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A new aesthetic calls for new forms: such is the challenge the composer set for himself in the two works presented here. In Les Nuits d’été, Berlioz pioneered, well before Mahler and Ravel, a song cycle for voice and orchestra. In Harold in Italy, scored for large orchestra and solo viola, he experimented with the symphonic genre. These period-instrument performances by Les Siècles, led by François-Xavier Roth, with violist Tabea Zimmermann, also feature Stéphane Degout in the vocal cycle, heard here in the composer’s own version for baritone. File under: out of the ordinary. © harmonia mundi

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Eschewing the electro R&B of his first international release, 2010's Mise à Jour, for a more emotive soul-pop sound, A la Poursuite du Bonheur is the fifth solo album from French pop idol M. Pokora. Produced by regular cohorts Gee Futuristic and the Bionix, its 14 tracks feature songs penned by rapper Soprano ("Juste un Instant") and German-Rwandan vocalist Corneille ("Le Temps Qu'il Faut") alongside the single "On Est Là."© Jon O'Brien /TiVo

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Eschewing the electro R&B of his first international release, 2010's Mise à Jour, for a more emotive soul-pop sound, A la Poursuite du Bonheur is the fifth solo album from French pop idol M. Pokora. Produced by regular cohorts Gee Futuristic and the Bionix, its 14 tracks feature songs penned by rapper Soprano ("Juste un Instant") and German-Rwandan vocalist Corneille ("Le Temps Qu'il Faut") alongside the single "On Est Là."© Jon O'Brien /TiVo

Melody Gardot made her public debut aged 24 with My One and Only Thrill in 2009, released on Verve Records. Many thought she’d pursue the glamourous, sophisticated and mysterious image conveyed by this record and forge a music career as a “jazz singer”.  However, just a quick glance at her eclectic discography proves that this singer-songwriter has done anything but, using each new release as an opportunity to reinvent herself and reveal a new part of her personality. After returning to her soul-rock roots on Currency of Man, (which celebrates the music of her native Philadelphia), and the barque hybridisation of The Absence (which borrows its rhythms and orchestral sounds from the various countries she’s spent time in over the last few years, such as Argentina and Portugal), Melody Gardot’s Entre eux deux is an intimate and romantic record that reflects on her relationship with France—more specifically with Paris—which she’s called home since 2016 (at least for most of the year). Conceived, composed and recorded in close collaboration with French pianist and composer Philippe Powell (son of the great Brazilian musician Baden Powell), Entre eux deux makes the most of the emotional proximity afforded by the duet format. It utilises a whole range of nuanced emotions and forms by using a repertoire that mixes legendary French songs (such as Francis Lai and Pierre Barouh’s masterpiece, Plus fort que nous), Brazilian classics (Samba Em Preludio by Baden Powell and Vinicius de Moraes) and original compositions that are effortlessly sung both in English and in French. The whole album is enhanced by the scenographic sound field created by the intentionally impressionistic piano harmonies, which forge an incredibly natural link between Bill Evans, Claude Debussy and the world of bossa nova. Melody Gardot’s deep and sensual voice resonates with great sophistication and sensitivity, exploring the mysteries of love songs through consistently beautiful melodies imbued with ineffable nostalgia. She plays into a few stereotypes (crazy love, Paris romance) in order to create an ironic sense of distance (listen to the lyrics of A la Tour Eiffel and Fleurs du dimanche, which are subtly disenchanted). Melody Gardot has never seemed more in control of her art than she does in this intimate record. © Stéphane Ollivier/Qobuz

This release is part of a Berlioz series by conductor John Nelson and the Orchestre philharmonique de Strasbourg, but it is the soloists who shine here. Tenor Michael Spyres, who is really hitting his stride, has a voice pleasantly suited to French music, rounded and subtle, but there is more; Berlioz suggested that several singers perform the orchestral song cycle Les nuits d'été, Op. 7, but Spyres takes all the songs himself. Moreover, he does them in the original keys, which is rarer still. This calls for a singer with exceptional control of dynamic extremes in different parts of his range, and Spyres is exceptionally flexible in this regard. There is a confidence and nonchalance to this performance that grows on the listener as the performance proceeds, even as the sound engineering puts Spyres too far front and center to the detriment of the orchestra's contributions. This isn't so pronounced in the anti-concerto Harold en Italie, Op. 16, and here again, there is a standout soloist; Timothy Ridout offers a rich sound and a real narrative quality that seems to evoke the score's source in Lord Byron's long poem. This exceptionally satisfying Berlioz album hit best-seller charts in late 2022.© James Manheim /TiVo

L'amour de loin (2000) is Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho's first opera, but the mastery of its memorably dramatic music demonstrates incontrovertibly that she is a born opera composer. The opera has had numerous international productions and in 2003 it received the Grawemeyer Award, the most prestigious international award for composition. Saariaho was inspired to write an opera after seeing the 1992 Salzburg Festival production of Messiaen's Saint François d'Assise, so it is not surprising that her first effort would be more concerned with introspection than with conventionally operatic drama. The French libretto, by Armin Maalouf, deals with twelfth century troubadour Jaufre Rudel, and the legend of his love for the Countess of Tripoli. Separated by thousands of miles, the two had an erotically charged but unconsummated relationship, which in the opera is sustained by messages carried between them by a Pilgrim. The poet finally makes the voyage to meet his love, only to die in her arms. For a work on such an intimate subject with such an understated dramatic profile, L'amour de loin feels like a very big opera. Saariaho is dealing with large emotions, and what it lacks in outward theatricality is more than made up for in the vividness and depth with which it probes the psychology of its characters. The orchestra and chorus are vehicles for making audible the lovers' states of mind, which are frequently roiling with conflict and anxiety, and the music is consequently turbulent, powerful, and often very loud. (It's closer in tone to Tristan and Isolde than to Pelléas et Mélisande, two tragedies of thwarted love that it resembles in some ways.) Saariaho's counterintuitive take on Maalouf's intensely inward libretto works brilliantly. The ravishing orchestral palette, deft blend of Medieval and contemporary musical traditions, and gorgeous choral and vocal writing make this is a work that seems destined to endure. Saariaho's text setting is exceptionally graceful and limber, and it's performed beautifully by the superlative singers on this recording. Mezzo-soprano Marie-Anne Todorovitch's shapely vocal interpretation invests the Pilgrim with so much nuanced individuality that the listener cannot help being drawn to the character. Her supple, infinitely colorful voice is responsive to the most subtle dramatic cues in the text and music; this is the kind of fully realized performance that opera composers dream of. The same can be said for soprano Ekaterina Lekhina and baritone Daniel Belcher as the lovers; the startling purity and focus of their voices, and the intensity and subtlety with which they inhabit their roles, make them absolutely compelling, both musically and dramatically. Kent Nagano leads Rundfunkchor Berlin and Deutsches Symphonie-Orchestra Berlin in a luminous reading of the richly variegated score. Harmonia Mundi's sound is pure, full, and warmly atmospheric. This outstanding performance of L'amour de loin should be of strong interest not only to fans of contemporary opera, but of new music in general, and to lovers of bel canto singing. Highly recommended. © TiVo