Laurent Buttazzoni

Released between 1991 and 2005, the selections in The Warner Recordings encapsulate the period when Pierre-Laurent Aimard was signed to Erato and Teldec, performing mostly 20th-century fare and some music from the 19th century. Aimard is famous for his contributions to the modernist catalog, and his performances of works by Pierre Boulez, Elliott Carter, György Ligeti, and Olivier Messiaen are regarded as scrupulously executed and authoritatively interpreted. Aimard also recorded early 20th century pieces by Charles Ives, Alban Berg, Maurice Ravel, and Claude Debussy, as well as Romantic masterpieces of Beethoven and Liszt. A pianist's pianist, Aimard is well-rounded in his repertoire and a true master of keyboard technique, yet he has received considerably less fanfare than many of his flashier colleagues. Yet connoisseurs of piano recordings know that Aimard is indispensible, especially for his special feeling for French music, and his recordings are important documents that serious students and newcomers should appreciate.

Willi Apel, one of the great twentieth-century experts on harpsichord music, declared: ‘With d’Anglebert, French keyboard music reaches its highest point of Baroque magnificence and fulness. His skill in continuing a melody, contrapuntally interweaving voices, concatenating harmonies by way of suspensions, and always using meaningful figures as ornaments brings to a final culmination and maturity what his teacher, Chambonnières, began . . .’

The sweat of the rainforest, the hostility of the mangrove did not suit him in the end. So he left his natural environment for the tranquility of a freshwater lake. Without the constant need to battle to assert its territory, the Tiger found there the ideal place for its instrumental stories. To tell the story of those journeys that took him from Asia to Africa, from soul jazz salons to the concrete streets of hip hop, and transformed his stripes into music sheets where Thai ranges and ethio-jazz arrangements were registered.

After a magnificent tribute to Thelonious Monk with the same partners a few years ago, Laurent de Wilde returns to us in a trio setting with a repertoire that is entirely his own, except for a theme co-composed with his drummer Donald Kontomanou.

French saxophonist Laurent Bardainne summons the spirit of astral jazz on heavy-grooving album, Hymne au Soleil.

In 1996, the label Musique en Wallonie published an album with works for Lute by Jacques de Saint-Luc (c. 1616-1708). These pieces were brilliantly performed by Stephen Stubbs. Recent studies allow us to affirm that the present release, the second to be devoted to works by a Saint-Luc, consists of music, not by Jacques, as it was wrongly mentioned in the first album, but by his son Laurent de Saint-Luc (1669 – after 1708). In addition to two traditional suites, the present programme offers two ensembles of pieces either chosen from certain suites or free-standing – including the mournful allemande in G minor – all taken from manuscripts of lute pieces preserved in Vienna or Prague.

This project showcases a union between two artists expressing their infinite love of the piano after years of joint concerts and international collaboration.

Just at the zenith of the French “Wagnerisme” Jules Massenet surprised the French opera audience in 1891 with a genuine French Grand Opéra, which apparently did not seem to care about current musical events. With its exotic setting (Persia), supernatural elements of action and a religiously veiled love story, it ties in with works such as "Hérodiade" and "Le Roi de Lahore". Production at Ediciones Singulares makes it clear that a revival was long overdue.