New Release March 15th

Royal Couperin!

Pierre Gallon and Matthieu Boutineau invite us to discover François Couperin’s Concerts Royaux in a version for two harpsichords—a rare combination, yet one that was especially dear to the court composer to the Sun King.

In a reading at once brilliant and moving, the two performers join forces to bring out all the poetry, tenderness, gaiety, and inexhaustible invention of this astonishing collection. This journey into a world at the juncture of the waning Grand Siècle and the dawning age of the Enlightenment marks Pierre Gallon’s first solo project for harmonia mundi.

New Release March 8th

“Love potion” turned into nectar.

In this programme of Wagner opera scenes transcribed for piano solo – but taking full advantage of the instrument’s sumptuous sonority – Nikolai Lugansky highlights the astonishing dramatic and emotional impact of each excerpt. An impressive panorama of the essentials of the composer’s output!

Traversing through some of the most poignant moments in the Ring cycle, Tristan und Isolde, and Parsifal, Lugansky the virtuoso poet of the keyboard honours the profoundly human dimension of Wagner’s iconic legacy, which encompasses love, betrayal, sacrifice, and the quest for the absolute…

New Release February 23th

Three gems of musical neoclassicism

Ranging from the Italy of the “commedia dell’arte” depicted in Stravinsky’s Pulcinella to the picaresque Spain evoked in Falla’s Harpsichord Concerto and chamber opera (El retablo de maese Pedro), this exhilarating programme takes us on a delightful journey into musical neoclassicism!

Pablo Heras-Casado and the Mahler Chamber Orchestra explore the colourful and multifaceted world of Stravinsky’s and Falla’s music of the 1920s. Among the attractions is Benjamin Alard’s use of a sumptuous Pleyel harpsichord dating from that period and of the type which Wanda Landowska played at the Falla premieres.

New Release February 16th

Vivaldi, all life long!

Théotime Langlois de Swarte and Le Consort invite us to follow the thread that runs through representative instrumental compositions of the ‘red-haired priest.’ Starting with the earliest concertos he wrote in Venice and ending with his final works composed in Vienna, follow their fanciful itinerary that illustrates the myriad facets of Antonio Vivaldi.

Whether it is the music for which he is now beloved (such as the initial version of the ‘Summer’ Concerto from The Four Seasons) or his previously unrecorded compositions (including sonatas, sinfonias, and concertos), Vivaldi never ceased to innovate within established genres, musical forms, and timbres. A portrait of the composer who holds special significance for Théotime Langlois de Swarte, this double album has already joined a bevy of the most streamed classical releases and garnered both a Choc de Classica and a Trophée Radio Classique award!

New Release 2 February 2024

A hymn to love

With his Turangalîla-Symphonie, French composer Olivier Messiaen produced one of the most spectacular orchestral scores created in the twentieth century. Gustavo Gimeno and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra (TSO) bring us a powerful and poetic reading of this towering work, available in Dolby Atmos. His featured soloists are Marc-André Hamelin (piano) and Nathalie Forget (ondes Martenot).

A whole world in itself, the Symphony takes its inspiration from the medieval legend of Tristan and Yseult, as well as from the culture and classical music of India. The score indicates solo parts for a piano and for the ondes Martenot—both instruments that the composer deploys in concerto-like manner. More than a half century after the TSO’s GRAMMY-nominated first recording of the same piece led by Seiji Ozawa, for this new version the Orchestra and Gustavo Gimeno have called on virtuoso soloists who are expert performers of the work, with the end result that is nothing short of a major recording event.

New Release January 26th 2024

A wizard of the viola

With his latest album, Timothy Ridout shines a light on the legacy of Lionel Tertis (1876-1975), one of the greatest masters of the viola in recent times. Come along on a musical journey of discovery, featuring some of the most inspired showpieces for the instrument – including works originally intended or transcribed for it.

Still little known to the public at large, Lionel Tertis was instrumental in the modern-day renaissance of the viola. Accompanied by James Baillieu and Frank Dupree on the piano, the young British prodigy Timothy Ridout here invites us to explore the many facets of this striking repertoire, along with some key works by Tertis himself, by his contemporaries, and his students.

New Release January 19th

A world beyond

Adam Laloum takes us on a journey into the deepest core of Schubert’s most nakedly human universe. Through an explorations of the sorrows and the joys of the works created on the threshold of the world beyond, he lets the music speak to each of us like few other artists can.

His earlier Schubert recording (D. 894 and D. 958) left no doubt that Laloum is one of the most impressive Schubertians of his generation. With the composer’s Moments musicaux and the Sonata in A major —a kind of musical testament—he plunges us into a sonic world in which the heartbreaking beauty of each harmony evokes the yearning of a wounded and lonely heart, filled with worry, but also with hope. A vehement reading, with a visionary point of view!

New Release January 12th

In praise of variation

Cédric Tiberghien continues his fascinating traversal of Beethoven’s piano variations. This second volume contains such nuggets as the phenomenal set of 32 Variations in C minor, alongside other sparkling examples of the genre in which the composer revels in varying and transforming popular opera arias of his day… Spectacular artistry on display!

As part of his project, the first volume of which juxtaposes Beethoven’s variation cycles with those of Mozart and Schumann, Cédric Tiberghien now invites us not only to discover often neglected gems by Bonn’s native son but also to turn our attention to a later evolution of the variation form in the works of notable American composers. An exploration that informs as it delights.

 

 

NOVEMBER 2023

Bruno Philippe’s keen appetite for new discoveries

Performing works ranging from Saint-Saëns to Poulenc, Bruno Philippe offers a dazzling cello showcase that pays tribute to French music so full of hightened emotions and vivid colours.

From Camille Saint-Saëns’ virtuosic Cello Concerto No. 1, which he plays with great gusto, to Francis Poulenc’s superb Cello Sonata, preceded by César Franck’s celebrated Violin Sonata—heard here in a transcription for cello by Delsart,—Bruno Philippe invites us into the rich and colourful universe of French Romantic cello music. As an added bonus, he includes cello transcriptions of two Fauré songs, partnered by Tanguy de Williencourt.

EDITOR’S CHOICE / Gramophone “recording of the month” (Jan.24, see below)

DECEMBER 2023

The colours of passion

Javier Perianes offers us a dazzling reading of Enrique Granados’ magnum opus. His Goyescas brilliantly reveal the myriad facets of the Spanish soul so deftly depicted by the Catalan composer. A landmark of piano repertoire!

Fascinated by Francisco Goya, Granados created a strikingly beautiful piano cycle at the start of the twentieth century. Desire, passion, a dance of love or death emerge in each of his musical tableaux that owe their inspiration to the painter of Los caprichos and The Disasters of War. It would be no exaggeration to say that Javier Perianes is clearly in his element here: he delivers a phenomenal performance, captured in exceptionally vivid sound.

Latest New Releases

Harmonia mundi artists garner 2 ICMA awards

The jury of the 2024 International Classical Music Awards (ICMA) have just handed down their verdict, and this year harmonia mundi artists are once again in the spotlight with a pair of awards! In the “Vocal Music” category, the jury bestowed recognition on Les heures claires  (which brings together all the mélodies composed by sisters Lili and Nadia Boulanger), noting “excellent performances” by Lucile Richardot, Stéphane Degout, Raquel Camarinha, Sarah Nemtanu, Emmanuelle Bertrand, and Anne de Fornel. Another triumph, in the “Assorted Programs” category, belongs to François-Xavier Roth leading Les Siècles and a select set of singers (Isabelle Druet, Julien Behr, Loïc Félix, Thomas Dolié, Jean Teitgen) for their recording of Ravel’s L’Heure espagnole and Bolero. Our heartfelt congratulations to the winners!

Editor’s choice / Recording of the month

(Gramophone, January 2024)

Bruno Philippe’s latest album will be featured in the prestigious Gramophone, with a double-page spread. Extract from Charlotte Gardner’s article:
“You know when every aspect of an album just sings? Well, this is one of those, and not only because cellist Bruno Philippe’s lyricism is as much to the fore as ever.
Here we have three French-Belgian masterworks, punctuated by three short Fauré pieces, adding up to an expressively wide-ranging and satisfyingly cohesive programme encompassing just over 70 years of cello-writing; also the perpetuation of two longstanding, musically important human relationships, pianist Tanguy de Williencourt being the regular duo partner and contemporary with whom Philippe first recorded in 2014, aged 21 (Evidence, 9/15), and Christoph Eschenbach the mentor who partnered him for his first concerto disc in 2019 Prokofiev – Harmonia Mundi, 12/19), also with the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra.”

Gramophone Classical Music Awards 2023: Timothy Ridout, a star of the viola!

 

His latest album, featuring Edward Elgar’s Cello Concerto in Lionel Tertis’s transcription for viola, paired with Ernest Bloch’s Suite for Viola and Orchestra, won the “Concerto Award” at the 2023 Gramophone Classical Music Awards held on Wednesday, October 4, in London.

Recognition that is well deserved, judging by this young British violist’s “magisterial performance” that elevates a score that has long been the sole province of cellists…

Partnered by Martyn Brabbins leading the storied BBC Symphony Orchestra, Timothy Ridout proves to be a compelling champion of his instrument, delivering (to quote Gramophone again) “a luminous reading.”

A big round of congratulations to the performers, as well as to the recording team, whose vivid sound capture was also noted.

Upcoming albums, projects, life of the label…

Stradivari collection offers a miraculous return to life…

When incomparable instruments that are centuries old leave their storage and come alive under the fingers of today’s finest performers!

Over the past few years, harmonia mundi has established a close partnership with the Museum of Music housed at the Paris Philharmonie. Under the umbrella of the Stradivari collection, outstanding performers are invited to discover and play on the museum’s priceless instruments, lovingly restored and maintained by a team of curators and conservators. Each release in the series is conceived as an encounter between the instrument and the performer, featuring the repertoire perfectly suited to both. This partnership has already borne exceptional fruit, as you may sample for yourself here or by visiting the Paris Philharmonie’s website.

NEXT RELEASE AVAILABLE AUGUST 2024:
Gabriel Fauré, Nocturnes and Barcarolles  

A new partnership

harmonia mundi welcomes the HANSON QUARTET.

Formed in 2013 in Paris, the Hanson Quartet has forged a distinct identity by embracing a wide spectrum of musical horizons, notably focussing on the Viennese masters of the quartet genre, while maintaining the imprint of the French school of chamber music playing. Boasting a keen curiosity and a number of international awards, including at the Geneva Competition, the Hanson Quartet is supported by the Singer-Polignac Foundation and the Banque Populaire Foundation and has performed around the world. For their harmonia mundi debut, its members will be joined by their fellow Frenchman Adam Laloum in Robert Schumann’s Piano Quartet Op. 44, paired with his three String Quartets of Op. 41. Not to be missed!

SCHUMANN / STRING QUARTETS OP. 41, PIANO QUARTET OP. 44
AVAILABLE IN MAY 2024
cover

The Schumann Trilogy boxed set

Upon its initial release, each of these recordings—here brought together as a set—became a new benchmark in Schumann interpretation. Performed on period instruments for the first time, here are the composer’s three concertos, paired with his three piano trios.

With the Freiburger Barockorchester led by Pablo Heras-Casado as their exhilarating partners, Isabelle Faust, Jean-Guihen Queyras, and Alexander Melnikov deliver riveting readings of these masterpieces of nineteenth-century German concerto repertoire, revealing textures and sonorities of astonishing freshness.

Included as a bonus is a Blu-ray disc which allows us to see them performing all three concertos during a memorable evening captured at the Berlin Philharmonie and also featuring the Overture, Scherzo, and Finale, op. 52—a sparkling and jubilant way to start off the programme!

The Schumann Trilogy

A new partnership

Harmonia mundi welcomes harpsichordist PIERRE GALLON for his label debut.

In his first solo project, Pierre Gallon has partnered with Matthieu Boutineau to bring us Couperin’s Concerts Royaux in a version for two harpsichords—a rare combination, yet one of which the composer to the Sun King was especially fond. Here is a reading at once brilliant and moving of these works full of tenderness, gaiety, and invention—a genuine stylistic watershed between the twilight of the Grand Siècle and the dawn of the Enlightenment.

COUPERIN, Concerts Royaux —available in March 2024

Pygmalion in the studio…

Recording the Mozart Requiem.

Fall of 2023 was notable for a recording that holds special import for the performers, for harmonia mundi… and for all Raphaël Pichon fans, without a doubt. Four years after taking part in Romeo Castellucci’s acclaimed staging of the Requiem at the Aix-en-Provence Festival, the musicians of Pygmalion were keen to capture their reading of Mozart’s unfinished masterpiece in the studio. This endeavor, which is both collective and very personal, leans on our own perception of death and our environment, paradoxically allowing the score to regain a universality that transcends styles, eras, and genres.

REQUIEM – forthcoming release (VINYL | CD | BLU-RAY DISC)
J.S. BACH | B. ALARD

A new partnership

Harmonia mundi welcomes the TORONTO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA under the direction of Gustavo Gimeno.

This February, we are especially proud to welcome one of the finest North American orchestras, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, led by a conductor already well known to European audiences: Gustavo Gimeno, who has previously released several albums for harmonia mundi at the head of the Luxembourg Philharmonic Orchestra. This time, the programme will be nothing less than Messiaen’s Turangalîla-Symphonie, featuring Marc-André Hamelin (piano) and Nathalie Forget (ondes martenot).

Turangalîla-Symphonie – available in February 2024
PROMS : Requiem de Mozart / Pygmalion

Just in time for Spring 🌱

Discover harmonia mundi’s forthcoming releases!

Among the most notable titles being released this Spring are Couperin’s Concerts Royaux to introduce the brilliant harpsichordist Pierre Gallon (partnered by Matthieu Boutineau) to the label, plus Wagner transcriptions performed by Nikolai Lugansky, a major Britten release featuring Isabelle Faust and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Dutilleux works performed by Jean-Guihen Queyras and the Luxembourg Philharmonic, as well as our first contribution to mark the centenary of Gabriel Fauré’s death: his greatest vocal cycles (Mirages, La Bonne Chanson, L’Horizon Chimérique) performed by Stéphane Degout and Alain Planès.

If you wish to learn more, click here!

PROMS : Requiem de Mozart / Pygmalion

Forthcoming albums

Discover the harmonia mundi releases for the first half of 2024!

Among the highlights of the coming months: Messiaen’s Turangalîla-Symphonie—a monumental work that is all too rarely heard—here in the expert hands of Gustavo Gimeno at the helm of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra (an exclusive new partnership); a selection of Vivaldi concertos—“Concerti per una vita”—in Théotime Langlois de Swarte’s eagerly awaited new recording at the head of Le Consort; Couperin’s Concerts Royaux to introduce the brilliant harpsichordist Pierre Gallon (partnered by Matthieu Boutineau) to the label; as well as Wagner transcriptions performed by Nikolai Lugansky, Britten works featuring Isabelle Faust, Dutilleux with Jean-Guihen Queyras, and a period-instrument reading of Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream that is bound to become a new benchmark.

Explore our release schedule here!

J.S. BACH | B. ALARD

Théotime Langlois de Swarte,

in a ‘love letter’ to Vivaldi.

A few weeks before departing on a month-long tour of Oceania with the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, the young French violinist was at the Théâtre-Auditorium in Poitiers to record a double album showcasing the music of the “red-haired priest” in all its many facets. Five-hundred times the same concerto, did you say? On the contrary! As the young musicians of Le Consort can attest, Vivaldi was able not only to enhance the concerto model established by his predecessors, but also to re-fashion the solo concerto through a variety of approaches, leaving behind a legacy that would inspire generations to come. Among the virtues of this recording was the idea to recreate the different types of scoring the composer employed in Venice, ranging from chamber settings to a full orchestra. With the added bonus of selections that have never been recorded before! Available in early 2024.

PROMS : Requiem de Mozart / Pygmalion

A new partnership

Harmonia mundi welcomes the four-hand piano duo of PAVEL KOLESNIKOV and SAMSON TSOY!

Praised for the “electrifying intimacy” of their playing (The Guardian), the pianists will make their piano-duo debut at Carnegie Hall on February 13, followed soon after by their first recording for harmonia mundi. Prior to that, they can also be heard at the Konzerthaus in Berlin, at De Doelen in Rotterdam, and at Wigmore Hall in London. Both artists enjoy flourishing solo careers, and Pavel can already boast an impressive discography as a soloist (Hyperion). With performances ranging from La Roque d’Anthéron to projects choreographed by Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker, it is their highly nuanced approach that the duo Kolesnikov-Tsoy bring to works by Franz Schubert and Leonid Desyatnikov. We can hardly wait!

SCHUBERT: Divertissement à la hongroise, D.818 and Fantasie in F minor, D.940
DESYATNIKOV: Trompe-l’œil (world premiere recording)
Available in June 2024
J.S. BACH | B. ALARD

Jean-Guihen Queyras

returns with a suite treat!

Following several years of worldwide touring with Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker’s Rosas dance company, Jean-Guihen Queyras returned to the recording studio to deliver a second reading of J.S. Bach’s Suites for Solo Cello. Sixteen years after his first, unforgettable recording of these same suites, the cellist felt compelled to revisit this inexhaustible musical source, which was also the subject of his recent book, Bach: Les Suites en partage (conversations avec Emmanuel Reibel). Album release scheduled for fall 2024.

J.S. BACH | B. ALARD

The Bach cycle continues

Benjamin Alard has just finished recording the Goldberg Variations, performed on the prodigious three-manual Hass harpsichord!

The artist returns to this one-of-a-kind instrument some 12 months following the release of his recording of Book One of The Well-Tempered Clavier, enthusiastically received by the critics (Diapason d’or, Gramophone magazine’s Editor’s Choice, etc.). Future volumes are also in the process of being recorded, each of them performed on one of several extraordinary instruments…

Forthcoming releases:

VOL. 9: KÖTHEN, THE YEARS OF happiness

VOL. 10: CLAVIERÜBUNG, VOLUMES I AND II

VOL. 11: THE MUSIC LIBRARY OF ANNA MAGDALENA

J.S Bach - B. Alard

Dolby Atmos sound

is present on many new releases and re-releases by harmonia mundi..

No less than 18 new releases are announced in Dolby Atmos format on the label in 2024. Find the complete list of releases in this format in our Topics.

J.S. BACH | B. ALARD

Current playlists

Discover the latest harmonia mundi playlists on your favorite platform.

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A passion for excellence 1958.

Now 65, the label cultivates an insolent youth. Exploring new repertoires, broadening our horizons, developing young talent and constantly striving for excellence: this is harmonia mundi’s motto. We are demanding, passionate and proud of our independence. This is our story…

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