Raphaël Pichon Bach

Much as, for many listeners, the mere fact that this new Bach motets recording is from Raphaël Pichon and Pygmalion will be reason enough to give it a spin, there's actually an even more noteworthy draw to this particular programme: that interspersed between the six Bach motets are three sixteenth century masterpieces drawn from the Florilegium Portense, a collection of almost 365 choral works from 58 leading sixteenth century Italian and German composers which was first published in 1618, and which in Bach's day was on the shelves of most central German choir schools – regularly used within the services, and a constant source of compositional inspiration too. What's more, the relationship with Bach himself is proven, because as Leipzig kantor he purchased new copies of the collection both in 1729 and 1737; and if you narrow in on Bach's handful of motets then the link deepens, because while the composition of his hundreds of cantatas was dictated by the liturgical calendar and often involved working with a librettist, his motets were composed under no such strictures, leaving him genuinely at liberty to draw on the Florilegium Portense in whichever way he fancied.

After the exploration of Bach’s ‘five’ Missae Breves concluding with the success of the original version of the B minor Mass, Ensemble Pygmalion has recorded Rameau’s Dardanus following a series of concerts unanimously hailed by the critics.

Raphaël Pichon has invited Stéphane Degout to make his recording debut for harmonia mundi in a multifaceted exploration of the Underworld. The French baritone reincarnates the figure of Henri Larrivée, the famous tragedian of Rameau and Gluck. Around a reconstruction of an imaginary Mass of the Dead, sacred and secular merge, revealing some of the most extraordinary pieces from the operatic repertory of the Enlightenment. Music of death and mourning on an epic scale that inspires Pygmalion to overwhelming heights of pathos.

Great sorrow and great joy, expressed in in sacred and secular arias and cantatas, are the themes of Sabine Devieilhe’s album of Bach and Handel. Recorded with the Pygmalion ensemble and conductor Raphaël Pichon, it features appearances by baritone Stéphane Degout and lutenist Thomas Dunford and includes Bach’s cantatas ‘Mein Herze schwimmt im Blut‘ and ‘Jauchzet Gott in allen Lande’, and excerpts from Handel’s Brockes Passion and Giulio Cesare.

Above the album worked the 'Bach: L'Extase Musicale ', and his release took place on 2021. The album has got songs with a total duration of more than an hour. A compilation is a compilation of original music.

We bring together on two CDs the most beautiful songs from Noël baroque, an album by the Maîtrise de Radio France and Les Musiciens de Saint Julien under François Lazarevitch that has enjoyed great success in recent years, completed by Noëls en Pays d’Oc and other ancient Christmas carols. The second CD presents excerpts from great sacred classical masterpieces (such as Handel’s Messiah and Vivaldi’s Gloria by Hervé Niquet, and Bach’s B minor Mass by Raphaël Pichon) as well as instrumental pieces including Corelli’s ‘Christmas’ Concerto by Amandine Beyer and excerpts from Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos by Café Zimmermann and ‘Winter’ from Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. An ideal programme of music to accompany Christmas Eve. This double album is presented in an elegant ‘popup’ that can be placed at the foot of the tree when the time comes!