Rameau Tharaud

For his first recording on the Alpha label, Sergey Kasprov, a young Russian artist trained at the Moscow Conservatory, defies the laws of time. He has in fact chosen to create a dialogue between great Baroque geniuses and Russian Romantics: Rameau, Lully, Loeillet, Bach and Scarlatti revised by Tausig, Godowsky and Rachmaninov.In the tradition of Marcelle Meyer, Glenn Gould or, more recently, Alexandre Tharaud, Sergey Kasprov pulls off the tour de force of freeing himself from Baroque interpretative codes and, at the same time, from those of the 19th century, to better get back to the essential.The excellent recording quality attests ideally to the discourse, respectful of the original counterpoint as well as unfailing digital dexterity necessitated by appropriate ornamentation and the amazing sound palette required by late Romanticism, all on a Steinway contemporary with Rachmaninov.

For his first recording on the Alpha label, Sergei Kasprov, a young Russian artist trained at the Moscow Conservatory, defies the laws of time. He has in fact chosen to create a dialogue between great Baroque geniuses and Russian Romantics: Rameau, Lully, Loeillet, Bach and Scarlatti revised by Tausig, Godowsky and Rachmaninov.

Grab your binoculars! The Great Backyard Bird Count will be held from 17th to 20th February, co-organized by major ornithological institutions including the Laboratory of Cornell University and the Audubon Society. Spot the birds in your garden and share the results with this program to help scientists know more about bird populations. Everyone can take part! For this special occasion, and as birdsongs were a major source of inspiration for composers since the dawn of humanity, we release this collection of fifty classical tunes related to birds. It includes works by composers from Rameau and Haydn to Ravel and Schoenberg, and features Emmanuel Pahud, Mariss Jansons, Maria João Pires, Alexandre Tharaud, Lily Laskine, Ton Koopman and many more…

Claude Debussy (born Achille-Claude Debussy) was among the most influential composers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. His mature compositions, distinctive and appealing, combined modernism and sensuality so successfully that their sheer beauty often obscures their technical innovation. Debussy is considered the founder and leading exponent of musical Impressionism (although he resisted the label), and his adoption of non-traditional scales and tonal structures was paradigmatic for many composers who followed. The son of a shopkeeper and a seamstress, Debussy began piano studies at the Paris Conservatory at the age of 11. While a student there, he encountered the wealthy Nadezhda von Meck (most famous as Tchaikovsky's patroness), who employed him as a music teacher to her children; through travel, concerts and acquaintances, she provided him with a wealth of musical experience. Most importantly, she exposed the young Debussy to the works of Russian composers, such as Borodin and Mussorgsky, who would remain important influences on his music.

The British music magazine Gramophone wrote about Martin James Bartlett's album Rhapsody from 2022: "It shows an outstanding piano talent in top form with a repertoire for which he clearly has an affinity". T