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Les Pages du Centre de Musique Baroque de Versailles Charpentier: David et Jonathas, H. 490

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Charpentier: David et Jonathas, H. 490

Les Pages du Centre de Musique Baroque de Versailles

Opera - Released March 1, 2024 | Aparté

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Marc-Antoine Charpentier's David et Jonathas, setting the action-packed biblical story of Saul, has not often been recorded. William Christie and Les Arts Florissants fired the first shot in the late '90s, and there have been a few other attempts, but the work crosses categories -- not really an oratorio, with a limited role for the chorus, but not an opera in the conventional sense -- and this may have hurt it at the box office. The Centre de Musique Baroque de Versailles specializes in music of this period, and Charpentier is certainly right up this outfit's alley. The recording was made at Versailles, but its strength is actually that it reproduces the circumstances of its origin, which occurred elsewhere, at a Jesuit school in Paris. The music was intended to alternate with scenes from a play; here, conductor Olivier Schneebeli opts for declaimed readings from poetry by the 17th century writer Antoine Godeau. The work was written for young singers, not only in the children's choir but also a child in the lead role of Jonathas, and Natacha Boucher has a great deal of flair here, certainly sounding like a future star. All the singers are either children or male adults. The music is continuous, and Charpentier's writing sometimes falls into melody or recitative but is most often somewhere in between, shifting naturally with the text. Some of it is quite vocally spectacular, however; sample "Quelle importune voix vient importune mon repos," Act I, scene 4, with its bass line descending to Russian-liturgical depths. Although the opera has five acts and a prologue, it goes by quickly; no doubt with the original use in mind, Charpentier's concept is compact. What is most attractive about the work is how opposite it is to the splendor and formality of Lully; the role of the chorus is limited, and the focus is squarely on the characters. Baroque opera lovers will find something new and intriguing here.© James Manheim /TiVo

Molière l'opéra urbain Molière, le spectacle musical

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Molière, le spectacle musical

Molière l'opéra urbain

French Music - Released February 16, 2024 | Play Two

Christophe Rousset Jean-Baptiste Lully : Amadis

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Jean-Baptiste Lully : Amadis

Christophe Rousset

Opera - Released September 22, 2014 | Aparté

Hi-Res Booklet Distinctions 4F de Télérama - Diamant d'Opéra - Choc de Classica - 5 Sterne Fono Forum Klassik

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Nouvelles pages

Jenifer

French Music - Released November 22, 2019 | Universal Music Distribution Deal

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Gangrène

Ausgang

Hip-Hop/Rap - Released March 6, 2020 | A Parté

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Année Zéro

Helena Noguerra

French Music - Released August 26, 2013 | naïve

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Massenet : Cendrillon

Julius Rudel

Classical - Released March 1, 2005 | Sony Classical

Distinctions The Qobuz Ideal Discography

Massenet’s Cendrillon, a fairy tale opera sometimes flirting with operetta, was an immediate and lasting success from its premiere in Paris in 1899 at the Opera Comique before fading away in provincial theatres and then being resurrected at the end of the twentieth century. It was then shown, first in Washington, San Francisco and then, in 1984, at the New York City Opera under the direction of Julius Rudel who had already revived it and brought it back to life with the present 1978 recording. It was seen again recently in France and, in 2018, at the Metropolitan Opera in New York in a crazy and charming production directed by Laurent Pelly.With its subtle and sophisticated instrumentation, its strong lyricism and its script which is fairly faithful to Perrault’s tale, the work combines Massenet’s best qualities. Recorded in the generous and pleasant acoustics of All Saints' Church, Tooting, on the outskirts of London, this version features an excellent cast: Frederica von Stade, Jane Berbié, Jules Bastin, and, sadly, some might say, the tenor Nicolaï Gedda, not that he's bad, but simply out of place in a role that was originally given to an in disguise soprano which is what made it so attractive.But let us not deny ourselves the pleasure of listening to a production as light as a feather, with secondary roles that are just as well held, an orchestra, the Philharmonic, that is lively and supple, and choirs of a very high standard. One of the masters of French opera is also revealed here as a first-class symphonist. © François Hudry/Qobuz

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J'ai de bonnes nouvelles

Anne Sylvestre

French Music - Released August 1, 2011 | Epm

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Rendez-vous

Jane Birkin

French Music - Released March 29, 2004 | Parlophone (France)

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Following on from the world music stylings of 2002's remarkable Arabesque album, but dispensing with that album's reliance on Serge Gainsbourg compositions, 2004's Rendez-Vous is Jane Birkin's most wide-open album in years, a joyous romp whose only downfall is, contrarily, the very factor that brought it so much attention. A collection of duets, Rendez-Vous pairs Birkin with singers as far-flung as Etienne Daho and Bryan Ferry, Françoise Hardy and Beth Gibbons, and the success rate is thrown as far across the spectrum as the guests. Alain Chamfort, for example, can add nothing to "T'As Pas le Droit d'Avoir Moins Mal Que Moi" simply because his vocal approach really isn't that different to Birkin's own, while Placebo frontman Brian Molko sounds more overwhelmed writing and singing for Birkin than he ever did alongside David Bowie. Plus, "Smile" really isn't a very good song. The triumphs, on the other hand, stand alongside (almost) any duet Birkin has recorded in the past. Her partnership with Hardy, "Surannée," is as astonishing as it ought to be; Gibbons' "Strange Melody" is a haunted atmosphere for two shattered voices; while linking with Ferry for a sparsely sinister (if a little fast) rendition of Roxy Music's "In Every Dream Home a Heartache" has a bizarre symmetry that defies belief. It is, after all, one thing for Ferry to sing a love song to a blow-up doll, but what are listeners to make of Birkin's half of the duet? Is the doll singing back to him? Does she have one of her own? Or are the protagonists locked into so dysfunctional a relationship that neither can see past the other's most obvious charms? But for all the album's failings (or, rather, those of its guests), Rendez-Vous is a wonderful album, a remarkable achievement, and as valuable a Birkin album as any of her '90s releases.© Dave Thompson /TiVo

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L'amour en France

Alain Chamfort

French Music - Released January 1, 1973 | Tessland

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2001 - 2011

Mylène Farmer

French Music - Released December 5, 2011 | Stuffed Monkey

Provocative flame-haired diva Mylène Farmer may remain a virtual unknown outside of Europe, but has pretty much reigned as the Queen of Pop in her French homeland since bursting onto the scene in the mid-'80s. Focusing on material from her chart-topping last three studio albums (2005's Avant Que l'Ombre..., 2008's Point de Suture, and 2010's Bleu Noir), this second official retrospective shows that even as she enters her fifties, she's in no mood to relinquish her pop crown just yet. Indeed, there are very few compilations out there able to boast nine number one singles, let alone a staggering consecutive eight, as showcased by a chronological run starting with Moby collaboration "Slipping Away" and ending with the Red One-produced "Lonely Lisa," making her the most chart-topping artist in French history. However, there's more to 2001-2011 than just a remarkable book of stats. The melancholic balladry of "Si J'Avais au Moins" and "Redonne-Moi" reveals that her soprano voice is just as effective as her trademark whispery tones; the bass-driven acid house of "Degeneration" and the squelchy acidic techno of "C'est dans l'Air" are effortlessly convincing ventures into pulsing club-friendly territory; while the controversial war of the sexes-themed "Fuck Them All" and the explicit electro of "Sextonik" prove the "power to shock" comparisons with Madonna certainly aren't without merit. The dreary balladry of "Avant Que l'Ombre..." and the irritating Scooter-esque high-pitched synths on "Oui Mais…Non" show she isn't always so on the ball, while the generic trance-pop of the two brand-new tracks, "Du Temps" and "Sois Moi -- Be Me," indicates Farmer could do with a rethink for album number nine. But while 2001-2011 may struggle to achieve anywhere near the same success as 2001 predecessor Les Mots (France's biggest-selling compilation of all time), it's still a consistently impressive body of work suggesting that those with an aversion to European pop are missing out.© Jon O'Brien /TiVo