Die schöne Müllerin, Franz Schubert, Andrè Schuen, Daniel Heide (DG)
Recorded in May 2020 in Hohenems, the Mecca of the Schubertiades, The beautiful miller reveals to the general public “the” baritone of our time. It’s hard to describe how both perfect and dramatically upsetting this cycle is. One cannot imagine more beautiful timbre, more imperial control of the voice, more subtle sensitivity in this journey of a miller in love who, seeing the miller prefer the hunter to him, transforms his pain into suicidal despair.
Studies op. 25, Scherzos nos 1-4, Frédéric Chopin, Beatrice Rana (Warner)
The sentence and the sound. Sculpt one while handling the other. It is the art of the great interpreters of Chopin. The “thought of sound” distinguished Alfred Cortot from all other pianists 100 years ago. This CD resuscitates that thought. Studies recorded just before the pandemic and scherzos just after are united by a breathtaking art, for example in the transition between Studies no 5 and noto 6. We don’t think about the instrument or its challenges, and we discover a new reference version.
24 caprices for solo violin, Alina Ibragimova (Hyperion)
What if the artwork you thought you knew was not at all what you imagined? Here is the CD that instilled the idea of ”pandemic interpretation”. One has the impression that the violinist is scrutinizing the silence, listening to the passage of time. We dare not imagine for a single second the Whims nbone 6 and 12 played thus between two concerts or two planes, in the midst of the whirlwind of life. The integral of whims lasts here almost 1 hour and 45 minutes. It is artistically and humanly petrifying.
The six sonatas for solo violin, Eugène Ysaÿe, James Ehnes (Onyx)
When the musical earth stopped spinning, the Canadian violinist turned his living room into a recording studio. He invested in microphones, an audio interface, video equipment for six webcasts, “Recitals from Home », MixingSonatas and partitas by Bach and Sonatas d’Ysaÿe. In April, Ehnes settled the case of the Ysaÿe discography by publishing this CD. Major asset of its contribution: the use of an absolute technical rigor (precision of the bow!) For narrative purposes.
The nocturnes, Frédéric Chopin, Stephen Hough (Hyperion)
The appeal of Simon Perry, director of Hyperion, to his artists, sparking projects that they would not have imagined without the halt of March 2020, found an echo on the violin of Alina Ibragimova and on the piano with Stephen Hough, who immersed himself in Nocturnes by Chopin. Very different from Beatrice Rana’s Chopin, these Nocturnes are a free journey, the peregrination of a thinker in constant search of light. Several great “pandemic CDs” are, therefore, musical journeys.
Mozart and his contemporaries, Víkingur Ólafsson (CEO)
Here is the archetypal musical journey, another notable achievement being ” The Art of Life »By Daniil Trifonov, around The art of running away (DG). Mozart (Sonatas K. 545 and 457, rondos and adagios) neighbor with movements by Galuppi, arrangements by Cimarosa, a rondo by Carl Philip Emanuel Bach and the 47e Sonata by Haydn. Ólafsson’s stroke of genius is nestled in unexpected and dizzying sequences (eg tracks 4 and 5). He also has a hell of a touch!
Sonatas and partitas for solo violin, Johann Sebastian Bach, James Ehnes (Onyx)
Like others, James Ehnes is returned to Sonatas and partitas by Bach. Augustin Hadelich, a little earlier in the year, seemed unsurpassable. But, as in Ysaye, Ehnes upsets the established order. The “Bach in the chamber” side increases the acuity of perception without drying out the sound, whereas its first version (Analekta, 2000) was part of a generous halo. In addition, Ehnes no longer listens to himself play and moves forward much more in the sentences. Virtuosity and elegance are beyond comprehension.
Melancholy Grace, Jean Rondeau (Erato)
Jean Rondeau wanted to establish here a “dark but eloquent dialogue between […] the melancholy born of chromaticism and the melancholy conveyed by the musical expression of tears and tears ”. The man who would make the most resistant to the harpsichord love the harpsichord has struck again, plunging us into a variety of sound universes. Heading of the recording, a
” arpicordo »Florentine, very old polygonal virginal (1575), which fascinates in scores of Bull and a Lachrymae anonymous. Gorgeous.
Quintet D. 956, Swan song, Franz Schubert, J. Prégardien, M. Helmchen, C. Tetzlaff (Alpha)
The double album juxtaposes the Swan song by Julian Prégardien and Martin Helmchen and an incredible Two cello quintet around Christian Tetzlaff. He is the ultimate Schubert in his most intimate worlds. Scrutinize the 2e movement of Quintet in this haggard interpretation, inhabited by a dull panic, is an unforgettable human experience. The rest is to match, born from an intoxication, even a trance, of sharing between high-flying musicians.
Robert Schumann Complete Piano Trios, Trio Wanderer (Harmonia Mundi)
In the fall of 2020, the Trio Wanderer put their emotions, their automatisms and their unique talent at the service of Schumann. We are in the heart of a chamber miracle: sounds, textures, balances come together in a perfect scenario in which not a word, not a comma would have to be changed. Both take the floor and then merge into the material, and everything seems to spring from a form of improvisation. The album is enriched by the quartet and the quintet with piano.
The Violin Sonatas, Beethoven, Frank-Peter Zimmermann, Martin Helmchen (Bis)
The first volume, with the Sonatas nbone 1 to 4, was on our 2020 prize list. How can we not greet the end of the integral in the same way? When, in such a busy discography, two performers stand out to such an extent by their inventiveness, the sudden inflections of dynamics, the aerial touch and the music in which they inhabit the smallest gap, one has only to surrender. Throughout the course, this now referential integral will have been a musical and instrumental celebration.
Baritenor, M. Spyres, Orchestra phil. from Strasbourg, Mr. Letonja (Warner)
This is the feat of the year. The same singer shines in The postilion of Lonjumeau and Daughter of the Regiment, two brave and craggy arias for tenor, and then, as if nothing had happened, begins to play the count of Luna in The Finderto then go to Lohengrin. What we hear there from the same human being is truly amazing. The joy of being able to share this exaltation with an orchestra, a voice in perfect condition: the record is perfect.
Symphonies for the King’s Suppers, M.-R. De Lalande, Le Poème harmonique, V. Dumestre (Palace of Versailles)
For his first strictly orchestral disc with Le Poème harmonique, Vincent Dumestre offers us the disc of French baroque music par excellence, very affordable, which celebrates the work of Michel-Richard De Lalande (1657-1726), a composer close to Louis XIV. This is a wise selection from a work which, in its entirety, would occupy four CDs. Sumptuous colors, phrasing of a confusing elegance and naturalness, marvelous sound recording.
Sonatas for violin and piano, Johannes Brahms, A. Coeytaux, G. Couteau (La Dolce Volta)
Monumental heartbreak at the time of choosing a CD of “sharing” with Brahms ground between the concertos around the old piano played by Andras Schiff and his 2e movement of 1er Concerto forever hypnotic and these Sonatas for violin and piano by two ardent accomplices and fusional musicians so little known. But this disc completes by its subtlety both the Schumann trios of the Wanderers and the Beethoven sonatas of Helmchen-Zimmermann. He is a quivering Brahms with never forced expression.
Chopin Recital, Bruce Liu, 18e Chopin Competition (DG)
Montrealer Bruce Liu is the musical embodiment of hope for a post-pandemic. He translates in these interpretations of his Chopin Competition, won in a flamboyant manner, an optimism and a playful happiness to do battle with the music. The program is a perfect illustration of this happy pleasure and enthusiasm. The CD exists. Those in a hurry will have to fetch it in Europe, because it is not announced until January 22 in Canada. Digital since November 19.