![Philippe Cassard, Natalie Dessay, Cedric Pescia, Orchestre National de Bretagne - Mozart à l'opéra (2022) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz] Download](https://i0.wp.com/imghd.xyz/images/2022/12/17/jyeomqisop1rb_600.jpg?resize=500%2C500&ssl=1)
Philippe Cassard, Natalie Dessay, Cedric Pescia, Orchestre National de Bretagne – Mozart à l’opéra (2022)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:18:40 minutes | 1,21 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Digital Booklet, Front Cover | © La Dolce Volta
The voice! The voice which, even if absent from the score, insinuates itself between the two hands of a pianist playing Mozart. In this music, all is dialogue, mingled avowals and passions, on the threshold of the opera house. All Mozart’s forms are nurtured by the same source, that of vocal melody. “I like an aria to be as precisely tailored to a singer as a well-cut suit”, he declared when he composed an aria. And what an aria this one is! Ch’io mi scordi di te! The keyboard enters into dialogue with the soloist. And then we leave the world of the aria for that of the concerto, unless it be an imaginary sonata…
Directed from the piano by Philippe Cassard, the Concerto No. 22 borrows the same “suit”. Here is a piece of “wordless theatre”, composed at the period of Le nozze di Figaro, which portrays first drama, then meditation, and finally carefree joy. The divine spectacle continues with the Fantasia, KV 475, which foreshadows the worlds of Beethoven and Schubert, with their cries and whispers and things unsaid.
Let us complete these imaginary dialogues with the finest of the sonatas for piano four hands, KV 497. Two voices in unison, enamoured of beauty.
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![Philippe Cassard, Cedric Pescia - Beethoven - Symphony No. 9 transcribed for 2 Pianos by Franz Liszt (2020) [Official Digital Download 24bit/48kHz] Download](https://i0.wp.com/imghd.xyz/images/2022/10/16/t7h73we6oht4a_600.jpg?resize=500%2C500&ssl=1)
Philippe Cassard, Cedric Pescia – Beethoven – Symphony No. 9 transcribed for 2 Pianos by Franz Liszt (2020)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 01:07:47 minutes | 604 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Digital Booklet, Front Cover | © La Dolce Volta
While any of Liszt’s superb transcriptions of Beethoven’s first eight symphonies is a challenge for the pianist, the two-piano arrangement of the Ninth is at once spellbinding and a formidable test. This remarkable synthesis of soloists, chorus and orchestra presents a powerful structure that condenses all the fearsome difficulties of ensemble playing for the two pianists. This version by Philippe Cassard and Cédric Pescia displays extraordinary nobility, truth and grandeur, with the epic sweep ideally suited to the “Ode to Joy”.
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Philippe Cassard – Mendelssohn (2017)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 43:32 minutes | 693 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Digital Booklet, Front Cover | © Sony Classical
When Felix Mendelssohn published his Melodies for the pianoforte with Novello in London in 1832, Robert Schumann had just published his Papillons and Frédéric Chopin, his Études op.10 and first mazurkas, while Franz Liszt was just beginning to compose his Album d’un voyageur, which would in due course serve as inspiration for Années de pèlerinage. Such musical diversity in such a short space of time reflects the extraordinary creative effervescence of the early Romantic period due to the influence of Beethoven and the improved great pianos made by Graf in Vienna, Broadwood in England and Érard and Pleyel in France. Despite the different paths taken by these musicians and the pianistic techniques they invented, aesthetic similarities do on occasion appear, symbolising a certain commonality in their sources of inspiration and expressive lyricism. Did Mendelssohn pioneer the “miniature” genre for piano? He was clearly one of the first to create a poetic universe in which the melody and accompaniment feature similar musical ideas. Beethoven had already tried this with, for example, the Adagio cantabile in the Sonata Pathétique, as had Schubert with some of his Moments Musicaux D.780. As for Mendelssohn, he condensed the “moment” into an “instant” and, having established the idea (perhaps as a result of his own virtuoso improvisation), he fashioned a kind of finely crafted little delight out of it. In this sense, the English title “Melodies for the pianoforte” is ideal for these “Lieder ohne Worte”, the title under which Bonn publisher Nikolaus Simrock released them, as was the more questionable title “Romances sans paroles” [Songs Without Words] which was nevertheless approved by Mendelssohn himself in an 1843 letter written in French to his Lyon publisher. Whether with or without words, Mendelssohn’s lieder often had identical forms: a short, understated theme wrapped up in a highly personalised pianistic formula. Each lied has its own character and writing. The melodic imagination which feeds into the eight books of “Romances” is gushing and constantly evolving, reflecting the spontaneity of Mendelssohn’s creative energy. It evokes a wealth of authentic emotions which reflect the ambivalence of the oft-tormented musician who experienced elation as well as melancholy, like a kaleidoscope of his thoughts.
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Natalie Dessay, Philippe Cassard – Natalie Dessay sings Schubert (2017)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:05:54 minutes | 1,01 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Sony Classical
The first ever German album of Natalie Dessay (this is her first Schubert album and her first lieder album). 4 Lieder have never been sung by a woman before. recorded with Philipp Cassard (piano) in Berlin, Siemensvilla on November 28th – December 3rd, 2016. Album supported with World Tour Dates in Spring 2017. from Schiller and Goethe to Heine, the Schubertian Lied, which is based on the best German poets, is a reflection of the intimate thoughts of the composer who realizes an outstanding fusion between the poetic verb and the musical lyricism. Natalie Dessay is a regular collaborator with Michel Legrand and together they have performed all over the world. She is also a committed recital singer, frequently performing French melodies and German Lieder with Laurent Naouri, Maciej Pikulski or Philippe Cassard. In 2015 she revealed new depths of dramatic and rhetorical insight, making her debut as a narrator in performances of Howard Barkler’s monologue Und at the Théâtre Olympia in Tours, and in Paris at the Théâtre de l’Athénée. The project was so successful that it was revived at the Théâtre des Abbesses in Paris in May 2016. Natalie Dessay is the only French female artist to be awarded the honorary rank of Kammersängerin by the Wiener Staatsoper.
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David Grimal, Philippe Cassard & Anne Gastinel – Beethoven: Ghost & Archduke Trios (2020)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/88,2 kHz | Time – 01:06:17 minutes | 1,07 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © La Dolce Volta
Philippe Cassard, Anne Gastinel and David Grimal present these two Beethovenian masterpieces. The chosen approach is one of colour and generosity. On this astonishing disc we meet a Beethoven come down from his pedestal, who is human and even jovial. Where so many others offer rigidity of discourse and fussy sonorities, the three musicians illuminate these metaphysical pages with the finesse, freshness and grace of the aquarellist.
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