Philippe Katerinebonifacio

Scarlatti's Sonatas are baroque gems, full of sparkling melodies and Spanish swing. Accordionist Philippe Thuriot improvises these enchanting sonatas, breathing new life into them. After explorations of the oeuvre of Bach and Couperin, Thuriot now devotes an entire programme to the keyboard music of Domenico Scarlatti. Although the latter called his sonatas Essercizi per gravicembalo (l'studies for harpsichord'), they are so much more than finger exercises.

Canadian pianist Jean-Philippe Sylvestre performs works for piano by Maurice Ravel, recorded on an Erard piano built in 1854. "The concept and performance of a work are affected by the instrument one plays," says Jean-Philippe Sylvestre. "To bring out the Baroque character of two pieces, Le Tombeau de Couperin and Menuet sur le nom de Haydn, I wanted a piano with harpsichord-like articulation and sonority. That is why I decided to record this album on an Erard, a very special piano whose sonority and vibrations recreate the sounds, soul and mood of the time of Ravel and of the first Impressionists." Jean-Philippe Sylvestre has appeared at the prestigious Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, plus all the major concert halls across Europe as well as the National Arts Centre in Ottawa. He is a regularly invited soloist with the Orchestre Metropolitain, the Orchestre symphonique de Quebec, the Orchestre symphonique de Laval, and the Orchestre symphonique de Longueuil.

Scarlatti's Sonatas are baroque gems, full of sparkling melodies and Spanish swing. Accordionist Philippe Thuriot improvises these enchanting sonatas, breathing new life into them. After explorations of the oeuvre of Bach and Couperin, Thuriot now devotes an entire programme to the keyboard music of Domenico Scarlatti. Although the latter called his sonatas Essercizi per gravicembalo (l'studies for harpsichord'), they are so much more than finger exercises.

This 100% Graubünden production presents the rich musical life of this region with Philippe Bach at the head of the Kammerphilharmonie Graubünden, for a first collaboration with Claves.

Monteverdi’s Fourth Book of Madrigals, published in 1603 after an eleven-year gestation, bears witness to the metamorphosis of the madrigal and the rapid evolution of music at the turn of the two centuries. It is also a model of the genre and may be regarded as one of the most innovative and emblematic of its composer’s style.

Beethoven composed the oratorio Christus am Ölberge (C hrist on the Mount of Olives ) in just ‘a fortnight, amid all sorts of tumult and other unpleasant and alarming events in my life’. It marked the first time since the two ‘imperial cantatas’ of 1790, the Cantata on the Death of the Emperor Joseph II WoO 87 and the Cantata on the Accession of Leopold II WoO 88, that he had embarked on a multi-movement vocal work. Christus am Ölberge was also Beethoven’s first composition on a religious subject and was destined to remain his only oratorio.

Christina Raphaëlle Haldane is thrilled to present Tu me voyais, her first record on Leaf Music set to be released on October 21, 2022. Tu me voyais is the result of the collaboration between Christina Raphaëlle Haldane and Carl Philippe Gionet, along with several other artists, writers, and composers who have contributed their own offerings. This album is anchored around Gionet’s new arrangements of Twelve Acadian Folk Songs, tailored for Haldane’s voice. These re-imaginings are set in the 19th century lieder aesthetic or art song where voice and piano play equal solo parts within the musical architecture.

Famed for his Debussy playing, the pianist Philippe Cassard brings his acute ear for instrumental color to these deceptively simple miniatures. Like Grieg’s Lyric Pieces, Mendelssohn’s Songs Without Words requires a master pianist’s touch, and Cassard is fully up to the challenge. He plays with an accompanist’s sensitivity (he works regularly with the soprano Natalie Dessay) and brushes in the melodies with real skill. His control of line is effortless, and the music simply flows on the wings of song.