vincent Bourgeyx present an original duet in which they explore their compositions as well as some classics like "Two for the Road" by Henry Mancini and also some free improvised music with a good sense of interplay, lyricism, swing, humour & poetry.

The Austrian-based pianist, Pavle Krstic (1998), has been credited with "individuality, sensitivity, lyricism, as well as dramatic and expressive" playing.

Claudio Monteverdi's Il ritorno d'Ulisse in Patria is a love story pur sang. With this opera he narrates the long-awaited homecoming of Odysseus after his mythical travels in the aftermath of the Trojan War. After L’Orfeo - on the programme later this season - it was the second opera composed by the Italian master. Performing this masterpiece is I Gemelli, a young French ensemble founded by Chilean-Swiss tenor Emiliano Gonzalez Toro. The ensemble consists of a splendid cast including Fleur Barron, Emöke Barath and Zachary Wilder. Together, they will transform this tale of the union between Odysseus and his beloved Penelope into a breathtaking evening.

MAURIZIO ZACCARIA is an Italian pianist, born in Bari.
His repertoire ranges from Classical to Contemporary music, from soloist to soloist with orchestra to chamber music in the most various formations.

The origins of the French organ, Quentin du Verdier and Les Meslanges ensemble (Label Rocamadour), in partnership with the CNSMD of Paris. It is well known: the French organ was born with baroque music, and we do nothing good if it's not Couperin… Well no! Testimony of ancient times when it coexisted with the quasi-mystical tradition of Gregorian chant, this panorama of the organ takes us far back in time, to the Renaissance. When modernity dialogued with eternity.

Highpoints of virtuosity in Bach’s output and the Baroque organ repertoire, in new recordings by an organist with a rich catalogue of success on Brilliant Classics to his credit.