Hélène Sio J'veux Tout Savoir

Lili Boulanger's setting of the 130th Psalm is a choral masterpiece. Tortelier and his forces deliver a vivid performance, recorded with tremendous presence. There is even more power in the old Markevich performance, done under Nadia Boulanger's supervision, but the superior Chandos recording makes a difference. Faust et Hélène is a somewhat immature student work (a strange qualification for music by a composer who died at 24), but it is also well performed. The remaining music represents Boulanger's visionary eloquence. This disc is highly recommended as an introduction to a great composer. After you hear it, try the Everest disc, despite the duplications. It contains Boulanger's deathbed Pie Jesu, a brief piece of such intense power that it will leave most listeners in tears.

Giovanni Stefano Carbonelli - Helene Schmitt - Sonates pour violon & basse continue
EAC+LOG+CUE | WV: 370 MB | Full Artwork | 5% Recovery Info
Label/Cat#: Alpha # 046 | Country/Year: France 2002
Genre: Classical | Style: Baroque

…the addition of the guitar gives a languid feel that rounds off the edges and catches the peculiar flavor of Carbonelli's music, fancy, relaxed, and sweet. The close-up miking picks up a good deal of instrumental noise – listen to the music in close quarters or on headphones, and you'll find it distracting.

There are all sorts of correspondences, musical and otherwise, that confer unity on this eclectic mix of works. John Corigliano's Fantasia, given a smashing performance by Grimaud that milks every ounce of poetry and mystery from its quieter moments, is based on the Allegretto of Beethoven's Seventh (just as Pärt's Credo quotes Bach). Both Beethoven's Choral Fantasy and Pärt's Credo are written for the unusual combination of piano, chorus, and orchestra, and both in their different ways seek to bring order from chaos (or in musical terms contrast "improvisation" with "composed" music). The odd man out here (conceptually at least) is Beethoven's Tempest Sonata, in which Grimaud finds similar qualities via its supposed inspiration in Shakespeare's eponymous play. In any case, it takes no special pleading to include two works by the same composer, and its inclusion makes for a thoughtful and attractive concept album that not incidentally keeps the focus squarely on Grimaud.

Sandra Feva may be an unfamiliar name to those who didn't follow indie soul scene in the early 80s, but she certainly was not unknown to real soul enthusiasts at the time. On the contrary, it seemed that every connoisseur rated her very high, and compared her to Gladys Knight, Betty Wright, Margie Joseph and other songstresses of the same calibre. Fellow Soul Express scribe Heikki Suosalo wrote in early 1983 that he "hasn't heard a better album by a female singer this decade", John Abbey in Blues & Soul considered Sandra on a par with Gladys, and Clive Richardson cites in the liner notes of this reissue release that "here was a new voice to match the newly-solo Gladys Knight and the vibrant Patti LaBelle".

Alban Berg - Jungendlieder (Songs from the Youth) - Hélène Lindqvist (2003)
Classical | EAC: FLAC+Cue+Log | 1 Cd, Covers | 263 Mb
Label: col legno - Date: 2003

The Soprano of Swedish-Egyptian descent Hélène Lindqvist had her first voice lessons in Stockholm with Düselius in Stockholm. She completed her vocal studies at the Mozarteum in Salzburg and continued at the University for Music and Theatre in Saarbrücken…

Hélène Grimaud’s new album MEMORY can be thought as an invitation to mindfulness.

Johann Sebastian Bach - Pieces pour violon & basse continue
Hélène Schmidt / Alain Gervreau / Jan Willem Jansen
EAC+LOG+CUE | WV: 404 MB | Full Artwork: 224 MB | 5% Recovery Info
Label/Cat#: Alpha # 008 | Country/Year: France 2001
Genre: Classical | Style: Baroque

Despite the fact that Bach’s works for violin are relatively rare, they influenced posterity as surely as some of his very numerous keyboard pieces. The violin works in this recording also show how Bach used his great audacity and impertinence to invest everything he touched with magical properties.