Jea René Roy

Between René Urtreger and Agnès Desarthe the story is written in several chapters. First, their first meeting followed by regular interviews that allow the writer to collect the confidences of the pianist. From these elements she wrote a superb biography entitled "King René". In the wake of the many meetings that preceded the writing of the book, the pianist discovers the interest of Agnès Desarthe for the music she learned and practiced in her youth. From there the events are linked. During a literary festival (in Nevers) and presentations of the book (in Paris to the Duke of Lombards) the two accomplices have the opportunity to meet in music around piano and microphone.

Although he writes in all genres, René Clausen is today one of America’s most popular choral composers, and for more than twenty years he has been the conductor of the internationally acclaimed Concordia Choir of Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota. On this release, choral works by Clausen are performed by the Kansas City Chorale, another choir of great international renown, whose recording, with the Phoenix Chorale, of Grechaninov’s Passion Week scooped a Grammy® award in 2008, in the category Best Classical Recording, Engineering.

Two well-known tenor greats go on a special journey of discovery: René Kollo and Jay Alexander sing evening songs by Schubert, Brahms, Mendelssohn and Schumann. The famous songs from the Romantic era have all been rearranged for string orchestra and have been produced in this form in the studio for the first time. The unique album, which will be released on February 11, 2022, combines two well-known voices that complement each other perfectly in their differences. The two singers can be heard as a duet and as a soloist, creating a completely new listening experience for these songs.