Tamestit

A century after his death on 25 March 1918, many harmonia mundi artists are eager to pay tribute to Claude Debussy, the magician of melody and timbre, the great ‘colourist’ and father of modern music. In the three chamber sonatas, here combined with the composer’s final pieces for solo piano, we attain the purity, the absolute concision, the distant and mysterious world that give these works a testamentary dimension.

This isn't French violinist Renaud Capuçon's first outing as a concert soloist; he has released a recording of concertos by Mendelssohn and Schumann, and a disc of concerted works by French composers. This is his first recording of concertos by Mozart, though, and it is as successful as his previous releases. Capuçon's lean tone, lyrical approach, subtle vibrato, and supple phrasing are ideal for Mozart's First and Third concertos, and his ardent but elegant interpretations are virtually perfect. As in his other recordings, Capuçon's playing is both completely in the style of the works and still wholly individualistic, particularly in the cadenzas, which have a sense of improvisatory freedom that entirely suits them.

Schumann's chamber compositions are undoubtedly among the most important European works of the nineteenth century. Robert Schumann (1810-1856) was the archetypal Romantic composer, a man with unbounded imagination, who mastered almost every genre of his time.

Harmonia Mundi is an independent record label which specializes in classical music, jazz, and world music (on the World Village label). It was founded in France in 1958 and is now a subsidiary of PIAS Entertainment Group. Its Latin name harmonia mundi translates as "harmony of the world".

For close to 300 years Bach’s Goldberg Variations have awed performers as well as listeners, through an unparalleled combination of a dazzling variety of expression and breath-taking virtuosity with stupendous polyphonic mastery. No wonder then that other musicians than harpsichordists have wanted to make it their own – pianists, first and foremost, but also accordion players and guitarists, flautists and harpists.

Swedish clarinetist Martin Fröst is one of the world's top players, with a creamy, utterly consistent tone that is the envy of many a young player. It may be a surprise to see him take up Mozart's Clarinet Concerto in A major, K. 622, once again; he recorded it in the early 2000s with the Amsterdam Sinfonietta, along with its usual partner on disc, the Clarinet Quintet in A major, K. 581. But there are several new things this time around.