Fabien Degryse Hommage A Rene Thomas

Music in Time of War, the new double-album from pianist Kirill Gerstein, places the music of Komitas, pioneer of ethnomusi- cology and founder of the Armenian national school of music, alongside that of Claude Debussy, a seminal composer in the late 19th and early 20th centuries who held a deep admiration of Komitas’s music. Both composers were profoundly affected by the implosion of their worlds – Komitas by the Armenian Genocide, Debussy by the First World War – and their music reflects a close emotional alignment. Music in Time of War grew from Gerstein’s fascination with music’s power to reflect a narrative. The project will be released as a double CD album and will be accompanied by a hardcover book containing a series of illustrations and detailed essays in three languages commissioned by the pianist.

Thomas Trotter is a prize-winning concert organist and one of the UK's most admired performing musicians, reflected in Her Majesty The Queen awarding him The Queen's Medal for Music on St Cecilia's Day 2020. For this recording of Duruflé's complete organ works he returns to the chapel in which his extraordinary performing career began. Trotter was the 14th organist to be awarded the position of Organ Scholar at King's College, taking up the post in 1976. Organ Scholars at King's are undergraduate students at the College with a range of roles and responsibilities, including playing for choral services in the Chapel, assisting in the traiing of the probationers and Choristers, and conducting the full choir from time to time. The position of Organ Scholar is held for the duration of the student's degree course.

To celebrate the 80th birthday of one of Quebec’s most renowned living composers, pianist Louise Bessette presents Hommage à François Dompierre, which features music written for the cinema, a few unpublished works, and pieces for two pianos featuring the composer himself. Of special note is “Entre mer et chanterelles”, composed for Louise Bessette as a tribute to the composer Gilles Tremblay, and “Un bonheur d’occasion”, an unusual duet with Dompierre, who improvises on his own score performed by Bessette.

Jordi Savall & Hesperion XXI - Orient-Occident II: Hommage a la Syrie (2013) {Alia Vox AVSA9900}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 411 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 183 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (jpg) -> 207 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2013 Alia Vox | AVSA 9900
Classical / World Music / Medieval

The first volume of Orient Occident - released in 2006 - turned out to be a landmark in Jordi Savall's discography. For the first time, the maestro explored an extra-European repertoire, demonstrating the same musicological expertise he had shown with composers like Marin Marais. The album soon became a best seller. The second volume in this exploration focuses on Syria, alternating instrumental and vocal pieces. Musicians from Syria, Lebanon and Israel play alongside Hesperion XXI and illustrate the artistic and humanist process we have come to expect from Jordi Savall.

Pierre Henry, a supreme innovator in the field of sound aesthetics, opened the gates to many other musical universes through the applications of his technological research. Fascinated by Beethoven from an early age, he composed a ‘Tenth Symphony’: ‘It’s not the one Beethoven made sketches for’, he said. ‘Nor is it a synthesis of the nine. It is essentially a combinatorial work. It’s also a tribute to the man who hoped to exceed the limits of the orchestra. Perhaps a way of painting my portrait (our portrait) through this music and the influence it has had on mine. It is a dreamlike, logical and respectful trajectory through what these symphonies contain and suggest. The work deliberately uses as “raw material” only notes, groups or motifs from the nine symphonies.’