Stéphane le Chemin Rework

In 1837 Alkan published a series of twelve pieces, Trois études de bravoure or Improvisations, Op. 12, Trois andantes romantiques, Op. 13, Trois morceaux dans le genre pathétique, Op. 15 and Trois études de bravoure (Scherzi), Op.16. These twelve piano pieces were issued in four volumes under the general title Douze Caprices. The studies that form the first volume had the earlier title Improvisations dans le style brillant, aptly descriptive. The first of the three, with its leaping octaves and sudden modulations, opens the door to a new world, technically and musically. It is followed by a D flat major Allegretto, initially a gentle contrast, although it increases in intensity, before the wistful ending over a sustained pedal-point.

Pour son 3ème album, le chemin de la maison, Emma Daumas a choisi d'écrire son histoire et de s'impliquer comme jamais. En plus de s'être remise à l'écriture et la composition pour préparer les 12 titres de ce nouvel opus, Emma s'est entourée d'intervenants de qualité : Marcel Kanche (auteur pour Bashung, M, Vanessa Paradis) qui lui a écrit la ballade douce amère "Neverland", Peter Von Poehl (ex-guitariste d'AS Dragon et producteur du dernier Vincent Delerm) pour la composition de "Lipstick et Rimmel" ou encore Mickaël Furnon (leader de Mickey 3D devenu Mick est tout seul) : au-delà de l'écriture, ce fût une vraie rencontre entre les deux artistes.

Written in an extremely personal musical language combining medieval polyphony with Debussy's tone colors, Migot's œuvre is an expression of rigorous, humane, and profound thought. In Le zodiaque, one of the great works for piano of the 20th century, this consummately French composer searches to express the spiritual rather than the merely esoteric.

The Leçons de Ténèbres (Lessons of Darkness) became a favourite theme for musical compositions in the middle of the 17th century. Michel Lambert was the first French musician to compose a cycle in 1662, quickly followed by Charpentier and Lalande. But the most famous - and the first to have attracted the public of today and to be recorded - are those of François Couperin, dated 1714.

Having mysteriously disapeared from the current repertory over the past few decades, Gustave Samazeuilh left an attractive body piano works that has drawn the attention of Stéphane Lemelin. A student of Ernest Chausson until that composer's death, Samazeuilh entered the Schola Cantorum in 1900 and studied with Vincent D'Indy and Paul Dukas. Although he always remained faithful to the discipline of craftsmanship he acquired under D'Indy's tutelage, Samazeuilh's style is strongly influenced by Debussy and eschews the academic dryness which often characterizes the work of D'Indy's disciples.

Reinvented for cello and piano by two artists whose reputation is unequivocal, these Images oubliées paint a timeless portrait of a musical legend.

The genre of the mélodie accompanied Fauré like a kind of personal journal. This music voluptuously – and sometimes vehemently – encompasses the meanderings of the soul: dreams, nostalgia, reflections or mirages . . . Stéphane Degout and Alain Planès take advantage of the iridescent tones of an 1892 Pleyel in their interpretation of some of his finest song cycles, including the testamentary L’Horizon chimérique.

The genre of the mélodie accompanied Fauré like a kind of personal journal. This music voluptuously – and sometimes vehemently – encompasses the meanderings of the soul: dreams, nostalgia, reflections or mirages . . . Stéphane Degout and Alain Planès take advantage of the iridescent tones of an 1892 Pleyel in their interpretation of some of his finest song cycles, including the testamentary L’Horizon chimérique.

The genre of the mélodie accompanied Fauré like a kind of personal journal. This music voluptuously – and sometimes vehemently – encompasses the meanderings of the soul: dreams, nostalgia, reflections or mirages . . . Stéphane Degout and Alain Planès take advantage of the iridescent tones of an 1892 Pleyel in their interpretation of some of his finest song cycles, including the testamentary L’Horizon chimérique.

The genre of the mélodie accompanied Fauré like a kind of personal journal. This music voluptuously – and sometimes vehemently – encompasses the meanderings of the soul: dreams, nostalgia, reflections or mirages . . . Stéphane Degout and Alain Planès take advantage of the iridescent tones of an 1892 Pleyel in their interpretation of some of his finest song cycles, including the testamentary L’Horizon chimérique.