Selina Ott / En-Chia Lin HONEGGER - GLIÈRE - WASSILENKO - DESENCLOS - SUTERMEISTER

 

HONEGGER - GLIÈRE - WASSILENKO - DESENCLOS - SUTERMEISTER

 

Melody Louledjian / Antoine Palloc FLEURS

 

FLEURS

Jonian Ilias Kadesha / Vashti Hunter A JOURNEY FOR TWO

A JOURNEY FOR TWO

Baltic Chamber Orchestra / Emmanuel Leducq-Barôme SCHOENBERG Verklärte Nacht Op.4 - HONEGGER Symphony No. 2

Schoenberg’s early String Sextet ‘Verklärte Nacht’ (Transfigured Night) op.4 dates from 1899. He made the arrangement for string orchestra in 1943. It is a work heavily indebted to Wagner, and especially ‘Tristan und Isolde’ although the unique voice of Schoenberg is already apparent.

‘Gurrelieder’ and ‘Pelleas und Melisande’ would bring the curtain down on his late romantic period and the daring atonal music that has caused him to remain a musical bogey man for many would follow. Verklärte Nacht is a wonderful, intensely moving work and the ideal introduction to this great composer.

Honegger , famous today for his depiction in music of an express steam locomotive ‘Pacific 231’ and the game of rugby in the eponymous work for orchestra composed five symphonies. The second is scored for strings and trumpet . Composed for Paul Sacher and his Basel Chamber Orchestra it was written during the darkest years of World War II. The Nazis had banned Honegger’s music and he was branded as ‘leftist’, composing music for films for resistance cinema. It is a powerful work with a lament -like central slow movement and an energetic choral theme in the finale providing a sense of triumphant resolution.

The Baltic Chamber Orchestra’s first release for Rubicon – Strauss Metamophosen and Shostakovich Chamber Symphony was praised by the BBC Music Magazine and made an orchestral CD of the month upon release. This new album looks set to receive a similarly positive reception.

Emmanuel Pahud SOLO

Interweaving the Baroque era and the 20th and 21st centuries, the newest addition to Emmanuel Pahud's Warner Classics catalogue is an imaginative 2-CD collection of music for unaccompanied flute. Among the composers are Telemann, Nielsen, Honegger, Varèse, Berio, Takemitsu, Pärt, Pintscher and Widmann. "Most of the pieces are about exploring new paths," says Pahud. "The power of this music often lies in the contrast between a simple line and the most refined complexities, between a note so quiet as to be barely perceptible and the loudest, most extreme notes playable on the instrument."

Julie Fuchs / Samuel Jean / Orchestre de Lille YES!

Hailed for her "generous temperament" and "agile and radiant voice", French soprano Julie Fuchs is a rising star in the operatic world.

Named Opera Artist of the Year at the Victoires de la Musique Awards and 2nd prize winner in Operalia 2013, Ms Fuchs has an exclusive long-term contract with Universal/Deutsche Grammophon, with whom she recorded her first solo disc of French Arias with the Orchestre National de Lille in 2015: "Yes" will be released on the 11th of September 2015, with a second disc planned for 2016. 

Ms Fuchs has several important house and role debuts planned. At the start of the 15-16 season she makes her Paris Opera debut as La Folie in the Laurent Pelly production of Platée (conducted by Minkowski) and later that season makes her Bayerische Staatsoper Munich debut as Musetta in La bohème. In 16-17 Julie will make her debut at the Wiener Staatsoper and sing Marie in La fille du régiment in Lausanne. Other engagements include significant roles at the Opera Comique, Teatro Real Madrid, Opera d'Avignon, as well as returns to the Theatre des Champs Elysees, Aix-en-Provence Festival, to the Paris Opera in a major new production in the 16-17 season, and several major roles at the Opernhaus Zurich.

As a member of the Opernhaus Zurich, Julie's roles have included Musetta, Rita, Marzelline in Fidelio (conducted by Fabio Luisi), Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro, Morgana in Alcina alongside Bartoli (conducted by Antonini) and Rosane in La verità in cimento. 

On 14 July 2015 Julie performed to over 700,000 people in " Le Concert de Paris " with the Orchestre National de Paris at the Eiffel Tower  in an all-star line-up for Bastille Day. The concert, which also starred Joyce DiDonato and Bryn Terfel, was conducted by Maestro Daniele Gatti and broadcast live on French TV and transmitted across Paris.