Katia & Marielle Labèque

Katia & Marielle Labèque – Les enfants terribles (2020)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 01:03:07 minutes | 564 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Deutsche Grammophon (DG)

The new recording captures the pianists’ special artistic relationship with Philip Glass – a follow-up to the Double Piano Concerto the composer dedicated to the sisters in 2015 Presenting the opera Les Enfants terribles arranged for piano duet, dedicated to Katia & Marielle Labèque, and Etudes No. 17 & 20

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Katia & Marielle Labèque – Invocations (2016)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 49:04 minutes | 838 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Deutsche Grammophon (DG)

Jamais sans ma sœur, pourraient dire en chœur les sœurs Labèque qui, depuis quelque quarante ans, brillent au firmament de la formation piano-quatre-mains et deux-pianos. Revoici donc l’insubmersible duo Katia et Marielle dans deux des plus considérables monuments de la littérature : le Sacre du printemps dans la version pour piano à quatre mains concoctée par le compositeur lui-même en 1913 (mais restituée pour deux pianos par les Labèque, car la version à quatre mains, d’usage pratique pour les répétitions de ballet, est quasiment inutilisable en termes concertants), et les Six épigraphes antiques de Debussy, publiés en 1915. Deux ouvrages donc quasiment contemporains, mais dont les différences d’orientation sautent aux oreilles, et ce d’autant plus que Debussy connaissait le Sacre et en comprenait la portée. Disons que le Sacre ouvre le siècle de l’un, les Epigraphes referment la vie de l’autre… La vision des sœurs prend à son compte cet état de lieux et confère d’autant de violence et d’âpreté au Sacre qu’elle déroule tendresse et érotisme secret aux Epigraphes. Une version incontournable, par deux musiciennes qui ont eu maintes fois le temps de transcender ces œuvres.

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Katia & Marielle Labèque – El Chan (2019)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 46:20 minutes | 784 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Deutsche Grammophon (DG)

New album dedicated entirely to American composer Bryce Dessner, founder and guitarist of the rock band The National, including his Concerto for two pianos with Orchestre de Paris conducted by Matthias Pintscher The album also includes the work El Chan for two pianos, and Haven for two guitars and two pianos. The album is dedicated to the film director Alejandro Gonzalez Iñarittú (The Revenant, Babel…), who created the album cover artwork.⠀

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Katia & Marielle Labèque – Amoria (2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:13:33 minutes | 1,22 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Deutsche Grammophon (DG)

Katia and Marielle Labque’s attachment to their homeland is no secret. They decide to pay tribute to their roots interpreting a repertoire gathering works by Basque composers, dating from the Renaissance to the present day.

The album Amoria (“love” in Euskara) dives at the heart of Basque culture with composers who managed to blend popular folklore to academic music. Alongside the ensemble Hegiak, the countertenor Carlos Mena or the Escolana Easo Araoz Gazte choir, the two pianists reassess five centuries of music with Euskara, the Basque tongue, as a watermark — and culminating with a jubilant Bolro.

“There are talks about my heart’s stiffness. This isn’t true. Though I am Basque and Basque people seldom confide, and in few people only. You would not believe with what regrets I left Saint-Jean-de Luz. I really felt this nostalgic impression only when I saw the ocean disappear first, then the Pyreneans. My country truly is one of the finest, the most beautiful I’d say! The sea is bordered by acacia trees! And soft green hills from the top of which fall the small balls of oaks trimmed la Basque. And on the top of it all, the Pyreneans, magically mauve. Besides, there is the light. It is not the relentless sky of the other southern country. Here, its shine is delicate. It makes the folks agile, elegant and their joy isn’t vulgar. Dances are light, voluptuous without excess. Although very practiced, religion itself intertwines with a hint of skepticism.” Maurice Ravel

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