Borne: Fantaisie Brillante sur des airs de Carmen - CD

Cathy Berberian, avant-garde cult diva of the 70s, leading a unique and highly entertaining programme of vocal and instrumental Belle Epoque gems from David Popper, Gioachino Rossini to Anton Rubinstein, Gabriel Fauré and Reynaldo Hahn – served with ironic delicacy and assisted by Bruno Canino (piano), Ludwig Boettcher (cello) and Karlheinz Zöller (flute). A true Electrola Collection find, never released on CD before!

This is the fifth album in our list from the fantastic Kenneth Smith and Paul Rhodes partnership. Here we have a programme of well-loved pieces for flute and piano (with some arrangements) to produce an album which can be listened to intently (as all good music should) or enjoyed as a backdrop to any social occasion. Timeless concert classics for all to enjoy, and incredible playing too.

TRAVELING SONATA: An adventurous program of European masterworks for flute and guitar, from scintillating young artists VIVIANA GUZMÁN and JÉRÉMY JOUVE. Their outstanding performances have been captured brilliantly by Grammy®-winning recording engineer Keith O. Johnson. A winner for all audiophiles and music lovers!

This album is a musical journey full of emotion, from the soothing and mellow music of Faure and Satie to the driving excitement of ”Bolero” and “Carmen,” to the thrilling modern music of Dyens, Duplessy and Ourkouzounov.

Few instruments are as adept as the clarinet at imitating the sound of the human voice in its whole range of vocal expression. This has been especially true since the Romantic period: time and again composers have had recourse to the clarinet whenever they wanted to evoke an emotional – but unsentimental – mood or to create the sort of atmosphere of dreamy otherworldliness that is associated with the hours of twilight: here one thinks especially of Carl Maria von Weber in Germany and of Berlioz in France. Nicola Jürgensen goes a step further – “into the night” – in her present programme, Dans la nuit, which takes its title from a song by Reynaldo Hahn. The clarinettist, who has appeared as a soloist with many leading European orchestras, while also making a name for herself as a chamber recitalist at international music festivals such as Risør and Lockenhaus, has adapted these 19th- and early 20th-century French works for her instrument and recorded them with the pianist Matthias Kirschnereit. Well-known and lesser-known songs by Berlioz, Hahn, Fauré and Poulenc feature here alongside more dramatic and virtuoso pieces. The result of this unexpected instrumental union is a living impression of the Paris salons of the belle époque, captured in stylish interpretations. Who would have thought that Saint-Saëns’s 'Introduction et Rondo capriccioso' could sound as brilliantly effective on the clarinet as it does in its original version for the violin? Nicola Jürgensen has garnered equally enthusiastic reviews for her work in the world of the modern music theatre – she has already been heard onstage as Eva in Stockhausen’s 'Michaels Reise um die Erde' at the Vienna Festival and in other leading centres of music. François Borne’s 'Fantaisie brillante on themes from Bizet’s Carmen' is a cleverly compiled potpourri that maintains the drama of its source and holds its own even when compared with the original version for flute, at least as interpreted here by Nicola Jürgensen. A further operatic melody originally scored for the violin is the famous “Méditation” from Massenet’s opera 'Thaïs', which rounds off an outstanding release on a note of mellifluous inwardness.

The Emanuel Ensemble - a flexible chamber group - here present an enticing recital programme for flute, ʻcello & piano, showcasing the undoubted talents of these three acclaimed young players.

The brilliant ʻcellist Louisa Tuck is the youngest Principal of any UK orchestra, and in addition to the Trio repertoire on this disc she also performs Schumannʼs Adagio & Allegro for ʻcello & piano, with the sought-after young pianist John Reid. Requiring considerable virtuosity in the concluding portion, and a projection of dreamy Romantic feeling in the opening, this work is of a perfect two-part structure.

Anna Stokes, a much in-demand flautist, takes the solo role too, in Borneʼs bravura Fantasie Brilliante, composed on themes from Bizetʼs Carmen - its high point the increasingly flashy variations on the celebrated Habenera theme.

This exuberant CD opens with Piazollaʼs La muerte del Angel, and its decisive, thrusting climax sets up the rest of the disc. Gaubertʼs souful Piece Romantique (also written for the CDʼs central combination of flute, ʻcello and piano) has a lyric charm and an eventide contentment; in stark contrast to the joyous Trio by Nikolai Kapustin.

Seemingly improvisatory, this three-movement piece works out its themes thoroughly and fantastically, with walking basses, hypnotic ostinatos, and ʻsolo spotsʼ for each instrument. In turns languidly nostalgic and capricious, this jazz-based Trio is one of the most popular works of Kapustinʼs output, and rounds off with an insouciant and irresistible display of animal vitality.

As Louise Farrencʼs work is being rediscovered, it looks as though she may have been the most important female composer of the first half of the 19th century. Her Trio in E minor, performed by the Emanuel Ensemble for this recital, is written in full classical sonata form, showing considerable contrapuntal artistry. The work concludes in effervescent high spirits, bringing proceedings to a close in high good humour.

Chicago Symphony Orchestra principal flutist, Mathieu Dufour, conceived this smartly programmed disc of late 19th/early 20th-century flute fantasies from his native France. He performs with the highly regarded Chicago-based pianist Kuang-Hao Huang.

Fantaisie combines CD rarities, such as Phillippe Gaubert’s Fantaisie and Albert Franz Doppler’s Fantaisie Pastorale Hongroise, with flute enthusiast-favorites including Gabriel Fauré’s Fantaisie, Op. 79, and Francois Borne’s Fantaisie Brillante on Themes from Bizet’s Carmen.

The CD combines virtuosic pieces written for the annual, competitive Concours examination at the Paris Conservatory — the fantasies by Fauré, Gaubert, and Georges Hüe — and works that elaborate on opera themes and folk tunes: the fantasies by Doppler and Borne plus Paul Taffanel’s Fantaisie on Themes From Weber’s Der Freischütz, one of the greatest opera fantasies for any instrument.

Mathieu Dufour, principal flute of the Chicago Symphony since 1999, is “one of the world’s most admired — and coveted — flutists” (Chicago Sun-Times). He was appointed CSO principal at age 25, making him one of the youngest players ever to hold such a position. Before that, he was principal flutist of the Paris National Opera and Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse.

The flute fantasies include Fernand de Borne’s Carmen Fantasy and Albert Fanz Doppler and Karl Doppler’s Fantasie et variations sur des motifs de l’opera Rigoletto. The trios are by Haydn, Hummel, Gyrowetz and Weber. This is a new package available at a special price.

This outstanding new recording is certain to have a wide appeal to all lovers of the flute. In this carefully chosen programme, Miriam Terragni shows herself to be a complete virtuoso musician in playing a wide selection of music, mainly from the 19th-century, which has been chosen to represent a school of brilliant composer-instrumentalists who contributed much to the repertoire. Many of the pieces are based upon well-known operas of the day, notably by Verdi, and reveal an aspect of music-making of yesteryear which has too long been overlooked. She is wonderfully partnered by Catherine Sarasin and we are proud to present this CD which will certainly come to be recognised as one of the most important records of music for flute and piano to have been issued in many years.