Éditions Hortus is an independent French disk label, offering largely unknown songs and works for the organ in addition to contemporary compositions.[1] Specialised in organ and choir music, it has in particular presented disks recorded at the Notre Dame de Paris and of its choir 'Les Éléments', as well as of the young harpsichordist Benjamin Alard.[2][3]

Éditions Hortus wishes to produce disks containing rare or even previously unrecorded music.[4]

Vincent Genvrin is the label's artistic director. Didier Maes is its executive producer.[5]

History edit

Founded in 1994, Éditions Hortus first showed its interest in disks with Via crucis (Stations of the Cross) by Franz Liszt, interpreted by the Sacrum Choir from Riga. The CD was accompanied by a series of fifteen screenprints by Daniel Vincent and Guillaume Dégé, printed in a limited, numbered edition.[6]

On 17 November 2006, Didier Maes, producer of the label, was a guest in the France Musique programme "Par ici les sorties!" (Releases over here!), to present a selection of four Hortus disks.[7]

In the spring of 2010, backed by the Conseil Général du Loiret, Éditions Hortus joined the "Amis de l'Orgue de Lorris" to record 17th-century Iberian and Flemish music, interpreted by organist Damien Colcomb in the communal 12th-century church.[8]

On 7 February 2011, the Éditions Hortus catalogue listed 79 recordings available only on CD.

Principal artists edit

Classical edit

  • Britten Choir, directed by Nicole Corti. In 2005, the ensemble recorded masses, motets and organ pieces by Joseph Guy Ropartz (1864–1955) in honor of Saint Anne, with Loïc Mallié at the organ. In 2007, the ensemble worked again with Éditions Hortus for the 'Book of Hours' of Édith Canat de Chizy.[9] These two recordings were well received by the critics.
  • Female vocal ensemble Ad Limina
  • Maîtrise Notre-Dame de Paris, director Lionel Sow
  • Ensemble Grégorien, director Sylvain Dieudonné
  • Bernard Tétu
  • Russian orthodox choir of Riga
  • Sacrum Choir, director Andreis Veismanis
  • La Camerata Baroque choir, director Daniel Meylan
  • Le Concert des Dames, direction Frédéric Bourdin
  • Les Temps Modernes Ensemble

The chamber choir Les Éléments, directed by Joël Suhubiette, received the Victoire de la musique classique for best vocal ensemble in 2006.

Harpsichord edit

  • Benjamin Alard, Prize of the jury and Prize of the public at the Harpsichord competition of Brugge 2004. In 2005, with Hortus, Benjamin Alard made his first recording 'which revealed him to the general audience',[10] an anthology of keyboard music for harpsichord and organ; the disk was immediately taken up by the critics.[11] In December 2006, Hortus recorded a collection of transcriptions for harpsichord of pieces by Reincken and Vivaldi.[12] Three years later, Alard's interpretation of the Bauyn Manuscript (Éditions Hortus, 2008) was very well received by music critics.[13]
  • Freddy Eichelberger
  • Laurent Stewart

Clavichord edit

  • Cristiano Holtz

Organ edit

  • Benjamin Alard
  • Régis Allard
  • Lionel Avot. In the summer of 2010, with Éditions Hortus, he recorded his first CD in the church Notre-Dame de la Dalbade in Toulouse with a selection of pieces by César Franck (1822–1890).[14] Lionel Avot was introduced to Éditions Hortus by Vincent Genvrin,[15] with whom he shares the experience of an apprenticeship with Jean Boyer. Lionel Avot was the guest on Gaëlle, Le Gallic's weekly radio programme on Sunday 27 February 2011.[16]
  • Jean Bizot
  • Michel Bouvard
  • Philippe Brandeis
  • Damien Colcomb
  • Jean-Baptiste Dupont
  • François Espinasse
  • Rolande Falcinelli
  • Vincent Genvrin
  • Juliette Grellety-Bosviel
  • Jan Willem Jansen
  • Pavel Kohout
  • Olivier Latry
  • Emmanuel Le Divellec
  • Philippe Lefebvre
  • Jean-Pierre Leguay
  • Véronique Le Guen
  • Loïc Mallié
  • Jesùs Martin Moro. After meeting Didier Maes at the 2007 congress of the French-speaking Federation of friends of the organ, from 20 to 23 December 2009 he recorded a selection of early and contemporary repertoire in homage to the Basque country on the organ of the church of Urrugne, shortly after the inauguration of the instrument on 9 October 2009.[17]
  • François Ménissier. In charge of the Silbermann organ of the Saint Thomas church in Strasbourg from 1989 to 2003, he recorded several organ pieces by Bach with Éditions Hortus in 2000.
  • Daniel Meylan
  • Louis Thiry

Piano edit

  • François Lambret
  • Bruno Robilliard
  • Nicolas Stavy. His interpretation of 'Four ballades op. 10', 'Third Sonata op. 5' and 'Theme and Variations in D minor' by Johannes Brahms (Éditions Hortus, 2008) was hailed by music critics.[18][19]
  • Isabelle Oehmichen

Flute edit

  • Élise Battais

Harmonium edit

  • Kurt Lueders

Jazz edit

  • Guillaume de Chassy
  • Jean-Marie Machado

Organist-composers edit

References edit

  1. ^ Médiathèque de la Cité de la musique. "Guide pratique de la musique - Bases de données - Edition musicale - Editeurs: Hortus". Cité de la musique. Retrieved 2 March 2011.
  2. ^ http://shop.editionshortus.com/media/static/IntentionartistiqueHortus310109.pdf [bare URL PDF]
  3. ^ "1d-rhonealpes.com - Plateforme musicale régionale : Hortus". Fédération des Editeurs et Producteurs Phonographiques de Rhône-Alpes. Retrieved 3 March 2011.
  4. ^ "Les éditions Hortus (musique d'orgue...)". France Catholique. 28 October 2009. Retrieved 8 February 2011.
  5. ^ Jean-Baptiste Millot (23 December 2009). "Les têtes de l'art - Le vrai visage de ceux qui comptent dans la musique: Didier Maës". Qobuz. Retrieved 2 March 2011.
  6. ^ "Des moissons pour l'été", La Vie, 7 July 1994
  7. ^ "Par ici les sorties !". Radio France. 17 November 2006. Retrieved 2 March 2011.
  8. ^ E. Boutheloup (4 July 2010), "Un CD enregistré sur l'orgue de Lorris", Conseil général du Loiret
  9. ^ Académie des Beaux-Arts (25 May 2010). "Le Prix Liliane Bettencourt pour le Chant Choral a été attribué au Choeur Britten". TV5Monde. Retrieved 26 February 2011.
  10. ^ Lee Yu Wang (12 January 2008). "Les Victoires de la musique classique 2008". Classiquenews.com. Retrieved 10 February 2011.
  11. ^ "Benjamin Alard, claveciniste et organiste". Jeunes Talents. 8 February 2011. Retrieved 10 February 2011.
  12. ^ Benjamin Ballifh (27 January 2008). "Benjamin Alard, clavecin et orgue. Biographie et discographie". Classiquenews.com. Retrieved 10 February 2011.
  13. ^ Gilles Macassar (6 December 2008), "Benjamin Alard (clavecin) : Le manuscrit Bauyn", Télérama
  14. ^ Claude Chenais (23 February 2011). "CD "CÉSAR FRANCK" enregistré par Lionel Avot". Association des Amis de l'Orgue d'Epinay-sur-Orge. Retrieved 25 February 2011.
  15. ^ Christian Wasselin (2011). "César Franck selon Lionel Avot". Webthea. Retrieved 25 February 2011.
  16. ^ "Leur premier CD: Lionel Avot (orgue)". Radio France. 27 February 2011. Retrieved 25 February 2011.
  17. ^ Frédéric Pelloud (16 December 2009). "Un nouvel enregistrement à Urrugne". Le Journal du Pays Basque. Retrieved 2 March 2011.
  18. ^ Gilles Macassar (21 November 2009). "Quatre ballades op. 10, Troisième Sonate op. 5, Thème et variations en ré mineur. Nicolas Stavy (piano Steingraeber, 1895) : Johannes Brahms". Télérama. Retrieved 7 February 2011.
  19. ^ Annie Yanbekian et Arnaud Drillon (24 March 2010). "Nicolas Stavy en récital à l'Athénée". France 2. Retrieved 8 February 2011.
  20. ^ Annie Yanbekian (15 February 2011). "Victoires classiques: Chamayou et Deshayes sacrés". France 2. Retrieved 15 February 2011.

External links edit