Vincent Belanger La 45RPM (2 LP)

Là is the first solo album by cellist Vincent Bélanger, recorded in 2010 in three different church spaces in Montreal and Westmount and re-released in 2018 on Audio Note Music. He is supported by an orchestra under the direction of his father, the Tenor, composer and conductor Guy Bélanger, who founded the Opéra de Québec in 1984. The recording consists of 12 tracks, many of them compositions by the Canadian André Gagnon, arranged by Bélanger for Cello.
Canadian Cellist Vincent Bélanger is not completely unknown to lovers of high-quality music reproduction. Together with Anne Bisson, he released the album Conversations in 2016, which not only pleased Bisson Fans, but also drew attention to his virtuoso playing. On the other hand, Bélanger has also been the "ambassador" of the British hi-fi manufacturer Audio Note since 2016, which he has accompanied with live demonstrations at trade fairs ever since.
It is correspondingly modern, but never without the will for harmony and beauty, which is completed by the sensationally good recording quality and pressing. - Thomas Schmidt, LP, issue 6/2019
More sound beauty is not possible. - Lothar Brandt, AUDIO, issue 4/2019
The absolutely high-end recording for Audio Note Music is at the same time crystal clear and spatially audible as well as of velvety, excellently natural and "analog" homogeneity. This makes "Là" a completely successful pleasure, which justifies the 58 Euro for the 45-track double album. - Matthias Böde, Stereo, Output 2/2019
Audionote has had the production - the "all Tube Recording Process" is documented in detail in the inner part of the gatefold - re-mastered with Noble Equipment by Damian Quintard, who had already proved his golden ears during a Currentzis recording. What his engineer Philip Gosselin has brought to the two high-speed vinyls, however, marks pretty much the Maximum of what you can get in terms of sound beauty, abundance, spatiality and transparency on a long-playing record today. Pure audiophile pleasure. - Lothar Brandt, MINT, issue 2/2019

Selections:

Side A
1. Il était une fois dans l'ouest – E. Morricone
2. Wow! – A. Gagnon
3. L'Air du soir – A. Gagnon
Side B
1. Scène 1 de l'opéra Nelligan – A. Gagnon
2. Sonate Juliette Pomerleau – A. Gagnon
3. Il neige sur Kamouraska – A. Gagnon
Side C
1. Le Cygne – C. Saint-Saëns
2. Mélancolie – V. Bélanger
3. Amitié – H. Blanchet & V. Bélanger
Side D
1. Ave Maria – G. Caccini
2. Le chant des oiseaux – Trad. Catalan
3. Amazing Grace – V. Bélanger