Ensemble Pygmalion

Ensemble Pygmalion, Raphaël Pichon – J. S. Bach: Köthener Trauermusik BWV 244a (2014)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:13:58 minutes | 1,29 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © harmonia mundi

When Leopold of Anhalt-Cöthen died in 1728, his former Kapellmeister had not forgotten the five brilliant years he had spent in the prince’s service. He dedicated to his memory a mourning cantata almost entirely based on the music of two major works of the mid-1720s, the Trauer-Ode and the St Matthew Passion. Although the score is lost, the wordbook and other sources of information have now made it possible to reconstruct the work. In his first recording for harmonia mundi, Raphaël Pichon invites us on an exciting musical treasure hunt.

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Ensemble Pygmalion, Raphaël Pichon – Rameau: Dardanus (Live Recording at l’Opéra Royal du Château de Versailles) (2013)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 02:25:05 minutes | 1,42 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Alpha Classics

After the exploration of Bach’s ‘five’ Missae Breves concluding with the success of the original version of the B minor Mass, Ensemble Pygmalion has recorded Rameau’s Dardanus following a series of concerts unanimously hailed by the critics.

Although superior from the dramatic point of view, this second version of Dardanus proposed by Pygmalion has never, until the present day, been resurrected, with the exception of the famous aria ‘Lieux funestes’ from Act IV. A new edition was carried out (by Gilles Rico) based on the 1744 edition, also incorporating the numerous variants integrated by Rameau between 1744 and 1760, as he constantly strove to enrich the music’s emotional power.

Originally stemming totally from the restrictive form of Lully’s tragédie lyrique but also attesting to a pronounced taste for ‘extraordinary stories’, this work presents a more intimate, human sense of the drama, thereby tracing a very clear path towards the psychological explorations of the Classical era.

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Ensemble Pygmalion, Raphaël Pichon – Bach Missa 1733 (2012)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 01:02:43 minutes | 698 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Alpha Classics

The Ensemble Pygmalion continues its interpretative work on the music of Johann Sebastian Bach, proposing the Mass in B minor, BWV 232 in its version of 1733.

Pygmalion’s first recording for Alpha, with Bach’s Missae Breves BWV 234 and 235 (ALPHA 130) was received very enthusiastically by the critics and awarded, in particular, the Diapason d’Or of the Year 2008 and the Orphée d’Or 2008 by the Académie du Disque Lyrique.

Given the work’s historical importance, this third recording by the ensemble is also the occasion for Raphaël Pichon to show the extent of his maturity, placing him in the front rank of today’s young conductors.

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