Xavier de Maistre

Rolando Villazon, Xavier de Maistre – Serenata Latina (2020) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Studio Masters By admin · August 13, 2023 · Comments off

Rolando Villazón and Xavier de Maistre present Serenata latina, a rich and varied programme of Latin American songs

Album features vocal works heard for the first time with harp accompaniments, including iconic pieces by Carlos Guastavino, Ariel Ramírez and Alberto Ginastera

Serenata latina to be released by Deutsche Grammophon in October 2020

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Xavier de Maistre, Les Arts Florissants, William Christie – La Harpe Reine: Concertos for Harp at the Court of Marie-Antoinette (Live) (2016) [Official Digital Download 24bit/48kHz]

Studio Masters By admin · May 23, 2023 · Comments off

Xavier de Maistre, Les Arts Florissants, William Christie – La Harpe Reine: Concertos for Harp at the Court of Marie-Antoinette (Live) (2016)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 01:10:08 minutes | 731 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © harmonia mundi

Mention Marie Antoinette, and inevitably the guillotine springs to mind – one is less likely to think of the harp, which, according to courtiers’ accounts from the end of the Ancien Régime, she played admirably.

Thanks to Louis XVI’s queen and to her Austrian origins, a whole new and deliciously refined repertoire saw the light of day in Versailles, a repertoire that subsequently became known throughout Europe. To celebrate their first musical partnership, William Christie and Xavier de Maîstre have undertaken to revive these splendid works in a program full of charm and surprises. Audiences will discover Les Arts Florissants playing an unexpected collection of concertante pieces by Jean-Baptiste Krumpholz, Johann David Hermann and Joseph Haydn on authentic late 18th-century instruments.

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Xavier de Maistre – Glière, Mosolov: Harp Concertos (2022) [Official Digital Download 24bit/48kHz]

Studio Masters By admin · January 2, 2023 · Comments off

“Xavier de Maistre is the most successful harpist on the classical scene, enchanting audiences with skill and charm …” wrote Brigitte about Xavier de Maistre. He shows this again with this album of fantastic recordings of romantic harp concertos. De Maistre is accompanied by the WDR Sinfonieorchester and the excellent Nathalie Stutzmann For the album, Xavier de Maistre chose the Harp Concerto by Reinhold Glière (1874-1956), one of the most popular romantic harp concertos in music history. It features beautiful flowing figures, cascading arpeggios and glissandi. Also included on the album is the harp concerto by Glière’s student Alexander Mosolov (1900-1973), of which there is hardly any recording to date. It is characterized by beautiful catchy folksong-like melodies that the harp plays around with figurations and arpeggios; especially in the first movement, the harp presents itself with many solos and virtuoso cadenzas. As a tribute to ballet, Xavier de Maistre chose the enchanting piece “Prélude et La Romanesca” from Alexander Glasunov’s (1865-1936) “Raymonda”. The most popular piece on the album is certainly Tchaikovsky’s (1840-1861) “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy” from his Nutcracker, op. 71, which was specially arranged for harp by de Maistre and is now brilliantly heard. An enchanting album of romantic works for the harp!

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Xavier de Maistre – Serenata Española (2018) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Studio Masters By admin · July 22, 2022 · Comments off

“Unique collaboration with Flamenco legend: After his success with album Aranjuez in 2010, Xavier de Maistre presents a new Spanish project including a cooperation with Flamenco legend and castanets soloist Lucero Tena.

The album features popular repertoire of Spanish Classical Music: including compositions of Albeniz, Granados, Tarrega and de Falla, arranged for harp and castanets. The album shows this music under a completely new light, by keeping the nostalgic and intoxicating Spanish roots.

Xavier de Maistre and Lucero Tena have established their instruments, harp & castanets, as solo instruments in concert halls which makes the project very special. The combination of their instruments is unique and no similar product is on the market.

Xavier and Lucero were introduced to each other by director Jesús López Cobos. Xavier de Maistre fell in love with Lucero’ story and personality. Shortly after, they decided to record a repertoire they had in common: Spanish Music.

The project has been recorded in one of the most beautiful halls in Paris, the Galerie Dorée at the Hotel de Toulouse, which has been featured in movies like “”Vatel”” and “”Marie Antoinette””.”

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Xavier de Maistre – Mozart (2015) [Official Digital Download 24bit/48kHz]

Studio Masters By admin · July 22, 2022 · Comments off

Acclaimed solo harpist Xavier de Maistre has gained a reputation as one of the most extraordinary musicians of this generation.

The harpist’s first Mozart recording, including the concerto for harp & flute and transcriptions of piano works, was recorded in Mozart’s hometown with one of the most authoritative and renowned Mozart orchestras conducted by Ivor Bolton

Xavier is generally fêted as the artist who has managed to liberate the harp from its reputation for wonderful but very soft sounds, and establish it as a solo instrument in the concert hall. He has appeared with major orchestras under the direction of such eminent conductors as Riccardo Muti, André Previn or Simon Rattle. In 1998 he joined the prestigious Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra – a position which he left in summer 2010 in order to devote himself to his international solo career.

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Xavier de Maistre – Moldau – The Romantic Solo Album (2015) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Studio Masters By admin · July 22, 2022 · Comments off

Moldau: The Romantic Solo Album” contains some of the most beautiful and well-known pieces from Russia and Bohemia. The composers use their Russian roots to create their own musical language containing elements of emotionally charged joy and the unmistakable feeling of melancholy, which conjures up entire landscapes of musical sounds. With this repertory Xavier de Maistre shows the rich palette of sounds which a harp can accomplish and which is arguably his most distinctive feature.

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Xavier de Maistre – Christmas Harp (2021) [Official Digital Download 24bit/48kHz]

Studio Masters By admin · July 22, 2022 · Comments off

»Xavier de Maistre ist der erfolgreichste Harfenist der Klassikszene und bezaubert das Publikum mit Können und Charme … Wenn man es nicht besser wüsste, würde man glauben, da spielte ein ganzes Engelsorchester auf«, schrieb die Brigitte über Xavier de Maistre. Diese Lobeshymne passt besonders gut zu dem neuen Album des exzellenten Musikers, dessen bisherigen Alben bei Sony Classical alle Klassikchart-Bestseller waren. Denn der silbrige und engelhafte Klang der Harfe passt natürlich ganz besonders gut zu adventlicher und weihnachtlicher Musik und auch für das neue Album »Christmas Harp«: »Harfe solo – ein besonderes Erlebnis, wenn ein Meister wie Xavier de Maistre in die Saiten greift« (HR2). Xavier de Maistre lässt populäre adventliche und weihnachtliche Hits wie »Jingle Bells«, »Ave Maria« oder den »Blumenwalzer« und »Tanz der Zuckerfee« aus Tschaikowskys Nussknacker in den ausgesuchten Arrangements besonders stimmungsvoll erklingen. Den Tanz der Zuckerfee arrangierte Xavier de Maistre selbst. Zudem hat er besonders gelungene Fantasien und Paraphrasen über internationale Weihnachtslieder ausgewählt, die von Carlos Salzedo, einem berühmten Harfenisten des letzten Jahrhunderts stammen: »We Three Kings«, »Greensleves«, »O Tannenbaum«, »It came upon the midnight clear«, »Adeste Fideles« oder »O little town of Bethlehem«. Eine Entdeckung sind auch die vier Fantasien über provenzalische, neapolitanische, katalanische und baskische Weihnachtslieder.

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