Orchestre National des Pays de la Loire / Pascal Rophé ALBERT ROUSSEL Le festin de l'araignée PAUL DUKAS L'apprenti sorcier - Polyeucte Overture

                                                               ALBERT ROUSSEL - PAUL DUKAS

Richard Watkins / Julius Drake THE ROMANTIC HORN

This recording represents a selection of some of the most well-loved works for the horn. As our repertoire is relatively small, it seemed an ideal opportunity to select a programme of music from most European countries. The romantic horn was a fairly obvious title, given that all the works highlight the lyrical side of the horn—which is, essentially, what the instrument does best. I have always had a soft spot for Hunter’s moon—Gilbert Vinter being a leading figure in the light music movement, at its height in the 40s and 50s, but sadly now out of fashion. Finally, this project was the perfect opportunity to celebrate my collaboration over many years with Julius Drake, my friend and colleague with whom it has been the greatest privilege and honour to work. (Richard Watkins)

Alec Frank-Gemmill / Alasdair Beatson A NOBLE AND MELANCHOLY INSTRUMENT music for horns and pianos of the 19th century

The 19th century saw huge developments in the design of many musical instruments. In some cases changes were adopted more or less universally: the fortepiano that Mozart knew, a five-octave instrument constructed entirely of wood, had by around 1900 grown into the modern grand piano with over seven octaves and a cast-iron frame. With other instruments, progress was less streamlined. As late as 1865, the natural, valveless horn of Beethoven's time remained the instrument of choice for Brahms when he wrote his famous Horn Trio, and when valves began to be introduced, makers and musicians in Germany, France and Vienna favoured different solutions, offering different results in terms of sound and requiring different playing techniques. The present disc is a unique combination of recital and history lesson, with a young British team performing music from between 1800 and 1942 on no less than eight different historic instruments: four horns and four pianos. This gives us the opportunity to hear the works on instruments that the different composers would have recognized, whether Beethoven's Sonata in F major (a natural horn from 1800 and a fortepiano from 1815) or the Villanelle by Paul Dukas from 1906 (an early 20th-century cor à pistons and a Bechstein from 1898). Both notable performers on modern instruments, Alec Frank-Gemmill and Alasdair Beatson here revel in the sonic possibilities offered by the historic instruments with results that are as delighting as they are enlightening. (BIS Records)

Alliage Quintett / Sabine Meyer FANTASIA

With four saxophones and a piano the line-up of Alliage is already unique. But for their new programme Fantasia the two-time ECHO Classic winners have invited the ‘queen of clarinet’, Sabine Meyer. The soloist and the quintet embark on a musical fairy-tale journey, narrated in a new and exciting sound synthesis that savours all symphonic possibilities of a large orchestra and yet promises the intimacy of subtle chamber music. On one hand, Meyer’s clarinet sets soloistic accents and leads the high registers; on the other hand, she elegantly fits herself into the chameleon-like saxophone sound, so, the listener could hardly differ within the family of instruments. 

Like a storyteller narrating his own adaption of a legend the Alliage Quintet and Sabine Meyer move through imaginative compositions of Alexander Borodin (Polovtsian Dances), Igor Stravinsky (The Firebird), Paul Dukas (Sorcerer’s Apprentice), Leonard Bernstein (‘Candide’ overture), and Dmitri Shostakovich (Five Pieces). Sebastian Gottschick, Rainer Schottstädt, Stéphane Gassot, Camille Pépin, and Itai Sobol are well experienced in writing perfect arrangements for the needs of Alliage. With this extraordinary chamber ensemble a bunch of well-known compositions re-sounds in a completely new tonal language. Let yourself be captivated by the magic of this fairy-tale evening.