Disk of 2022

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Anne-Sophie Bertrand (harp) and the ensemble "Ondine" - album "Jeux de Création" - CD Review, February 4th, 2022

"Jeux de Création" is the title of the album recorded at the Frankfurt Broadcasting in February 2021 and released at the end of the same year, at Naxos. The protagonist of these prints is Anne-Sophie Bertrand, an exceptional harp performer, who is distinguished by an extraordinary musicality, virtuosity and formidable technique. The artist confesses that "his program is a tribute to the harp, both a solo and orchestral instrument. The CD includes a contemporary piece by Geoffrey Gordon that evokes the golden age of the harp, the 1920s and a collection of French and German works reflecting music "In the early twentieth century, many harp scores were written for the artist, an instrument with rich sound effects and timbre colors, in keeping with the Impressionist and Art Nouveau style."

Anne Sophie Bertrand, born in France, has been a soloist with the Frankfurt Broadcasting Orchestra since 2000 and a teacher at the Akademie fürTonkunst in Darmstadt and the Royal Academy of Music. He has performed with many of Europe's major orchestras and has given masterclasses at prestigious music centers in Freiburg, Brussels and London. He has also been a member of the juries for the Bloomington International Harp Competition and the French Harp Competition. Passionate about chamber music and new music, Anne-Sophie Bertrand has so far collaborated with contemporary conductors and composers such as Pierre Boulez, Mauricio Kagel and Heinz Holliger.

For the recording of the album "Jeux de Création" - which includes pieces by Maurice Ravel, Gabriel Fauré, Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann, Geoffrey Gordon, Claude Debussy and André Caplet - Anne Sophie Bertrand was accompanied by the ensemble Ondine, a band formed by members of the Broadcasting Orchestra from Frankfurt, with the aim of discovering, promoting and enriching the chamber repertoire that focuses on the harp.