Laurent Buttazzoni

'It would be difficult to find a simpler and more poignant subject', Massenet remarked during the composition of Ariane, a vast score in five acts premiered at the Paris Opera in October 1906. The libretto by Catulle Mendes is part ancient drama, part symbolist poem, and sets Phaedra and Ariadne, two sisters in love with Theseus, in violent conflict with each other. This epic work does not shrink from relating the combat against the Minotaur, from showing a ship tossed by the raging billows, nor even from transporting the audience to the Underworld where Persephone reigns. Despite its flamboyant orchestration, its grandiose scenography and its triumphant premiere, Ariane remains one of the few Massenet operas never recorded until now. The young Egyptian soprano Amina Edris takes the title role with ardour and passion, surrounded by a cast well versed in the specificities of the French style. The Bavarian Radio Chorus provides dedicated support in the epic scenes, under the baton of Laurent Campellone, a great champion of Massenet.

Les Barbares was premièred at the Paris Opéra (Palais Garnier) in October 1901, having originally been intended for the Roman theatre of Orange, in Provence. Rather than concentrating on bloodshed and slaughter, the plot focuses on the evolution of the relationship between Floria, the chief vestal, and Marcomir, the leader of the Barbarians, with the musical interest of the opera culminating furthermore in their splendid duet at the end of Act II. Saint-Saëns, like Massenet too at that time, shows here his ability to adapt his style to suit his literary inspiration. Les Barbares is in the same vein as Berliozs Les Troyens and contemporary with Faurés Pénélope.

Visions offers Tamara Stefanovich and Pierre-Laurent Aimard’s return to Pentatone, presenting a programme revolving around Messiaen’s intoxicating Visions de l‘amen for two pianos. This centrepiece is surrounded by Enescu’s Carillon nocturne, Knussen’s Prayer Bell Sketch and Clock IV from Birtwistle’s Harrison’s Clocks. The works performed all share a fascination for the sound of bells, and Stefanovich and Aimard invite the listener on a mesmerizing acoustic journey.

At Work, produced by the pianist Laurent de Wilde, it is the communion of all. This alto saxophone incandescent also recalls that jazz is not just a man's. Supported by Paul Lay on piano, Yoni Zelnik on bass and Donald Kontomanou on drums, Géraldine Laurent sign probably his most concise drive but, on arrival, his most personal and most successful. A haven of musicality where his own compositions blend to perfection in those swords named Monk, Mingus or Jobim. Brilliant.

Go ahead, play rough and tough with Beethoven. He can take it: he's made of marble and stone and it'd take more than a couple hardcore eccentrics to ruin his reputation. This is not to say that gard-core eccentrics Pierre-Laurent Aimard and Nikolaus Harnoncourt don't give it their best shot. Like their earlier recording of the complete Piano Concertos of Beethoven, Aimard and Harnoncourt do what they like with his Triple Concerto, Rondo in B flat major, and Choral Fantasy to consistently terrible results. With violinist Thomas Zehetmair and cellist Clemens Hagen, Aimard and Harnoncourt turn in an ungainly and graceless recording of the graceful and gracious Triple Concerto.

Pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard joins forces with the San Francisco Symphony and Music Director Esa-Pekka Salonen for a recording of Bartók’s complete piano concertos. A pianist himself, Bartók imbued his three concertos with multiple aspects of his compositional persona, ranging from complex and innovative (the First) to exuberant (the Second) and serene (the Third). The result is a fascinating slice of his musical life. This all-Bartók release marks the first Pentatone collaboration between Esa-Pekka Salonen and the San Francisco Symphony, an ensemble he has reshaped through creative performance concepts and expansive new media projects.

Robert Schumann’s Sonatas for violin and piano have been a part of our repertoire for many years. The more intimately we get to know them, the more we realize how much they are the unfiltered reflection of a troubled personality, very human, at the mercy of his contradictions, joys and sorrows. This is what makes these works endearing but also, at times, disconcerting (especially so in the case of the 3rd Sonata).