The year 2022 was not as exceptional as the 2021 vintage, but the treasures are not lacking. A review by Christophe Huss.
1.Iberia, Isaac Albéniz, Nelson Goerner (Alpha)
Twelve pieces divided into four notebooks, so demanding for pianists that one does not venture into them by chance. Atmospheric games, piano challenges? Argentinian Nelson Goerner mixes the two in an alchemy between the obsessive presence of rhythm and the pure subtlety of climates, in an atmosphere scorched by the sun rather than moist, all served by a prodigious pianistic quality (readability, clarity, touch). A stunning disc, very well illustrated by its cover.
2. Maidan, Valentin Silvestrov, Kyiv Chamber Choir, Mykola Hobdych (ECM)
Valentin Silvestrov, 85, a refugee in Berlin, became in 2022 the musical symbol of Ukraine. He had, during the pro-European Ukrainian uprising of 2014 (the Maidan revolution), composed four cycles for choir punctuated by the throbbing bells of Saint Michael’s Cathedral in kyiv. Of Maidan IV is taken from the “Prayer for Ukraine” (a breathtaking succession of tracks 12 and 13) which now goes around the world. Poignant hymn disc, with deep Orthodox roots.
3. Ballets, Stravinsky, Prokofiev and Ravel, Jean-Baptiste Fonlupt (La Dolce Volta)
The discovery of the year: a pianist who has been working for more than twenty years in the shadows after having studied in Paris, London, Berlin and Moscow. Jean-Baptiste Fonlupt has just found a publisher, a tuner, a sound engineer and an artistic director, and the result is stunning, as the piano becomes an orchestra in The waltz by Ravel, Petrushka by Stravinsky and Romeo and Juliet by Prokofiev. Fonlupt’s imagination seems limitless and his fingers translate everything.
4. Dissonance, Melodies by Sergei Rachmaninoff, Asmik Grigorian, Lukas Geniušas (Alpha)
First recital of the new soprano star of the international stages, the Lithuanian Asmik Grigorian, 41 years old. Dissonance, a romance by Rachmaninoff, opens the CD and illustrates the conflicts punctuating these melodies as an echo of the current dissonance of the world. Thus, in Dream “And I had a homeland; She was perfect! A pine swayed above me… But it was only a dream! The voice is extraordinary, and the pianist is one of the greats of his generation.
5. Mandolin on Stage, Vivaldi, Paisiello, Lecce, Hummel, Raffaele La Ragione, Il Pomo d’Oro, Francesco Corti (Arcana)
The unexpected happiness of the year, our ray of sunshine that does not change the face of musical history, but provides intense and joyful sensory stimulation. Raffaele La Ragione skilfully selected three old mandolins to perform 18th century concertose century, from Vivaldi to Hummel. The varied aesthetic universes are crunched by an ideally balanced sound recording and a sharp accompaniment in a perfectly shaped disc.
6. Poems & waltzes, Reynaldo Hahn, Pavel Kolesnikov (Hyperion)
The pianist Pavel Kolesnikov becomes a regular on our charts. As for his disc of mazurkas by Chopin, he has gone through a collection here, that of the 53 poems for piano, The distraught nightingale by Reynaldo Hahn (1874-1947), from which he selected 25 pieces arranged according to a poetic and emotional journey dictated by Proust (his withdrawal from the world), Hahn’s music and his own sanitary confinement. We are full of nostalgia and worlds of sound.
7. Zoroaster, Jean-Philippe Rameau, The Ambassadors, Alexis Kossenko (Alpha)
We discover in world premiere the original version (1749) of this opera which shocked so much that Rameau reworked it profoundly in 1756, putting its moralizing dimension on hold. Through the wisdom of this Zarathustra who opposes the wicked Abramane, Rameau unleashes opposition between good and evil, on which he superimposes a sentimental conflict. Distribution (Devos, Gens, Christoyannis, Van Mechelen) perfect for an exciting discovery.
8. Diabelli Variations, Ludwig van Beethoven, Mitsuko Uchida (Decca)
What’s new in a score already so well served (Pollini, Brendel, Cabasso, Staier, Kovacevich, Arrau, Backhaus) on disc? However, Mitsuko Uchida manages to surprise us with an interpretation of absolute logic that escapes into astonishing universes (8e and 20e variations), with a sometimes ghostly strangeness and a subtlety that defies expectations. The pianist thus brings the Diabelli Variations ultimates String quartets into an arduous, essential, profoundly brilliant revelation.
9. The bourgeois gentleman, Jean-Baptiste Lully, The Harmonic Poem, Vincent Dumestre (Château de Versailles)
The beautiful gift for the 400e anniversary of the birth of Molière! The bourgeois gentleman (1670) is a comedy-ballet, fruit of the joint genius of Lully and Molière. Much more than interludes between scenes, there is in The bourgeois gentleman 75 minutes of music of various features all collected here, including a great and extraordinary Ballet of Nations which closes Act V. Vincent Dumestre storms with splendor, imagination and color in a perfect record.
10. Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I, Johann Sebastian Bach, Benjamin Alard (HM)
The characteristic of a great interpreter is to shake us up in our certainties. Benjamin Alard considers that the Well-tempered keyboard records in “alphabetical” order works not intended to be played in concert in a row. On a 1740 harpsichord, he therefore rearranges a succession by “tonal attractions”. We let ourselves be all the more subjugated by the proposal of the 6e complete Bach sound album that the energy of the artist and his luminous inventions are still contagious.
11. Lost Jewelry, Rare arias from French operas, Jodie Devos, Pierre Bleuse (Alpha)
Were we going to put the cover back on for Andrè Schuen (Schwanengesang) after having crowned his beautiful miller in 2021? Among the vocal recitals, we preferred rarer repertoires: melodies by Rachmaninoff and this collection of forgotten arias from French comic opera selected by the Palazzetto Bru Zane. Ambroise Thomas, François Auber, Fromental Halévy wrote for Marie Cabel (1827-1885), star soprano at the time. The title of the CD is deserved and the voice of Jodie Devos, ideal.
12. Sonatas and Rondos, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, Marc-André Hamelin (Hyperion)
The greatest virtuosity in the finest lace. These two Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach discs are a logical extension of Hamelin’s work on Haydn. CPE Bach is the pioneer who paved the way for the music of the classical period, Haydn and Mozart. The skilful and very varied choice of Marc-André Hamelin drawing on the whole life of the composer shows the great modernity of CPE Bach and underlines his role as a bridge between the Baroque period and the classical, even romantic (Beethoven) period.
13. Piano Concertos nbone 1 and 2, Camille Saint-Saëns, Alexandre Kantorow (piano), Jean-Jacques Kantorow (cond.) (BIS)
Great orchestral records are rare. So, let’s welcome the conclusion of this complete piano concertos by Saint-Saëns, concertos now served by two supreme completes, Lortie-Gardner (Chandos) and Kantorow father and son (BIS). Alexandre Kantorow dazzles with a subtle, fine, detailed, spiritual playing and an original pairing totaling 85 minutes: Wedding Cake, Allegro Appassionato, Auvergne Rhapsody and Africa.
14. Versi d’Amore, Madrigals of Giaches de Wert, Voces Suaves (Arcana)
Which early music CD to mark 2022? The “Tant vous aime”, songs by Josquin Desprez by Doulce Mémoire at Ricercar, held the rope until the arrival of this supreme enchantment: late madrigals and canzonettes by Giaches de Wert (1535-1596) on texts by Petrarch. The Flemish is a master of polyphony, and the jubilant clarity of the voices in perfect balance with fabulously captured instruments earned us an anthology record.
15. Melodies, Jules Massenet, Seventeen Quebec singers, Olivier Godin (piano) (Atma)
It is undeniable that the largest lyrical editorial project in Canadian phonographic history has inevitably marked the year 2022. A box set of 13 CDs of 333 melodies by Jules Massenet (1842-1912), including 13 unpublished melodies and 31 never recorded, a box born of the pandemic since all our stars – Marie-Nicole Lemieux, Julie Boulianne, Frédéric Antoun or Michèle Losier – were in Quebec to contribute, with a dozen other singers from here, to this colossal undertaking.