Gallay / Scott / Devine - Cor Melodique - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Being a concert pianist in the 21st century is a strange profession. Going out on another big stage I often feel like this crazy guy from the next street, who's going around, wide-eyed, yelling about love and death, gods and devils, and the inevitable end of it all, being all alone and ridiculous. But for many years this has actually been the most interesting challenge of it for me - to make the listener realize that behind all the big romantic gestures and the language that may seem a little too dramatic in the era of internet messaging there is a story that is still totally about you and me. For my first record, I'm going through the staples of a romantic piano repertoire that played a huge role on different stages of my life as a pianist, looking at the little story that appears between them. The two main pieces in the tracklist - Schumann's Humoreske and Schubert's Wanderer-Fantasy - always fascinated me with the way in which they balance the ironic and the serious in a brilliant and poetic way, so that one cannot exist without the other. Those pieces set the tone for the whole project which is basically a self-portrait of a guy who is presumptuous enough to be a classical pianist in 2022. (Sergei Redkin)

Prague has always been regarded as one of the most beautiful cities in the world. The name 'Cor Europae' (Heart of Europe) probably dates from the country's early history, in the thirteenth century, when the Kingdom of Bohemia stretched from the Baltic to the Mediterranean. This was a period of great prosperity, especially under King Wenceslaus II Premyslid, and culminated with the reign of Charles IV, who was both King of Bohemia and Holy Roman Emperor. Despite the fact that Bohemia was the centre of Europe and benefited from the presence of many scholars (more especially after the foundation of the university in 1348), the local culture also preserved an older tradition there. This can be seen in the beautiful repertory for the Advent and Christmas period that have survived in the sources of Prague Cathedral and the Benedictine abbey of Prague Castle. These sources make it possible to reconstruct the liturgy of the Feast of the Nativity as it was celebrated there, with organa and tropes in the tradition of twelfth-century music, at a time when the new Ars Nova style was flourishing elsewhere in Europe. It is this music that the wonderful voices of the Tiburtina Ensemble bring to life for us. Album Tracks 1. Antiphona Ave Spes Nostra 2. Benedicamen in Hac Precelsa Sollempnitate 3. Kyrie Creator Pater Increate 4. Hymnus Veni Redemptor Gencium 5. Lectio Primo Tempore 6. Offertorium Tui Sunt Celi - Tropus Nate Dei 7. Lectio Iube Domine - Consolamini 8. Benedicamen Splendor Partis Et Sol - Festivali Melodia 9. Benedicamen Puer Natus in Bethlehem 10. Lectio Consolamini 11. Responsorium Descendit de Caelis - Tropus Fabrica Mundi 12. Lectio Iube Domine - Consurge 13. Benedicamen Nos Respectu Gracie 14. Introitus Lux Fulgebit - Tropus Lumen Clarum Rite 15. Cantio Gaude Quam Magnificat 16. Sanctus Super Gaude Quam Magnificat 17. Benedicam

Gilles Binchois (ca 1400-1460), was one of the most eminent composers of the early Renaissance. Highly esteemed by his fellows, Binchois left a lasting legacy, notably through his polyphonic chansons and sacred works, although these remain unfamiliar to the general public. This selection of works by Binchois, born in Hainault, shows the evolution of his musical language from the beginnings of the burgundian style to the later instrumental transcriptions of some of his works, as these bear witness to the timeless beauty of his melodies and harmonic structures. Album Tracks 1. Sanctus 2. Adyeu ma tres [Adieu mes tres belles amours] (instrumental) 3. Veneremur Virginem 4. Je loemors [Je loe amours] 5. Salve sancta parens 6. Qui vult messite [Qui veut mesdire si mesdie] (organ) 7. Adieu, jusques je vous revoye 8. Dixit sanctus Philippus (instrumental) 9. Gloria InchhominibusInch 10. En sera il mieulx voustre cuer 11. Redeuntes in re (instrumental) 12. Jamais tant que je vous revoye (instrumental) 13. J’ay tant de deul que nul homs peut avoir 14. Triste plaisir basse danse (instrumental) 15. Adyeu ma tres belle [Adieu mes tres belles amours] (organ) 16. Depuis le congié que je pris 17. Geloymors [Je loe amours] (organ) 18. Agnus Dei'cum jubilo'