Swimming Philippe Rombi

Scarlatti's Sonatas are baroque gems, full of sparkling melodies and Spanish swing. Accordionist Philippe Thuriot improvises these enchanting sonatas, breathing new life into them. After explorations of the oeuvre of Bach and Couperin, Thuriot now devotes an entire programme to the keyboard music of Domenico Scarlatti. Although the latter called his sonatas Essercizi per gravicembalo (l'studies for harpsichord'), they are so much more than finger exercises.

Monteverdi’s Fourth Book of Madrigals, published in 1603 after an eleven-year gestation, bears witness to the metamorphosis of the madrigal and the rapid evolution of music at the turn of the two centuries. It is also a model of the genre and may be regarded as one of the most innovative and emblematic of its composer’s style.

Scarlatti's Sonatas are baroque gems, full of sparkling melodies and Spanish swing. Accordionist Philippe Thuriot improvises these enchanting sonatas, breathing new life into them. After explorations of the oeuvre of Bach and Couperin, Thuriot now devotes an entire programme to the keyboard music of Domenico Scarlatti. Although the latter called his sonatas Essercizi per gravicembalo (l'studies for harpsichord'), they are so much more than finger exercises.

A 2017 remaster of Rock St. Trop, the fascinating 1969 collaboration between The Pretty Things and Philippe Debarge (an eccentric wealthy playboy from France).
In late August 1969, Phil May and Wally Waller were flown to St. Tropez by Philippe Debarge and taken to the DeBarge family estate - a magnet for the rich and famous of the era, from politicians to film and rock stars. DeBarge had serious money and wanted to make a serious album, with him as front man. Philippe had done his research and knew exactly who he wanted to make that album with The Pretty Things…

Canadian pianist Jean-Philippe Sylvestre performs works for piano by Maurice Ravel, recorded on an Erard piano built in 1854. "The concept and performance of a work are affected by the instrument one plays," says Jean-Philippe Sylvestre. "To bring out the Baroque character of two pieces, Le Tombeau de Couperin and Menuet sur le nom de Haydn, I wanted a piano with harpsichord-like articulation and sonority. That is why I decided to record this album on an Erard, a very special piano whose sonority and vibrations recreate the sounds, soul and mood of the time of Ravel and of the first Impressionists." Jean-Philippe Sylvestre has appeared at the prestigious Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, plus all the major concert halls across Europe as well as the National Arts Centre in Ottawa. He is a regularly invited soloist with the Orchestre Metropolitain, the Orchestre symphonique de Quebec, the Orchestre symphonique de Laval, and the Orchestre symphonique de Longueuil.

While any of Liszt's superb transcriptions of Beethoven's first eight symphonies is a challenge for the pianist, the two-piano arrangement of the Ninth is at once spellbinding and a formidable test. This remarkable synthesis of soloists, chorus and orchestra presents a powerful structure that condenses all the fearsome difficulties of ensemble playing for the two pianists. This version by Philippe Cassard and Cédric Pescia displays extraordinary nobility, truth and grandeur, with the epic sweep ideally suited to the "Ode to Joy".