U? Le Violon

The first CD here is generously filled and contains a valuable novelty in the Magnard Violin Sonata, which may well tempt collectors already possessing a good version of the Franck. In the first movement of the latter, where the marking is Allegretto ben moderato, Augustin Dumay and Jean-Philippe Collard create a feeling of serenity at the start not only tonally but also by a tempo of about dotted crotchet = 48, but fine though the playing is, I think the ben moderato has been interpreted too freely here.

Le duo violon et harpe est plutôt rare. On a davantage l'habitude d'associer la flûte à la harpe, alors que les sonorités du violon et de la harpe se marient à merveille. La harpiste Marielle Nordmann et le violoniste Nemanja Radulovic qui sont amis de longue date et se produisent souvent ensemble, nous offrent (enfin !) un enregistrement de leur belle collaboration. Dans cet album les transcriptions sont majoritaires, car le répertoire original pour cette formation est assez restreint. On trouve même la célèbre Méditation de Thaïs de Jules Massenet (au départ pour violon et orchestre) dont on ne compte plus les adaptations..

Le duo violon et harpe est plutôt rare. On a davantage l'habitude d'associer la flûte à la harpe, alors que les sonorités du violon et de la harpe se marient à merveille. La harpiste Marielle Nordmann et le violoniste Nemanja Radulovic qui sont amis de longue date et se produisent souvent ensemble, nous offrent (enfin !) un enregistrement de leur belle collaboration. Dans cet album les transcriptions sont majoritaires, car le répertoire original pour cette formation est assez restreint. On trouve même la célèbre Méditation de Thaïs de Jules Massenet (au départ pour violon et orchestre) dont on ne compte plus les adaptations..

Even on its first record "L'Escapade" (1974), Mona Lisa appeared as a dedicated follower of the theatrical, emotional and melodramatic rock created by Ange. The emphasis, the sensibility, the vocal subtlety of Dominique Le Guennec goes beyond the usual style. He "lives" his lyrics and surprises the listener by performing an expressive and suggestive music that evoke Genesis. The group got better with each album. "Grimaces" and especially "Le Petit Violon De Monsieur Grégoire" are two different landmarks of their technical maturity, that is evident thanks to a Steve Hackett style of guitar and the growth of the singer's vocal power and charisma. A true landmark of the Seventies French Progressive rock scene.

In the Baroque period, there really was no such thing as an "orchestra" as we understand the term today. There were large collections of singers and players brought together for special occasions, but aside from those, an "orchestral" work was anything that required more than five or six players. Bach's harpsichord concertos, for example, can be performed by a couple of dozen string players plus the soloist, or with an accompaniment of one person per part, which is more or less what we get here. These small forces permit an unprecedented transparency of sound and sharpness of attack, even if some weight and body of tone necessarily get sacrificed. It's a perfectly legitimate way to play the music, however, and you won't find it better done than here.

Since 1987, Dan Laurin has released some thirty titles on BIS. On his latest disc, Sonates et Suites he has chosen to visit France at an exciting point in time. In the early 18th century, when all of the sonatas and suites included here were composed, the system of censorship that ensured that nothing was printed without royal permission was beginning to crumble, at least in the field of music.

In a genre set by Boccherini, represented in the 19th century by the masterpieces of Schumann, Brahms, and Franck, Gabriel Fauré composed two scores that were very different from his early romances and the evanescent lullaby of death that is the Requiem. The Piano Quintet Op. 89 remains little known for reasons related to its composition as much as its history.

The six trio sonatas stand out as an almost unique exception in Bach s output for the organ, essentially composed for the Lutheran liturgy in a style that is frequently much more severe and sometimes positively out of step with the tastes of his time. Here, though, all the ingredients of the style galant are present: the flexibility and singing character of the melodic lines, the purity and apparent simplicity of the three-part harmony, not forgetting the three-movement form.