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Bellini: La Sonnambula

Dame Joan Sutherland

Classical - Released January 1, 1962 | Decca Music Group Ltd.

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Bellini: La Sonnambula

Dame Joan Sutherland

Classical - Released January 1, 1982 | Decca Music Group Ltd.

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Bellini: La Sonnambula

Cecilia Bartoli

Classical - Released January 1, 2008 | Decca Music Group Ltd.

This recording of La Sonnambula is notable on a number of fronts. It's the first recording of the opera based on a 2004 critical edition of the score that confirms the leading role was indeed written for a mezzo-soprano, although it has been performed by sopranos for much of its history. (Among the first Aminas were the celebrated mezzos Giuditta Pasta and Maria Malibran.) It's also the first recording using period instruments, in this case Orchestra La Scintilla, based at the Basel Opera and conducted by Alessandro de Marchi in an idiomatic and lively reading. And, as the promotional materials trumpet, it's the first recorded collaboration between superstars Cecilia Bartoli and Juan Diego Flórez. Although less hoopla is made of him, the recording also features a superbly lyrical performance by baritone Ildebrando D'Arcangelo. Flórez has the ideal voice for this repertoire: warmly Latinate, supple, and passionately inflected. It's a revelation to hear a mezzo with Bartoli's range in the role. She handles its upper reaches with solidity, agility, and complete assurance (although several arias in fact transposed down, but with no loss of impact), and the depths to which she descends are astonishing. Her tender and vulnerable Amina is completely convincing. She and Flórez have a nice chemistry, and their interactions are among the highlights of the recording. The performers in the secondary roles, Gemma Bertagnolli, Liliana Nichiteanu, and Peter Kálmán, are all first-rate. The chorus of townspeople, which has an unusually large part in the goings-on, is sung with spirit by the Chorus of the Opernhaus Zürich. The sound is clean and full, but on the loud side, so the volume may require some adjustment. The novelty of this version and the quality of performances make this a recording that should be of strong interest to fans of the bel canto repertoire and would make a fine introduction for listeners new to the opera.© TiVo
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Jules Massenet: Ariane

Münchner Rundfunkorchester

Classical - Released September 8, 2023 | Bru Zane

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For many years, it was only Manon and Werther that were heard among Massenet's operas, but his reputation appears to be on the rise, and his champion, conductor Laurent Campellone, has recorded a good number of them. Ariane, from 1906, is one of the last to receive its recorded premiere. The Palazzetto Bru Zane label, specializing in obscure French opera, does a typically fine job here; the sound is superb, and the cast of singers, led by the soprano Amina Edris in the lead role, offers several revelations. In his later operas, Massenet often attempted to put a French stamp on the newer styles of the day, and here, it is Wagner who gets this treatment; the opera is built around a set of motifs de rappel (or "reminiscence motifs"), whose parentage in Wagner's leitmotifs is clear. This structure is shoehorned into the durable machinery of French opera. There are big entrance scenes, a pantomime, and plenty of spectacular stage machinery to go with the love triangle plot involving Ariane (Ariadne), Phèdre (Phaedra), and Theseus, who gets to take on the Minotaur in a grand scene with Wagnerian bass trumpet and bass trombone. Massenet's orchestration is impressive throughout. The work does not have the inevitability of truly great art, but it is in no way dull, and anyone with any interest in French opera should hear it for the singers alone; enough of those listeners have already weighed in and put the album on classical best-seller lists in the late summer of 2023.© James Manheim /TiVo
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Bizet: Carmen, WD 31

Herbert von Karajan

Classical - Released January 1, 1964 | Sony Classical

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Meyerbeer: Robert le Diable

Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine

Classical - Released September 23, 2022 | Bru Zane

Hi-Res Booklet Distinctions Gramophone: Recording of the Month
For his last season at the helm of the Opéra de Bordeaux, Marc Minkowski—always keen to conduct forgotten works which have, in some way, marked the history of music—sets his sights on Robert le Diable, Giacomo Meyerbeer's opera which was a true social phenomenon in 19th century France. The Palazzetto Bru Zane - Centre de musique romantique française has followed suit by officially publishing this concert version, which also features some excellent vocal soloists. Admired by Balzac, Sand and Dumas, this ‘grand opéra à la française’ (great French opera) faded into obscurity after the First World War. Its creator became a sort of pariah – one met with both condescension and mockery. With its ‘seductive and haunting melodies’ (Alexandre Dratwicki), it’s nevertheless a flamboyant work that greatly inspired his contemporaries, such as Verdi, who referred to it in La Traviata. The extraordinary impact of Robert le Diable was such that it was performed a great many times on every continent. A true one-man band, Marc Minkowski has invested himself entirely in this undertaking, learning this vast score practically by heart and conducting it with his usual power and conviction. The international cast is full of surprises thanks to their deep understanding of the work and the protagonists’ fantastic pronunciation. This new release, to the credit of the Bru Zane label, revitalises our knowledge of this work that’s scarcely mentioned in specialised dictionaries. © François Hudry/Qobuz
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Bizet: Carmen, WD 31 (Live)

Wiener Philharmonic Orchestra

Opera - Released October 12, 2018 | Orfeo

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Il gioco della cieca. Madrigali, Canzoni & Villanelle per cantare, et sonare

Concerto di Margherita

Classical - Released February 4, 2022 | Arcana

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A young ensemble of instrumentalists and singers revives the precious historical practice of singers accompanying themselves (already brought back into currency by the soloist Vivabiancaluna Biffi), thus producing a wholly new sound in music usually assigned to unaccompanied voices. With Concerto di Margherita, self-accompanied singing becomes "collective" for the first time in our era, and is amplified in a shared gesture in which all the members of the group – playing and singing together with extraordinary coordination – produce a sonority unprecedented in this repertory. Created at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis in Switzerland, the group (which is named after the Duchess of Ferrara, Margherita Gonzaga) performs as a consort of five voices, theorbo, harp, viola da gamba, guitar and lutes, inspired by the "Concerto delle dame" of Ferrara. The recording debut of Concerto di Margherita presents arrangements of a wide range of instrumental and vocal works (madrigals, villanellas and canzonas), drawing on music by De Wert, Gastoldi, Monteverdi and the "blind man’s buff" scene from Giovanni Battista Guarini’s Il pastor fido (1580). © Arcana
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The Naïve Essentials

Anne Sofie von Otter

Classical - Released September 1, 2017 | naïve classique

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Luigi Cherubini: Les Abencérages

Orfeo Orchestra

Classical - Released November 11, 2022 | Bru Zane

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Cherubini's Les Abencérages, premiered in 1813, heralds the spectacle and extravagance of Romantic grand opera. From the Alhambra gardens to the battlefield, the action skillfully intertwines political conspiracies with a love story. Underpinned by the energy and timbres of period instruments, this recording demonstrates the work's modernity and it's musical qualities. Anaïs Constans valiantly tackles the demanding role of Noraïme, while Edgaras Montvidas displays his lyric tenor voice in a series of sublime airs whose beauty was already hinted at by none other than Roberto Alagna in a recital disc released in 2003. Around this couple, a plethoric cast of soloists (Dolié, Sargsyan, Williams, Martin, Lavoie, etc.) achieves the same high standards of French diction and style. The Hungarian conductor György Vashegyi, flanked by the Purcell Choir and Orfeo Orchestra, reveals here another key milestone of French Romantic opera. © Bru Zane
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Jacques Offenbach : La Vie parisienne (5 septembre 1954)

Jules Gresssier

Classical - Released April 15, 2014 | Ina, musique(s)

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Lully: Acis et Galatée, LWV 73

Jean-François Lombard

Opera - Released October 13, 2023 | Naxos

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Spontini: La vestale

Les Talens Lyriques

Classical - Released May 12, 2023 | Bru Zane

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Gaspare's Spontini's French-language La Vestale is probably the most often heard of his operas, but that is not saying much; the work was sung by Maria Callas in the 1950s, but performances are sparse. Here, it is revived in period style by Les Talens Lyriques and conductor Christophe Rousset, and a very good case is made for further attention. The story is action-packed; Julia, in the absence of her lover, General Licinius, becomes una Vestale, a Vestal Virgin and guards a sacred flame. When Licinius returns to town, the flame goes out, and Julia is sentenced to be buried alive. Licinius rallies his troops, vowing to kidnap Julia, and the flame is reignited later by a lightning strike. Spontini's orchestration of this tale is Beethovenian in its dimensions, and despite the difficulties of natural horns, it is exciting to hear this opera as Napoleon (thought to be the model for Licinius) and Josephine (who backed the opera) heard it. The singers are not Callas-level, but throughout, and especially in the choruses, there is a commitment to the text and its meaning that is rare in any kind of recording. Marina Rebeka, in the role of Julia, is fully involved in the character's plight, and the smoky-voiced Aude Extrémo as La Grande Vestale is worth the price of admission on her own. The singers are aided by clear, spacious studio sound engineering from the early opera specialist label Palazzetto Bru Zane, whose high standards are perhaps even exceeded here. © James Manheim /TiVo
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Atys

Christophe Rousset

Opera - Released January 5, 2024 | Château de Versailles Spectacles

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Backed by the Sun King despite a lukewarm audience reception at first, Lully's Atys (1676) went on to become one of the composer's most successful operas, with revivals at French court theaters as late as 1753. In modern times, however, it is a considerably rarer item due to the massive forces and time required. Christophe Rousset was in the pit as harpsichordist when conductor William Christie gave the first modern revival of the work in the late '80s. That experience marks this 2024 release, which made classical best-seller lists at the beginning of that year. That is not common for a hefty five-act Baroque opera, but even a bit of sampling will confirm why it happened: Rousset, from the keyboard, brings tremendous energy to the opera. He pushes the tempo in the numerous dances and entrance numbers, and the musicians of Les Talens Lyriques and the singers of the Choeur du Chambre de Namur, all of whom have worked closely with Rousset in the past, keep right up. The singers in the solo roles are all fine; haut-contre Reinoud Van Mechelen in the title role and Ambroisine Bré as the goddess Cybèle, who sets the tragic plot in motion, are standouts. The sound from the increasingly engineering-expert Château de Versailles label is exceptionally clear in complex textures, and the sensuous cover art (representing, it is true, not the Roman mythological figure of Atys but Hippomène and Atalante) is a bonus. In the end, this is Rousset's Atys, and that is a very good thing.© James Manheim /TiVo
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Elisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre: Céphale et Procris

Reinoud Van Mechelen

Classical - Released February 9, 2024 | Château de Versailles Spectacles

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Psyché

Christophe Rousset

Classical - Released January 13, 2023 | Château de Versailles Spectacles

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Mademoiselle Duval: Les Génies ou les Caractères de l'Amour

Camille Delaforge

Classical - Released February 9, 2024 | Château de Versailles Spectacles

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Écho & Narcisse

Hervé Niquet

Classical - Released August 25, 2023 | Château de Versailles Spectacles

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Satie: Gymnopedies

Denis Pascal

Classical - Released December 2, 2022 | La Musica

Hi-Res Booklet Distinctions 4F de Télérama - Choc de Classica
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Tchaikovsky: Eugène Onéguine (Diapason n°598)

Galina Vichnievskaia

Full Operas - Released September 25, 2010 | Les Indispensables de Diapason

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