Mathieu,Trio & Quintette; Chausson, Concert

Alain Lefèvre

David Lefèvre

Quatuor Alcan

AN2 9286

Release date : February 1st, 2011

With this new Analekta album, pianist Alain Lefèvre offers a rare recording of André Mathieu’s Piano Trio, written more than 15 years after the first recital that was to change the composer’s life forever and of his Piano Quintet, his final work. Alain Lefèvre wants the audience to discover a masterful composer, who privileges a musical language in the tradition of the great French schools, anchored in the 20th century. Chausson’s Concert, a masterwork of the chamber repertoire, is also featured, a true concerto for piano and violin, with the two solo parts projected against the background of a string quartet. Alain Lefèvre is joined here by his brother, violinist David Lefèvre, and members of the Alcan Quartet.

Comprised of two movements that are at once complementary and contrasting, the Piano Trio shows Mathieu at the height of his powers. “With this work, the composer has entered the pantheon of great composers. The piece does not merely repeat what those before him have said, it says what only Mathieu can say, and he expresses it in a language whose syntax is the very image of the work’s spiritual substance,” wrote Jean Vallerand, respected music critic for Le Devoir, after hearing the work performed in 1952.

Mathieu’s last masterwork, spangled with remarkable technical difficulties, the Piano Quintet employs contrasts, even within sections, that oscillate between powerful drama and an almost naïve charm.

A dense and virtuosic work, representative of Chausson’s writing, the Concert was premiered in Brussels in 1892 by Belgian violinist Eugène Ysaÿe (its dedicatee), the members of the Ysaÿe Quartet, and pianist Auguste Pierret. It soon was to become a most popular work.
 
Acclaimed as a “hero” (Los Angeles Times), a “spectacular pianist” (Fanfare), and a “smashing performer” (Washington Post), Montreal pianist Alain Lefèvre pursues a sparkling international career. Chevalier of the National Order of Quebec and Chevalier of the Pléiade Order, Alain Lefèvre is also winner of seven Felix Awards. He has revived the music of André Mathieu, forgotten genius, composer and pianist once called the “Canadian Mozart”. Alain Lefèvre won a JUNO Award 2010 for his recording with the London Mozart Players, featuring the CD premiere of André Mathieu’s Concertino No.2.

Violinist David Lefèvre is hailed for his talent, passion and musical versatility. While pursuing his solo and chamber music career, David Lefèvre was Principal Concertmaster with the Orchestre national du Capitole de Toulouse from 1993 to 1999. He is currently holding the same position with the Orchestre philharmonique de Monte-Carlo and is Guest Concertmaster of the Lisbon Gulbenkian Orchestra.

The Alcan Quartet — violinists Laura Andriani and Nathalie Camus, violist Luc Beauchemin, and cellist David Ellis — has developed a reputation for excellence throughout Canada and internationally since its formation over twenty years ago. The quartet’s originality, contagious enthusiasm, unique sonority, and remarkable cohesion have all contributed to its long term success. Critics agree that, both on stage and in the recording studio, the Alcan Quartet possesses the qualities that characterize the best ensembles of its kind: a recognizable personality, a homogeneous sound, and elegant style.

Brillance

Duo Gaulin-Riverin

AN2 9953

Release date : January 25, 2011

The Duo Gaulin-Riverin presents its first album under the Analekta label. Saxophonist Mathieu Gaulin and pianist Jacynte Riverin are committed to present the varied repertoire for saxophone and piano.  The musicians wanted Brillance to become an eclectic panorama of pieces that European and American composers have dedicated to the ensemble throughout the 20th century.

The Duo Gaulin-Riverin chose to perform cornerstones of the American repertoire by Paul Creston and William Albright as well as Fernande Breilh-Decruck’s Sonata in C sharp, Ida Gotkovsky’s Brillance, a 1993 virtuoso work by Piet Swerts and two light works by Jean Matitia and Rudy Wiedoeft.

Saxophonist Mathieu Gaulin is active on several scenes, including classical, contemporary and jazz performance, in addition to teaching and composing. His mentors were Jean-François Guay, André Pelchat, and Jean-Marie Londeix. An established soloist and chamber musician of classical and contemporary repertoire, Jacynthe Riverin holds degrees from the Conservatoire de musique du Québec à Montréal and Université Laval and continues her studies with Dominique Weber in Geneva.

Able to adopt a brilliant – one could even say athletic – register, as well as to dissolve in emotion resembling that of the human voice, the saxophone has turned out to be one of the most versatile of wind instruments. It surprises, seduces, and its power blends marvellously with that of the piano, which becomes an astonishingly complementary partner.

Selections

James Ehnes

AN2 9768

Release date : January 25, 2011

Analekta launches today a compilation of James Ehnes’ best musical moments available previously on the label. A subtle and unusually versatile interpreter, recipient of a Grammy and six Junos, violinist James Ehnes is the youngest Fellow ever to be elected to the Royal Society of Canada and was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada in November 2010.

The compilation Selections / The Best of James Ehnes includes excerpts from Johann Sebastian Bach’s Partitas for solo violin, for which the violinist received the title of “young artist of the year” at the Cannes Classical Awards. James Ehnes considers Fritz Kreisler’s pieces jewels of the violin repertoire. Here we hear him in the celebrated Liebesfreud and Liebeslied (Love’s Joy and Love’s Sorrow) and the Chinese Tambourine. In addition, the violinist interprets two tender works of Antonín Dvořák: one of his Romantic Pieces and the slow movement of his delicate Sonatina. In an altogether different register, Ehnes displays passion and sensitivity in two radiant works by Camille Saint-Saëns, his Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso and his Havanaise, as well as the intensely lyrical Meditation from Thaïs by Jules Massenet.

Since starting out at the age of four, James Ehnes has blowned away the classical music world with his exceptionnal technique and musicianship. Nicknamed the “Jasha Heifetz of our day” by The Globe and Mail, he has performed in over 30 countries, in recital and under the direction of the most eminent conductors. His impressive discography includes more than 25 albums featuring a vast repertoire.

Exclusively Available through Online Stores

Discover the new album by Valérie Milot and Antoine Bareil, as well as a re-edition of the acclaimed Christmas Greatest Songs and the 25 Christmas Classical Songs compilation

Even if Christmas and the end-of-the-year holidays are naturally associated with tradition, Analekta is taking advantage of the period to innovate by launching three Christmas albums offered exclusively by download, available as of today on digital stores throughout the world and on www.analekta.com.

The first, Christmas Fantasies, a new album of duets for harp and violin, offers a whole new sound to certain classics, thanks to refined accompaniments. It puts in the spotlight the young harpist, Valérie Milot, the first harpist to win the 2008 Prix d’Europe in the competition’s 200 years of existence and Révélation Radio-Canada Musique 2009-2010, as well as the violinist Antoine Bareil, laureate of numerous prizes since the beginning of his career. This album contains five melodies, including Franz Gruber’s ageless Silent Night, here arrayed with an elegant accompaniment reminiscent of music boxes, the plainchant Veni, veni Emmanuel and Are You Going to Scarborough Fair?. The arrangements were entrusted to Antoine Bareil, whose creations have been performed by groups such as the Aspekte Ensemble für Neue Musik, the Salzburger Kammerakademie, the Salzburg Chamber Soloists and Angèle Dubeau & La Pietà.

Analekta also offers the re-edition of Christmas Greatest Songs and a compilation of 25 Christmas Songs. The former includes the traditional Oh Holy Night, Il est né le divin Enfant, Adeste Fideles, Oh Christmas Tree, as well as Schubert’s and Gounod’s Ave Maria. In the latter, you will find melodies by Bach such as Jesus, Joy of Man’s Desiring, extracts from Charpentier’s Noëls pour les instruments and traditional carols including The First Nowell, The Little Drummer Boy and Angels We Have Heard On High. They are performed by some of the most renowned Canadian artists, including Angèle Dubeau & La Pietà, Lyne Fortin, the Orchestre symphonique de Québec, Masques and the Petits Chanteurs du  Mont-Royal.

These three albums of various atmospheres are bound to find a treasured place in your Christmas music collection.

NOËL

AN 2 8730

ANGELE DUBEAU  & LA PIETA

Release date: November 2, 2010

Angèle Dubeau is happy to offer you her very first Christmas album in a career spanning over 30 years. Here, through works associated with Christmas Eve, she is offering a musical celebration, a true voyage through a world of diverse origins and traditions, filled with kindness and tenderness.

Accompanied by the musicians from La Pietà, Angèle Dubeau designed a musical tour that will take you to Finland, with Armas Toivo Valdemar Maasalo’s The Bells of Christmas and one of Jean Sibelius’ songs, to Italy with idyllic concertos to the “holy birth” by Giuseppe Torelli and Antonio Vivaldi, to France with traditional carols, to Germany with a pastoral concerto by Johann Melchior Molter, to Austria with Franz Xaver Gruber’s eternal Silent Night, to the United Kingdom with John Ireland’s touching The Holy Boy and to Russia with a rare recording of Alexander Glazunov’s “Christmas Singers.” Angèle Dubeau & La Pietà also perform the lullaby “Sleep, Holy Infant” from Dave Brubeck’s Christmas cantata, La Fiesta de la Posada, written to a text by his wife, Iola Brubeck and arranged by Russell Gloyd especially for Angèle Dubeau. Upon hearing the recording, Mr. Brubeck’s reaction was: “This is fantastic. She is playing from her heart.” Canadian composer Kelly-Marie Murphy’s Huron Carol Interlude is also featured. “This is a wonderfully performed and produced interpretation of Huron Carol Interlude. The sound is rich and full, with a perfect sense of pacing and colour”, she said.

With this album Angèle Dubeau comes back to renew the Holiday Spirit and invites you to a Christmas that will wrap you up in sweet harmony and inner peace.

An artist of rare versatility considered one of the most prominent violin virtuosos in Canada, for over 30 years Angèle Dubeau has had a dazzling career in the great concert halls of the world. With a string of some 30 recordings, many concerts with renowned orchestras and as the conductor of her own ensemble, her talent, passion and musicality have won her uncommon acclaim. She is the only Canadian classical musician to have been awarded two gold records for sales exceeding 50,000 albums sold in one year and has already succeeded in selling over 450,000 discs, an unheard-of exploit and an accomplishment that she continues to improve on, making her the most famous Canadian classical musician in the field. In 1997, she founded Angèle Dubeau & La Pietà, a string ensemble with piano, consisting of women, which she conducts and acts as their artistic director. Her abundant production and the astounding number of tours, both in Canada and abroad, bear testimony to the great talent of this extraordinary musician.

PAX: GREGORIAN CHANT

AN 2 9776

LES MOINES DE L’ABBAYE DE ST-BENOIT

Release date : October 26, 2010

By their teaching, their recordings and, especially, by the example they have set for more than 75 years, the monks of Saint-Benoît Abbey have been the most dynamic proponents of the Solesmes’ style of chanting started a century ago. After having launched a new edition of Cantus Mariales: Medieval Sacred Chants to the Virgin Mary, almost 15 years after his first release, Analekta is proud to reissue Pax, a truly timely gift in our days and age, a message standing at the very heart of the Benedictine monks’ motto.

The Benedictine monastery of Saint-Benoît-du-Lac was founded in 1912 in Southeastern Québec by the French abbey of Saint Wandrille, part of the Saint Pierre de Solesmes congregation. As spiritual descendants of Saint Benedict, further drawing their inspiration from Dom Prosper Guéranger, the monks of Saint-Benoît approach the Liturgy with the greatest of care. As do the monks of Solesmes, they pay special attention to the way prayer is sung in the incomparable tradition of Gregorian chant.

BEETHOVEN: TRIOS AVEC PIANO

OP. 70, NO. 1 “GHOST”

OP. 70, NO. 2

OP. 11

AN 2 9860

GRYPHON TRIO

Release date : October 26, 2010

Hailed by audience and critics alike, both in Canada and on the international scene, the Gryphon Trio is just as much at ease performing the contemporary repertoire – notably through commissions and premieres of new works – as it is playing classical masterworks. This recording is the last in the series devoted by the Gryphon Trio to Beethoven’s Piano Trios. (Their previous recording on the ANALEKTA label featured trios Op. 1 No. 2 and Op. 97.)

Although Beethoven abandoned a planned opera on Shakespeare’s Macbeth, a clue as to what the music might have sounded like survives in the mysterious slow movement of his Piano Trio Op. 70 No. 1, called by Carl Czerny “an appearance from the underworld” – thus earning the trio the nickname “Ghost.”

Op. 70, No. 2 explores another world entirely, that of subtle emotions and classical restraint. It integrates Mozart’s and Haydn’s resources, with results that in the end transcend all influences.

Op. 11 actually began its life as a trio for clarinet, cello and piano, before being published for either clarinet or violin, the two parts being nearly identical. The three movements of this light and cheerful work all end with a bit of a surprise.

Formed in 1993, the Gryphon Trio continues to delight audiences around the globe with their highly refined and dynamic performances. Based in Toronto, the Trio tours regularly throughout Canada, the United States, and Europe. Their celebrated recordings include works by Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Mendelssohn, Dvorak, Lalo and Shostakovich. With a strong commitment to expanding the piano trio repertoire, the Trio has commissioned and premiered over 50 works. The trio members are violinist Annalee Patipatanakoon, cellist Roman Borys  and pianist Jamie Parker.

REFLECTIONS ON SPAIN

AN 2 9963

LOUISE BESSETTE, PIANO

Release date : October 5, 2010

After having devoted her previous recording to Olivier Messiaen, pianist Louise Bessette takes on a totally different musical journey, with a program of Spanish works.

This album juxtaposes works by Ernesto Lecuona (his popular Andalucía suite, featuring the contagious ” Malagueña”), Isaac Albéniz (a tango), Federico Mompou (its spellbinding The Fountain and the Bell) and Joaquín Turina (his sometimes rough, sometimes expressive Danzas gitanas). Louise Bessette also performs Soleá, an homage to Turina composed in 1982 for his 100th anniversary of birth by Tomás Marco, a student of Boulez, Stockhausen, Ligeti and Adorno, and the Nuevas monodías españolas, a  new reading of 21 traditional Spanish songs, mainly Castilian,  by composer José Evangelista, a Montreal resident since 1970.

An exhilarating and elegant concert pianist, Louise Bessette stands out as one of the preeminent performers of music from our times. Her combination of eclectic repertory and impeccable delivery has earned Louise Bessette several of the most prestigious honours, including the First Prize at the Concours International de Musique ontemporaine in Saint-Germain-en- Laye (France, 1986), and both the First Prize and the Special Prize in piano at the International Gaudeamus Competition (Rotterdam, 1989), as well as two recent Prix Opus as “Performer of the year”, and “Musical event of the year” for Automne Messiaen 2008. Whether in recital or as a soloist with orchestras or chamber formations, Louise Bessette makes regular guest appearances in concert halls throughout Europe and America. Most recently, she was invited as a guest performer and teacher at the 4th International Piano Festival of Shanghai. She has made twenty recordings, and has contributed to the advancement and dissemination of new music by her noted participation in international music festivals and by the premiere performances she offers of works specially written for her .

GARDENS OF SPAIN

AN 2 9972

LYNE FORTIN, SOPRANO

ESTHER GONTHIER, PIANO

Release date : October 5, 2010

As one of Canada's foremost sopranos, Lyne Fortin is as much at ease on the greatest operas stages that as guest with orchestras or in recital. Here, she invites us on a visit of the Gardens of Spain, in a program that includes new takes on popular old songs dressed up in the shades of Joaquín Nin or Fernando Obradors, as well as troublingly beautiful young girls whom Richard Strauss transforms into flowers.

At the end of the 19th century, moved by a burgeoning of national sentiment and becoming fully aware of the musical genius emerging from their land—a realization magnified even further by Spanish-styled works from the French composers Delibes, Bizet, Lalo, Chabrier, and Ravel—Spanish musicians finally achieved emancipation. Spanish folklore began to appear in works, numerous regional references were employed and Castilian, Catalonian, and Andalusian traditions were linked. At the same time, Hugo Wolf set 44 Spanish poems of the 16th and 17th centuries to music. “What I am writing now, I write for the future,” wrote Wolf in a letter. “There has not been anything like it since Schubert and Schumann.”
Lyne Fortin leads an exceptional career. She has appeared with the Opéra de Montréal in the title roles of Agrippina, Thais, La Traviata and Roméo et Juliette and, in Europe, with the Vlaamse Opera as Madame de Tourvel in the world premiere of a new opera based on Dangerous Liaisons and as Madame Lidoine in Dialogues of the Carmelites. She appeared in the Canadian premiere of McCartney's Liverpool Oratorio on CBC Television and can also be heard on a Christmas recording with the Orchestre symphonique de Québec for which she received a “Felix” at the ADISQ Gala and a recording of Mozart arias for Analekta.
Following her studies at the Université Laval and the Université de Montréal, Esther Gonthier perfected her vocal coaching technique in France under Janine Reiss. Since that time, she is actively pursuing her activities as a coach, concert pianist and choir master.

ANALEKTA’S EXCELLENCE SALUTED IN ITS NUMBER OF ADISQ NOMINATIONS

1O NOMINATIONS INCLUDING PRODUCER & LABEL OF THE YEAR

Nominations for Angèle Dubeau & La Pietà, Ensemble Caprice, André Laplante, Luc Beauséjour, Valérie Milot as well as two nominations for Alain Lefèvre

PRIZES WILL BE PRESENTED ON NOVEMBER 1

Analekta is proud to announce that it has received 10 ADISQ nominations, among them “Producer of the Year”, “Label of the Year” and “Internet Site of the year,” category in which the label won a Felix in 2009, following the launch of its brand new Website.
In the category “Album of the Year: Soloist and Small Ensemble”, we find André Laplante’s heartfelt interpretation of the first of Liszt’s Années de pélerinage (Switzerland), Concert parisien with Luc Beauséjour, Hélène Plouffe, Grégoire Geay and Juan Manuel Quintana, featuring French music of the 1740s as well as Valérie Milot’s first album. The young harpist is the winner of important competitions and Radio-Canada Musique Revelation for the year 2009-2010.
In the category “Classical album of the Year: Orchestra and Large Ensemble”, exceptional musicians receive new nominations: Angèle Dubeau & La Pietà, the Ensemble Caprice as well as Alain Lefèvre, David Lefèvre and the London Mozart Players. The ADISQ wanted to salute the remarkable work by Angèle Dubeau & La Pietà on the album Arvo Pärt : Portrait, natural follow-up to the one highlighting music of Philip Glass, winner of a Félix in 2009. Brothers Alain and David Lefèvre, winners of a Félix in the “Album of the Year: Soloist and Small Ensemble” category last year, are nominated this time with the London Mozart Players for their recording of concertos by Mendelssohn, Shostakovich and Mathieu. Ensemble Caprice’s effervescent album Telemann and the Baroque Gypsies has also been noticed.
Alain Lefèvre is also nominated in the “Album of the year – instrumental” category for Jardin d’images (Picture Garden), the pianist’s fourth album of compositions.
In the category “Classical album of the year – vocal,” the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal under the direction of Kent Nagano is nominated for the album Das Lied von der Erde (The Song of the Earth), featuring Mahler’s magisterial work, an album Analekta has commercialised for the Canadian market.
With these nominations, ANALEKTA confirms the unique position it holds in the Canadian classical music market and maintains its standing as one of the most important recording houses in Quebec, all categories taken together.
ADISQ (Association de l’industrie du disque, du spectacle et de la vidéo), in its 32nd year of existence, will announce the names of the winners at a gala hosted by Rémi-Pierre Paquin, at Metropolis in Montreal, November 1, at 7:30 p.m. (to be broadcast on MusiquePlus, Musimax starting and on the Web at 8 p.m.)

SALSA BAROQUE

AN 2 9957

ENSEMBLE CAPRICE

MATTHIAS MAUTE

Release date : September 7, 2010

Montreal, September 7 2010 ― Under the artistic direction of Matthias Maute and Sophie Larivière, Ensemble Caprice is renowned for its innovative interpretations of baroque music. After hailed recordings devoted to Vivaldi’s Gloria and the ties between the composer and the music of the Gypsies, Ensemble Caprice now features music from 17th and 18th centuries Latin America and Spain in Salsa baroque.

One can describe baroque music of Latin America as a fusion of harmonies and rhythms of Europe and Africa blended with Amerindian nuances and styles. On this album are featured some anonymous works but also pieces by Gaspar Fernandes, Juan de Araujo, Henry de Bailly, Domenico Zipoli, Antonio de Salazar, Santiago de Murcia and Juan García de Zéspedes.

Originally formed in Germany in 1989, Ensemble Caprice is now well established in Montreal. Since its inception, it has received national and international acclaim for their performances of early music. The ensemble continues to give concerts in Europe, and is regularly invited to participate in such early music festivals as those in Bruges in Belgium, Utrecht in the Netherlands, and in Germany the Händel Festival in Halle and the Recorder Festival in Stockstadt. In May of 2009 the ensemble performed at the Internationale Händel-Festspiele in Göttingen. Ensemble Caprice has also toured in Israel and Taiwan. Ensemble Caprice’s CD Gloria! Vivaldi’s Angels (Analekta) won a prestigious Juno Award in 2009. The ensemble’s CD Vivaldi and the Baroque Gypsies (Analekta) was nominated for a 2009 Echo Klassik award in Germany in two categories: Ensemble/Orchestra of the Year and Classics without Borders. The ensemble was also awarded a Prix Opus by the Conseil québécois de la musique, and the Conseil des arts de Montréal awarded them their Audience Appreciation Prize (2008-2009) and Grand Prix de Montréal Finalist (2010).

WOLF: ITALIENISCHES LIEDERBUCH

ITALIAN SONGBOOK

AN 2 9956

DANIEL LICHTI, BASS-BARITONE

CATHERINE ROBBIN, MEZZO-SOPRANO

LESLIE DE’ATH, PIANO

Release date : September 7, 2010

Montreal, September 7 2010 ― As part of a widely-toured duo recital program entitled “Songs of Venus and Mars” with mezzo-soprano Catherine Robbin and pianist Leslie De’Ath, bass-baritone Daniel Lichti sang several of the songs from Wolf’s Italienisches Liederbuch. To prolong the magic felt on the concert stage, the partners quite naturally decided to record the collection.
 
The miniature vignettes of the Italian Songbook constitute Wolf’s last major contribution to the lied, before his early death. The poems all preoccupy themselves with a wide gamut of male / female relationships and emotions, from flippancy to despair, complaint to provocation, intimacy and passion to adulation and reverence. Thus, the collection invites performance as a unit, with two singers alternating songs in a loose dramatic chronicle. The collaborators have seen fit to follow the lead of Irmgard Seefried, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, and their accompanist Erik Werba, who employed the same ordering of songs in their 1958 Salzburg Festival performance.

One of Canada’s best-known mezzo-sopranos, Catherine Robbin has established an international reputation since her debut in 1972, performing with leading conductors throughout the world. Ms. Robbin’s illustrious thirty-year performing career included performances in concert halls from Rome to Tokyo. Throughout her career, Ms. Robbin has been the recipient of numerous awards and honours, including a Juno Award, a Grand Prix du Disque and a Grammy nomination.

Acclaimed as one of Canada’s finest concert and oratorio singers, bass-baritone Daniel Lichti continues to perform internationally with prominent orchestras and choral organizations.  He was nominated for a Juno Award in 1992 for Songs of Hugo Wolf in the Category “Best Classical Album: Solo or Chamber Ensemble”.

Leslie De’Ath is a Canadian pianist, conductor, author, chamber player, vocal coach and accompanist, who enjoys a varied career as both performer and pedagogue. He and Daniel Lichti are also featured on an Analekta release (AN 2 9921) of Schubert’s Winterreise.