Groupe Analekta, Inc.

Elinor Frey, Rosa Barocca, Claude Lapalme – Early Italian Cello Concertos (2022) [FLAC 24bit, 96 kHz]

January 10, 2024 0 Comment

This project relates to a new album, “Early Italian Cello Concertos” to be released on April 1, 2022 on the Analekta label, a collaboration between cellist Elinor Frey and Rosa Barocca, conducted by Claude Lapalme. We recorded the album last September in Calgary, Alberta.

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Elinor Frey – Guided by Voices: New Music for Baroque Cello (2019) [FLAC 24 bit, 88,2 kHz]

January 7, 2024 0 Comment

Today, the five-string cello is treated as an exotic and rarely-played cousin of the standard cello. However, in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries it was simply one of the many instruments used in the family of bass violins, and was particularly important for virtuosic sonatas and solos. The program of Guided By Voiuces is inspired by the five-string cello’s most enduring work, Bach’s Sixth Solo Suite (BWV 1012). Each movement reveals the instrument’s incredible versatility and remarkable colors.

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Ensemble La Cigale, Madeleine Owen, Myriam Leblanc – La Grazia Delle Donne (2021) [FLAC 24 bit, 96 kHz]

January 7, 2024 0 Comment

Music of the Italian Baroque by woman composers and the men who encouraged them.

The cicada develops slowly, secretly, over a period of years before presenting itself in style with a song that everyone can hear and appreciate. In the well-known fable, the ants belittled the cicada for doing nothing but sharing its music. Perhaps they forgot how the cicada’s song lightened their labour and allowed them to dream, to rejoice, to love, and also to weep…

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Charles Richard-Hamelin – Chopin: Ballades & Impromptus (2019) [FLAC 24 bit, 192 kHz]

December 21, 2023 0 Comment

This new album by Charles Richard-Hamelin presents two important sides of Frederic Chopins work as a composer and confirms the place of this young musician in the high spheres of the piano universe. About Richard-Hamelin, the reputed BBC Music Magazine has written that he is fluent, multifaceted and tonally seductive a technician of exceptional elegance and sophistication Very free in form, the four Chopin ballads present a similar journey, in which tension will increase to a fiery coda. The four impromptus show Chopins affection for miniatures and salon pieces and reveal another facet of his work, putting us in touch with his talent as an improviser. An essential album!

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Charles Richard-Hamelin – Chopin: Sonata No. 3 – Polonaise-Fantaisie – Nocturnes (2015) [FLAC 24 bit, 192 kHz]

December 21, 2023 0 Comment

Charles Richard-Hamelin is one of today’s most promising Canadian pianists. He was the the winner of the 2011 Prix d’Europe and, in 2014, he won the second prize at the Montreal International Musical Competition. As well, in October 2015, Charles will compete at the 17th International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw.

The works of Chopin on this recording were composed between 1843 and 1846, a period in which Chopin’s final compositional style came to the forefront. He emerged from this period even more of a perfectionist than before. The spontaneity and passionate impulses of youth gave way to a more pensive, meditative mood that in turn could express a much wider palette of emotions. Accomplished virtuosity!

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Charles Richard-Hamelin – Chopin: 24 Préludes, Op. 28 – Andante Spianato & Grande Polonaise Brillante, Op. 22 (2021) [FLAC 24 bit, 192 kHz]

December 19, 2023 0 Comment

This new album by Charles Richard-Hamelin presents two important works from Frederic Chopin’s repertoire, 24 Préludes, Op. 28 and Andante spianato & Grande polonaise brillante, Op. 22, and confirms that he is one of the world’s elite pianists. Writing about Richard-Hamelin, BBC Music Magazine characterized his playing as “fluent, multifaceted and tonally seductive… a technician of exceptional elegance and sophistication”. Qualities that are made evident on this brilliant new album. Charles Richard-Hamelin is well known on the international music scene as a “highly sensitive” pianist (Gramophone), driven by “a great depth of feeling without the slightest pretense” (Le Devoir).

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Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra, Alexander Shelley – New Worlds (2018) [FLAC 24 bit, 96 kHz]

December 17, 2023 0 Comment

Themes of migration and crossing borders are as hot topics today as they ever were. This recording explores two works written in the so-called “New World” by composers from the “Old World”.

Ana Sokolovic left war-torn Yugoslavia for a new home in Montréal, and her piece Golden slumbers kiss your eyes… looks back to European lullabies. It features Canadian-Korean counter-tenor David DQ Lee and several Ottawa choirs, and was commissioned by the NAC Orchestra in honour of its founding conductor, Mario Bernardi.

Antonín Dvořák wrote his famous symphony when he lived in North America, and there is still discussion about how much of the “New” and “Old” Worlds are to be found in it. It was taken to the moon, presumably because it contains some of the most recognizable and moving music ever written, and Neil Armstrong considered that the next “New World.”

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Charles Richard-Hamelin, Les Violons du Roy, Jonathan Cohen – Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos. 22 & 24 (2020) [FLAC 24 bit, 192 kHz]

December 17, 2023 0 Comment

In their very first recording together, pianist Charles Richard-Hamelin and the Violons du Roy present Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s piano concertos No. 22 and No. 24 that are replete with passionate outbursts, startling contrasts, rich orchestration and overt emotional fervor. Charles Richard-Hamelin, Silver medalist and winner of the Krystian Zimerman award at the International Chopin Piano Competition in 2015, impresses with his extremely refined playing and the Violons du Roy, under the direction of Jonathan Cohen, offer grandiose performances imbued with dignity and grace.

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Buzz Brass – Inspirations (2019) [FLAC 24 bit, 192 kHz]

December 11, 2023 0 Comment

Since 2002, Buzz Brass quintet has been travelling all over the globe and has captivated classical music lovers. With over 1,600 appearances to its credit, the ensemble has reached more than 350,000 music lovers throughout North America, Europe and China. The numerous awards and distinctions that Buzz Brass has earned over the years attest to both the quality and the relevance of its musical performances. Thanks to numerous innovative programs, praiseworthy recordings, a unique repertoire and a vision of classical concerts that reaches out to a wide audience, the group now features among the most reputable brass quintets in Canada. The new album, Famous Inspirations, showcases the rich array of colors and timbres of brass instruments and features transcriptions of celebrated works by prominent composers such as Ravel, Satie and Dvorak. Inspired and inspiring music!

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Buzz Brass – Horizons (2022) [FLAC 24 bit, 96 kHz]

December 9, 2023 0 Comment

Buzz Brass’s third album under Analekta label presents masterpieces from Aram Khachaturian, Paul Dukas, Camille Saint-Saëns, George Gershwin, Lew Pollack, Claude Bolling and Astor Piazzolla. This Brass quintet has been travelling the world and captivating classical-music lovers since 2002. Whether alone or with guest artists, Buzz Brass’s highly original performances never fail to leave an impression. The ensemble has performed over 1,700 concerts for more than 400,000 music lovers across North America, Europe, and China. The innovative arrangements for brass quintet and guest musicians add new shades to the original colours of this music program.

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Buzz Brass – Christmas (2021) [FLAC 24 bit, 96 kHz]

December 7, 2023 0 Comment

Combining tremendous talent, engaging energy and a hint of humour, this award-winning ensemble delivers a festive and moving concert that embodies the joyous magic of the season. Featuring trombone, horn, brass trombone and trumpets, Buzz Brass performs holiday favourites from Bach’s My Spirit Be Joyfuland Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite to modern repertoire like Johnny Mark’s Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and Mel Tormé’s The Christmas Song. Joining Buzz Brass is the Quartom vocal quartet.

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Blake Pouliot, Hsin-I Huang – Ravel & Debussy: Sonates (2018) [FLAC 24 bit, 192 kHz]

December 5, 2023 0 Comment

Canadian violinist Blake Pouliot (born 1995) won the Montreal Symphony Orchestra’s 2016 Manulife competition, which gave him the opportunity to perform with this fine orchestra a little while later, in Korngold’s Concerto. The Toronto Star described him as “one of those special talents that come along once in a lifetime.”, while La Presseof Montreal called him”clearly, absolutely, indubitably a virtuoso”. Armed with these credentials, Pouliot quickly threw himself into a fine international career, which has already seen him performing with all of Canada’s orchestras, and a few American ones too; and here he offers up a recording début dedicated to the Sonatas of Ravel and Debussy, a sophisticated but also dangerous choice, considering the sheer amount of discographic competition stretching back years. He acquits himself with great talent and conviction, putting clarity and fidelity above any desire for superficial virtuoso flights, which this music doesn’t need anyway. In it, we (re)discover the French, colourist, spiritual side of Ravel, who remains Parisian down to the tip of his bow, even in the second movement of Blues. It’s nice to think that this might be exactly how Enesco and Ravel would have played this on violin and piano back when this was first performed in 1927. As for Debussy’s Sonata, more or less his last completed work, it gives an account of the quintessence of his language, with all the Pelléasisms stripped away, to make way for a return to the vision inherited from Rameau and Couperin.

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Angèle Dubeau – Silence On Joue – Take 2 (2016) [FLAC 24bit, 96 kHz]

December 3, 2023 0 Comment

This sequel to a 2012 gold album from violinist Angèle Dubeau and La Pietà brings together more of the greatest film and television music, from Downton Abbey and Game of Thrones to Forrest Gump and Harry Potter.

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Angèle Dubeau, La Pietà – Pulsations (2019) [FLAC 24bit, 192 kHz]

December 3, 2023 0 Comment

Angèle Dubeau, accompanied by her ensemble La Pietà, returns to present her new album Pulsations. Included on the program are works by great post-minimalist composers such as Max Richter, Arnald Arnalds, Ludovico Einaudi, Johann Johannsson, Yann Tiersen and Jean-Michel Blais.

Angèle Dubeau founded La Pietà in 1997, an all-female string ensemble featuring some of Canada’s best musicians. What she could not have known at the time was that this experiment, originally conceived for periodic recordings, would gradually become a full-time occupation.

From early on, the ensemble gained a solid reputation, playing Canada’s most prestigious venues and on television. Known for their exceptional virtuosity and impeccable precision, their rich interpretations, and above all the contagious happiness that enlivens their stage presence, Angèle Dubeau & La Pietà have crisscrossed the world for 20 years.

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Angèle Dubeau, La Pietà – Portrait: Max Richter (2017) [FLAC 24bit, 96 kHz]

December 3, 2023 0 Comment

In the past ten years, I have recorded various musical portraits of great contemporary composers. Their music has increasingly called out to me, and it punctuates beautifully the repertoire featured on the 40 albums I have recorded. The more I listen to composers gravitating around the minimalist movement, the more I want to interpret their music. I enjoy the moments of introspection that these works bring. Perhaps this has to do with maturity?

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Angèle Dubeau, La Pietà – Ludovico Einaudi: Portrait (Deluxe Edition) (2015/2019) [FLAC 24bit, 96 kHz]

December 3, 2023 0 Comment

“Portrait is a string of recordings presenting contemporary composers with a unique musical signature. Ludovico Einaudi is one of them. A music that captivates the listener, a sonic landscape to discover!” Angèle Dubeau

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Angèle Dubeau, La Pietà – Ovation (2018) [FLAC 24bit, 48 kHz]

December 3, 2023 0 Comment

“Music must not be the prerogative of the elite ; it belongs to everyone.” These words by Telemann have been my motto for a very long time. I like to think that music should be shared with as many people as possible, and it was in this spirit that I developed the concert program “One Last Time”, performed 33 times in Canada in the fall of 2017 and then on tour in Latin America in the winter of 2018. This album, recorded live at Quebec City’s Palais Montcalm in November 2017, features some of the most striking works that La Pietà has performed during its 21 years of existence. All of the selected works represent important moments I have experienced with my ensemble…

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Angèle Dubeau – Elle (2022) [FLAC 24bit, 96 kHz]

December 3, 2023 0 Comment

How to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the ensemble La Pietà? The answer came naturally to Angèle Dubeau: through music! For the occasion, she proposes an album entirely conceived, performed and composed by women. The result is an album filled with the joy of exchanging through the medium of creation with the women composers gathered here. This album witnesses Angèle Dubeau’s virtuosity and confirms her immense talent for creating programs that are off the beaten path, while being as innovative as they are accessible.

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Andrew Wan, Charles Richard-Hamelin – Beethoven: Violin Sonatas Nos. 6, 7 & 8 (2018) [FLAC 24bit, 192 kHz]

December 2, 2023 0 Comment

Here’s a new album that brings together two of Canada’s most prominent young musicians, Andrew Wan, concertmaster of the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal since 2008, and Charles Richard-Hamelin, Silver medalist and winner of the Krystian Zimerman award at the International Chopin Piano Competition in 2015. For this first studio collaboration, they recorded the three sonatas of Beethoven’s Op. 30, one of the most important works for violin and piano. Wan and Richard-Hamelin’s playing is dynamic and expressive and the result is nothing short of impressive. These works by Beethoven highlight three facets of the composer’s personality. While Sonata No. 6 shows Beethoven’s calmer side, Sonata No. 7 reveals a more tempestuous and tormented man, and the charming Sonata No. 8 displays a touch of humor. This is the first album of three by Wan and Richard-Hamelin that will cover the complete sonatas for violin and piano of Ludwig van Beethoven.

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Andrew Wan, Charles Richard-Hamelin – Beethoven: Violin Sonatas Nos. 4, 9 & 10 (2021) [FLAC 24bit, 192 kHz]

December 2, 2023 0 Comment

With this third album, which includes Sonata No. 4 in A Minor, Op. 23, the famous Sonata No. 9 in A Major, Op. 47 (“Kreutzer”), and Sonata No. 10 in G Major, Op. 96, Andrew Wan and Charles Richard- Hamelin complete their recording of the entire cycle of Ludwig van Beethoven’s (1770–1827) sonatas for violin and piano.