Thierry Bizot

Mendelssohn conceived the Violin Concerto in E minor for his childhood friend, Ferdinand David, concertmaster of the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, though it took the composer years to perfect it. The concerto remains one of the most significant works in the genre – serene, lyrical and luminous. Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto in D major is another of the 19th century’s greatest concertos, written for his favourite student, Iosif Kotek, and a work of great beauty bristling with virtuoso challenges. On this album they are performed by the brilliant Guido Sant’Anna, the first South American violinist to win the prestigious Fritz Kreisler International Competition.

Mendelssohn conceived the Violin Concerto in E minor for his childhood friend, Ferdinand David, concertmaster of the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, though it took the composer years to perfect it. The concerto remains one of the most significant works in the genre – serene, lyrical and luminous. Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto in D major is another of the 19th century’s greatest concertos, written for his favourite student, Iosif Kotek, and a work of great beauty bristling with virtuoso challenges. On this album they are performed by the brilliant Guido Sant’Anna, the first South American violinist to win the prestigious Fritz Kreisler International Competition.

One is of Viking origin, the other Tuscan, and it is their differences, but also what their journey brought them that was similar, that they invoke in this musical biography.

The present album is the second of two recorded by the Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège and Jean-Jacques Kantorow to commemorate the centenary of the death of Camille Saint-Saëns.

Piano trio album, lead the French pianist Thierry Maillard. The other members are bassist Dominique Di Piazza, who's played with John McLaughlin in the past, and André Ceccarelli, a French drum legend, who's played a lot of jazz but also with pop artists like Sting or Tina Turner. Therefore, very experienced personnel here, and it shows. They pay a lot of attention to each other, and therefore each of the 16 original tracks, are worth discovering. The album was essentially composed after the Bataclan terrorist attacks in Paris. However, there's no terror in here, just beauty.

Thierry Maillard is well-placed on his legs, when he talks and is firmly seated when he overhangs the piano keys, to tackle fine, sometimes powerful, groove, surprising arrangements. The fingers fly, the melodies fly away to return better, like so many ritornelas, to get away again. To dare to attack these luminaries of the French song, alone … lonesome on the piano : Brel, Léo Ferré and especially the great Brassens, of which he very early knew to appreciate the finesse of the melodies at the height of the words. The musician with the rugbyman’s shape shows a strong desire to fight and a lot of tenderness.

This CD offers a rare opportunity to hear Igor Stravinsky's opera buffa, 'Mavra.' At only 28 minutes, the opera is short, but interesting. By scoring the orchestra with full winds and just a handful of strings, Stravinsky molded the usually romantic opera genre into his cool, neoclassical form. Both the singing and the playing are highly energetic, and contain a certain wittiness. Conductor Thierry Fischer does something quite amazing: instead of the usual separation between voice and pit orchestra, Fischer puts the orchestra in direct dialogue with the stage action, creating an incredible integration. The 'Octet' and 'Concertino', more standard works, are also well played. Attacks and articulations are so very clean, and it was this cleanliness that attracted Stravinsky to wind instruments in the first place. Unlike other Stravinsky recordings, this one has the vitality and moodiness that make the notes sparkle. One always feels a sense of propulsion. In the 'Concertino', this rhythmic drive is contrasted beautifully with eerie string lines. The 'Octet' manages to achieve a perfect chamber music feel. The ensemble never forces the sound, and the result is an elegant, interesting and contagious performance. The same could be said for the whole album.

Richard Galliano’s new collaboration with organist Thierry Escaich. An unexpected collaboration between two major instruments, the organ and the accordion. Two virtuosos, Thierry Escaich and Richard Galliano, compete with complicity and imagination to offer us this inspirational and magical program.