Philippe Katerinetotal à L'ouest

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.

This recording includes an excellent selection from Beethoven’s many settings of Irish folksongs, with imaginative new arrangements of his accompaniments, rescored for more traditional instruments than the original piano, violin and cello. His settings are interspersed with more conventional versions of Irish and Scottish folk tunes taken from other sources. These help to highlight his remarkable ingenuity, which preserves the original character of the folksongs while elevating them to a much higher level of interest.

Based on concerts presented in Spain and France countertenors Philippe Jaroussky and Max Emanuel Cencic have joined with William Christie and the Les Arts Florissants to produce this CD of duets written for countertenors.