Stéphanie Maupas

This album is a story of family and friendship. Positioned between homage to a father figure and modernity, the viola da gamba sonatas of Carl Philipp Emanuel and Johann Christian Bach are a revealing element in the history of the Bach family and its ties of friendship with two families of virtuoso instrumentalists, the Abels and the Hesses, who had already inspired the work of Johann Sebastian.

From the moment Karen Gomyo first heard Astor Piazzolla on disc, at the age of fourteen, she was spellbound: ‘I had never heard such a combination of sensuality, fierceness, playfulness, sadness and nostalgia.’ As a violinist she found the role of the violin in Piazzolla’s music especially inspiring, and soon started playing it herself – first in various group combinations, and eventually together with Piazzolla’s longtime pianist Pablo Ziegler and his Tango Quartet. For the present disc she has chosen to record strings-only versions of three works originally for tango quintet (Seasons), guitar and flute (Histoire), and solo flute (Études).

Celebrating the 160th anniversary of its founding, the Parisian Orchestre Pasdeloup dedicates its new album to two composers who were greatly appreciated by the orchestra's founder Jules Pasdeloup: Hector Berlioz with his orchestral song cycle "Les Nuits d'été" and the cantata "Cléopâtre", and Augusta Holmès (1847-1903), one of only a few female composers who were regularly performed during their lifetime, with her Symphonic Interlude "La Nuit et l'Amour". The popular French mezzo soprano Stephanie d'Oustrac is collaborating with conductor Wolfgang Doerner, who has been a partner of Orchestre Pasdeloup for more than 30 years.

Taiwanese-American pianist Stephanie Shih-yu Cheng has performed at major music centers across the world to critical acclaim, including Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall in New York, Dame Myra Hess Concert Series in Chicago, Opera City Hall of Tokyo, National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C., and National Concert Hall of Taipei. She frequently appears in recitals with pianist Sara Davis Buechner and has collaborated with conductor Leon Fleisher, and has been featured on National Public Radio, WFMT in Chicago, Chicago Loop Cable Channel 25, Radio Video Mediterraneo in Italy, Living & Travel Section of msnbc.com, and Nippon Television in Japan. She can be heard on the Summit label and her solo album Ravel: Masterworks for the Piano is due to be released in spring 2023 on the Centaur label.