U? Le Violon

This excellent disc brings together, as far as I know, all of Ravel's chamber music for the violin with various one-instrument accompaniment (and in the case of the sonata for violin and cello not merely accompaniment). It is, quite simply, a delight from beginning to end. To start with the shorter works, the Kaddisch and Berceuse are poignantly played and the Habanera is lightly and subtly varied in texture and color. Juillet's singing, smooth tone is as deliciously perfect as I could possibly imagine, and the playing is, even more importantly, exquisitely phrased.

This interpretation is a perfect match to Savall's equally beautiful Art of the Fugue. Here you find even more variety in the blend of instruments. I am not going to have only one version of this music and my first recommendation is Münchinger's more emotional recording on Decca. When it comes to colourful instrumentation, however, Savall is the winner, and the direction & playing needs no justification, it is simply wonderful, even if I doubt this folk music style reflects the spirit of the baroque era.

In this new release, Vincent Dumestre’s Le Poème Harmonique once again immerses us in the France of the second half of the 16th century, which witnessed the emergence of new centres of artistic activity. These ‘bourgeois’ societies were initiated by patron princes concerned with building their prestige through the arts and letters just as much as by arms. At the same time, refined circles held by cultivated women enabled them to rub shoulders with the leading poets of the time, as well as musicians sensitive to humanist research, all profiting from a context propitious to the invention of new artistic forms and practices.

For the fourth and penultimate volume of his Fauré series, Eric Le Sage has been joined by Alexandre Tharaud, Emmanuel Pahud, and François Salque, long-standing accomplices, in order to record these pieces for four hands. Recipient of numerous prizes both in France and abroad, this complete Fauré series is already asserting itself as a reference for the interpretation of Gabriel Fauré’s chamber music with piano.

Marguerite Long et les Pasquier dans le Quatuor op. 15 ? Trésor d'une discographie comparée, et centre d'un album résumant les années 1870 de Fauré. Nul de ses élèves, de ses contemporains et des lecteurs de son livre Au piano avec Gabriel Fauré ne devait l'ignorer : Marguerite Long (1874-1966) savait mieux que personne jouer la musique de son « ami », elle qui l'avait bue à la source. Si Fauré n'était pas pressé de distinguer un gardien du temple, elle s'installait à l'entrée avec autant de fierté batailleuse (mais pouvait-il en être autrement pour une musicienne dans le Paris des années 1900 ?), de petits arrangements avec le souvenir du compositeur (« ami » surtout de son mari le musicologue Joseph de Marliave, mort à la Grande Guerre) et de vanité (terribles interviews) que d'exigence perspicace, de fierté légitime et d'amour pour une musique qu'elle aura servie sans relâche. C'est d'ailleurs à quatre-vingts ans que la pianiste invite le Trio Pasquier à graver avec elle le Quatuor op. 15 !

Niccolò Paganini was an Italian violinist, violist, guitarist, and composer. He was one of the most celebrated violin virtuosi of his time, and left his mark as one of the pillars of modern violin technique. His Caprice No. 24 in A minor, Op. 1, is among the best known of his compositions, and has served as an inspiration for many prominent composers.