Vieuxtemps - press

Provenant du site de l'OPL:
Le prestigieux magazine anglais Gramophone a interrogé Patrick Davin sur ce projet hors normes (l’enregistrement en un coffret des 7 concertos pour violon de Vieuxtemps par 7 jeunes violonistes issus de la Chapelle musicale Reine Elisabeth), et donne une critique enthousiaste de ce coffret, enregistré avec l’OPRL à la Salle Philharmonique :

« Sweet and thrilling

Complete Vieuxtemps recordings for the first time

Now relegated by the dictates of musical fashion and Wagnerian hegemony to brief or absent entries in reference books, Henri Vieuxtemps (1820-81) has been routinely ignored by fiddle players and (if they’ve heard of him) concert promoters. But if his concertos were good enough for Ysaÿe (Vieuxtemps’s greatest pupil), Kreisler, Heifetz and Perlman, then they should be good enough for the rest of us.

[…]

This handsomely presented fold-out set of discs with its detailed booklet (attached to same and in French, Dutch and English) comes warmly recommended to every lover of bravura violin works with a sweet tooth. » (Jeremy Nicholas, Gramophone, octobre 2011)

Trio Dali in Gramophone

I have to confess I hadn’t previously encountered the Trio Dali. My loss: this new set of Schubert’s piano trios is a real discovery from three young players with plenty to say and the most compelling manner of saying it.

Set alongside the Vienna Piano Trio’s somewhat staid account of the E flat (D929), this new one has a joyous sense of energy from the off. The recording is beautifully balanced, with the piano never unduly forward in the texture and a particular delight is the way the players meld Schubert’s countermelodies so sensitively. The way the Dali bring out the shy counterpoint at the reprise of the opening idea of the second movement (taken at an aptly flowing tempo here, à la Florestans and Capuçon/Braley trio) is just one instance among many. Their pacing is impressive too, not just here but in the B flat Trio (D898) as well: though there’s much engagement with the minutiae of the music, it’s never at the expense of a clear-headed view of the whole.

The B flat Trio is no less compelling, with plenty of air to the Scherzo – and almost as much visceral brilliance as Capuçon/Braley – and delicately nuanced string-playing that charms without ever losing purpose. Their perky rondo finale has a sense of playfulness sometimes missing from more traditional views of the work, the masterly Beaux Arts included.

The group’s name, incidentally, derives not from the surrealist painter Salvador Dalí but from Dali in south-west China, a city famed for its intricate marble carvings, the players being inspired by this thoughtful and unhurried creative process. It bodes well for their longevity.

We also get delicious performances of the Arpeggione Sonata and the C major Fantasie. If further persuasion were needed that this is a set that should live on your shelves, these provide it. I’m off to sample their previous Ravel disc now.

Harriet Smith, in Gramophone, Oct 2011

Our Cruise: some pictures

The QEMC cruise in the press

Musique

La Chapelle musicale au pied de l’Acropole

Prestigieuse fin de parcours pour le "Queen Elisabeth Musical Voyage" : après une ouverture tenue au festival d’Istanbul (en l’église Sainte-Irène, non loin de Sainte-Sophie) et un périple passant par Ephèse, Rhodes, Santorin et Nauplie, les musiciens étaient les invités du Festival International d’Athènes, reçus dans le théâtre antique d’Herodes Atticus (4 500 places), au pied de l’Acropole. Un environnement associant idéalement la magie du plein air et une acoustique digne des meilleures salles de concert. Au programme ce soir-là, le concerto pour violon op. 64 de Mendelssohn avec, en soliste, la jeune Bulgare Liya Petrova (classe d’Augustin Dumay) et un florilège d’airs de Rossini, avec José van Dam et June Andersen en vedettes, entourés d’Amalia Avilan, Audrey Kessedjian, Sébastien Parotte et Giovanni Tristacci, en perfectionnement à la Chapelle Musicale Reine Elisabeth. L’excellent Sinfonia Varsovia (que l’on découvrira prochainement au Bozar) était dirigé par Christopher Warren-Green. Il souffla sur ce concert un vent d’euphorie, suscité sans aucun doute par la force des lieux, la douceur du zéphir, la ferveur du public (une échappée dans la tourmente budgétaire des Hellènes ), mais plus encore par la créativité, l’exigence et la connivence établies entre les musiciens - les aînés et les juniors, les solistes et les musiciens de l’orchestre, toutes disciplines et toutes nationalités confondues - au cours d’une expérience musicale essentielle et, évidemment, "hors du commun".

Martine DM, in: Lalibre.be

Who are we?

Academic Opening Session 2011-2012

Dear Students!

Welcome to the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel for an exciting new academic year full of projects, fun, challenges and new friendschips. Today, do not miss the introductory session for students at 5pm in the big hall of the Music Chapel, followed by drinks and a light buffet. An ideal occasion to meet with the new students, the staff and some of the teachers.

Infelice

Un beau souvenir du Mozart Prelude 2011...