Description
Naïve: Accentus — Transcriptions 2 (Laurence Equilbey) Audio CD
Brand new! Factory packaged! As pictured! Buy with confidence!
Product Details:
- Product Type: Audio CD
- Brand / Label: Naïve (Naïve Classique)
- Ensemble: Accentus (chamber choir)
- Conductor: Laurence Equilbey
- Soloists: Brigitte Engerer (piano), Solange Añorga (soprano solo), Les Monts du Reuil (continuo)
- Catalog Number: V 5048 / AD 098
- UPC / Barcode: 0822186050484
- Release Year: 2006
- Genre: Classical
- Style: A cappella choral, vocal transcriptions
Product Features
- Format: CD
- Discs: 1
- Total runtime: approx. 62:03
- Condition: Brand new, factory sealed
- Composers transcribed: Vivaldi, Schubert, Prokofiev, Mahler, Wagner, Bach, Debussy, Ravel, Scriabin
- Arrangers: Clytus Gottwald, Franck Krawczyk, Peter Cornelius, Gérard Pesson, Thierry Machuel
Overview
A choral album built entirely out of music that wasn't written for choir. Laurence Equilbey and her ensemble Accentus take instrumental and solo-vocal works — Vivaldi's "L'hiver" from the Four Seasons, a movement from Prokofiev's Alexander Nevsky, songs by Schubert and Mahler, Debussy and Ravel — and perform them in a cappella transcription. That's the whole premise of the Transcriptions series, and this second volume is the one that draws on the widest range of source material.
The appeal here is for listeners who love close-harmony choral singing and want to hear familiar pieces from an unexpected angle. Hearing Debussy's "Des pas sur la neige" or Ravel's Ma Mère l'Oye recast for voices changes what you notice in the music — texture and breath replace keyboard and orchestra.
Most of the arrangements come from Clytus Gottwald, a name closely tied to this kind of vocal transcription, with further work from Franck Krawczyk, Gérard Pesson, Peter Cornelius, and Thierry Machuel. Accentus has long been one of France's leading chamber choirs, and the precision the repertoire demands is exactly their strength.
Released on Naïve in 2006, running just over an hour, with pianist Brigitte Engerer and soprano Solange Añorga featured on selected tracks.
Interesting Facts
- Accentus, founded by Laurence Equilbey in 1991, is one of France's most acclaimed professional chamber choirs, known especially for a cappella and contemporary repertoire.
- Clytus Gottwald (1925–2023) was a German choral conductor and musicologist whose vocal transcriptions of orchestral and piano works became a genre of their own.
- The program reaches across three centuries, from Vivaldi and Bach to Debussy, Ravel, and Scriabin, all recast for unaccompanied or lightly accompanied voices.
- Track 1 transcribes "Winter" from Vivaldi's Four Seasons, and track 3 draws on Prokofiev's film score for Alexander Nevsky — both originally large instrumental works.
- Pianist Brigitte Engerer (1952–2012), a celebrated French concert artist, joins the choir on the Schubert "Litanei" transcription.
Track Listing
- Vivaldi (arr. Krawczyk) — L'hiver, from Le quattro stagioni
- Schubert (arr. Gottwald) — Litanei
- Prokofiev (arr. Krawczyk) — Le Champ des morts, from Alexandre Nevsky
- Mahler (arr. Gottwald) — Scheiden und Meiden
- Wagner (arr. Gottwald) — Im Treibhaus
- Schubert (arr. Cornelius) — Grablied / Der Tod und das Mädchen
- Schubert (arr. Gottwald) — Der Wegweiser, from Winterreise
- Schubert (arr. Krawczyk) — Nacht und Träume
- Mahler (arr. Gottwald) — Die zwei blauen Augen 10–12. J. S. Bach (arr. Cornelius) — Drei Psalmlieder nach Klaviersätzen
- Debussy (arr. Gottwald) — Des pas sur la neige 14–15. Ravel (arr. Pesson) — La Flûte enchantée, L'Indifférent, from Shéhérazade 16–17. Scriabin (arr. Pesson) — Si comme la lune… (Prélude no. 13, La lune paraît / Feuillet d'album no. 1) 18–19. Ravel (arr. Machuel) — Pavane de la Belle au bois dormant, Le Jardin féerique, from Ma Mère l'Oye
(Individual track timings are not printed on the packaging; total timing is 62:03. I can add per-track times if you send a photo of the booklet.)
Publishers
Released by Naïve (Naïve Classique), catalog V 5048 / AD 098, P&C 2006. Supported by Mécénat Musical Société Générale, principal patron of Accentus.
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