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Bellini: Norma
Riccardo Muti/Jane Eaglen
Classical - Released January 1, 1995 | Warner Classics
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Halévy : La Reine de Chypre
Hervé Niquet
Full Operas - Released May 11, 2018 | Bru Zane
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We'll admit: this Reine de Chypre by Fromental Halévy is probably not the unfairly-overlooked work of commanding genius for which the lyrical world has been waiting for fifty years… But it would still be a shame to miss it, especially when performed by such a line-up, with Véronique Gens, Cyrille Dubois and Etienne Dupuis at the top of the bill. And after all, the score is full of vocal marvels and very original ensembles; but it is rather in the orchestration – which is not much more adventurous than that of any other piece of Italian bel canto of the era – that Halévy has taken it easy. The melodic richness was pointed out in an article in the Revue et gazette musicale in April 1842: "In the Reine de Chypre, Halévy's new style is on display with more dash, and more success. I have had occasion to point out the preconditions, as I see them, of the production of a good opera, by pointing out the obstacles which stand in the way of meeting these conditions fully and in good time, whether by the poet or the composer. When these conditions are met, it is an event of great importance for the world of art. Now, in the present case, circumstances have conspired in the performance of a work which, as even the most exacting critic must admit, possesses all the qualities which constitute a good opera. (…) The composer has put all the enchantment of his art into the duet that breathes the sentiments that enrapture them. The dark cloth on which these two charming figures are drawn shows through even in those songs which are so sparkling and alive with happiness, like a sinister cloud, and lends them a particular character of melancholy intrigue. There is no equal, in nobility or in grace, of the magnificent melody of the final part of this duet." The article continues in this vein. The byline? One Richard Wagner… © SM/Qobuz
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Handel: Israel in Egypt, HWV 54
Apollo's Fire
Classical - Released October 6, 2023 | Avie Records
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Handel's oratorio Israel in Egypt, HWV 54, bombed at its first performance in 1739 and was heavily revised by Handel. The revisions go even further here, in what is marked as an adaptation by Apollo's Fire director Jeannette Sorrell. She makes wholesale cuts, removing numerous arias, consolidating others, and leaving only a few recitatives. Sorrell retains, however, the three-part structure of Handel's first attempt (the librettist was probably Charles Jennens of Messiah), consisting of the "Lamentations by the Israelites for the Death of Joseph," "Exodus," and "Moses' Song." She also keeps the chorus-heavy quality of Handel's originals. The nearly three-hour oratorio usually heard is sliced to just over 74 minutes. All this might seem an unwarranted intrusion, but Handel himself obviously struggled with the material of this oratorio, which isn't one of his more commonly heard works. And lo, Sorrell's reworking succeeds solidly, creating convincing dramatic arcs where they previously existed only in outline. The ten plagues are shortened considerably but make more of an impact in their abbreviated form. The greatest strength here is the choral writing, in many places the equal of anything in Messiah. Apollo's Fire is a rather underrated choral-orchestral group from the U.S. Midwest that offers a satisfyingly good-sized choir with clear text articulation and a fine sense of expressing what they are singing about. A strong offering that will be appreciated by Handel lovers during the 2023 holiday season and beyond.© James Manheim /TiVo
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Casta Diva - Operatic arias transcribed for trumpet
Matilda Lloyd
Opera - Released April 28, 2023 | Chandos
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Five years after her solo debut recording, Direct Message, which programmed 20th and 21st century works for trumpet and piano, trumpet player Matilda Lloyd departs the traditional repertoire (aside from the two Arban arrangements from the Complete Conservatory Method for Trumpet). Instead of following more well-worn routes, Lloyd elects to present a program of Romantic period opera arias, mostly in arrangements for trumpet and chamber orchestra (undertaken here by the Britten Sinfonia under Rumon Gamba) by William Foster, who worked closely with Lloyd on this project. Lloyd's skill as a musician is evident throughout, though the two Arban tracks most clearly allow her abilities to shine. The arrangements throughout are good, though how much they add to the performances rather than transcriptions and transpositions is up for debate. Lloyd notes with excitement the decision to include two pieces by Pauline Viardot, and one of the highlights here is the treatment of Viardot's Havanaise. This is certainly a trumpet release aimed at a wider audience than trumpet and brass circles, and it has already found success on the retail market. Chandos delivers just the right atmosphere from the Church of St. Augustine, Kilburn, in London. The future is bright for this trumpeter, and one looks forward to where her path may take her.
© Keith Finke /TiVo
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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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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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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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Parry: Scenes from Shelley's Prometheus Unbound, Blest Pair of Sirens
London Mozart Players
Choral Music (Choirs) - Released September 8, 2023 | Chandos
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Gramophone: Recording of the Month
Hubert Parry's Scenes from Shelley's Prometheus Unbound, from 1880, here receives its world-recorded premiere. Perhaps recording companies thought there wouldn't be much of a market for a heavy 19th century choral work with, it must be said, a ponderous text by Percy Bysshe Shelley (Prometheus was a play intended to be read, not performed, just to give an idea). How wrong they were. This release made classical best-seller lists in the summer of 2023, and it is altogether enjoyable. At the time, Parry was under the spell of Wagner, whom he traveled to Bayreuth to meet. That influence certainly shows up in Scenes from Shelley's Prometheus Unbound, with its basically declamatory text, partly through-composed music, wind-and-brass-heavy orchestration, and splashes of chromaticism. Yet what is remarkable is that the music does not come off as an imitation of Wagner at all. Rather, it uses elements of his style to match a specific kind of English literary text. The work gradually disappeared, but it would be surprising if Elgar, whom it clearly prefigures, did not know it well. The performances here are luminous, with William Vann using the lighter-than-expected London Mozart Players to create transparent textures against which he can set the substantial voices of Sarah Fox, Sarah Connolly, and other soloists. Parry did write some shorter pieces that remain in the repertory; one of these, Blest Pair of Sirens, is included here as a finale. However, the Scenes from Shelley's Prometheus Unbound are the main news here, and this performance, showing how this kind of thing should be done, may generate a new life for the work.
© 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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So Romantique !
Cyrille Dubois
Classical - Released March 10, 2023 | Alpha Classics
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Bacchanale: Saint-Saëns et la Méditerranée
Orchestre Divertimento
Classical - Released March 24, 2023 | harmonia mundi
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The Orchestre Divertimento and its conductor, Zahia Ziouani, often juxtapose European repertory with music from other parts of the world. Ziouani, who is of Algerian background, has a particular interest in the music of that country. She could not have found a composer whose works were more congenial to such a project than Camille Saint-Saëns, who visited Algeria no fewer than 18 times and composed a Suite algérienne, Op. 60, that is heard here, broken up and interspersed with Arabic music. What makes Ziouani's project unique is that there are not two types of music here but three. Many of the Saint-Saëns works are preceded by improvisations in the classical Arabic idiom, on oud, qanun, a traditional viol, derbouka, and the riqq drum. These are quite a musical distance from Saint-Saëns, but Ziouani introduces contemporary Arabic songs, of a semi-popular nature, as an intermediate step. The sets are mostly in related tonalities. This is an ingenious idea that sheds light on both Saint-Saëns, on what he heard when he heard Algerian music, and on the nature of contemporary popular traditions that are rooted in the classical music of the world. The Saint-Saëns performances themselves are entirely creditable, and the album is well recorded at a couple of different locations. A unique release that makes one want to hear more from this distinctive ensemble.
© James Manheim /TiVo
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SIBELIUS, J.: Tempest Suites Nos. 1 and 2 / The Oceanides / Night Ride and Sunrise (Helsinki Philharmonic, Segerstam)
Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra
Classical - Released January 1, 1998 | Ondine
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Bastien et Bastienne · La Servante maîtresse
Gaétan Jarry
Classical - Released September 8, 2023 | Château de Versailles Spectacles
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Per l'Orchestra di Dresda, Vol.1 Ouverture
Les Ambassadeurs - La Grande Écurie
Concertos - Released August 20, 2021 | Aparté
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Alexis Kossenko delves into the repertoire of one of the most admired orchestras in Europe during Bach’s lifetime. The greatest composers of the century composed for this famous ensemble, a showcase for the musical splendour of the court of the prince-electors. Combining concerti and sacred music, this album is the first volume in an exceptional series devoted to this orchestra. © Aparté
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Daniel-François Esprit Auber : La muette de Portici
Antony Hermus
Opera - Released July 30, 2013 | CPO
Booklet
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Funky Nothingness
Frank Zappa
Rock - Released June 30, 2023 | Frank Zappa Catalog
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"The chemistry between that group was intense -- even their longest, most meandering jams are worth savoring for one reason or another."© TiVo
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Debussy: Complete Orchestral Work
Jun Märkl
Classical - Released January 30, 2012 | Naxos
Booklet
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Letter(s) to Erik Satie
Bertrand Chamayou
Classical - Released September 1, 2023 | Warner Classics
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John Cage's admiration for the music of Erik Satie is well known; Cage organized a Satie festival early in his career, and even casual listeners will detect a spirit of experimentation and a certain irreverence common to the two. Perhaps no one has explored the relationship in greater detail than pianist Bertrand Chamayou on this 2023 release, which hit classical best-seller lists in the autumn of that year. There are several real finds here. One is a rare Cage piece, All Sides of the Small Stone, that was actually dedicated to Satie's memory, and another is a work by Satie specialist James Tenney, Three Pages in the Shape of a Pear (In Celebration of Erik Satie), which suggests lines along which this compositional axis might be extended. In the main body of the program, Chamayou balances Satie and Cage nicely, picking some Cage works that sound quite a bit like Satie and tying the development of the prepared piano closely to these. This is a fresh interpretation. The overall effect has both charm and humor, qualities that aren't always associated with Cage. However, after hearing this album, listeners will feel that maybe they should be. Chamayou has, up to now, been better known for mainstream French and German repertory, but this release reveals him as a talented interpreter of 20th century music as well.© James Manheim /TiVo
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But Who's Gonna Play the Melody?
Christian McBride
Jazz - Released March 22, 2024 | Mack Avenue Records
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A bassist vital to the US jazz scene since the 90’s – partner of choice for musicians as notable as Joe Henderson, Joshua Redman, Roy Hargrove, and Pat Metheny – Christian McBride, alongside his frequent work as a sideman (on over 300 records to date), leads a rich career as a frontman, expanding upon his orchestral formations (from trios to big band) in varying registers. He encompasses a large palette of styles that are always deeply anchored in the foundations of traditional African-American jazz. This new record conceived and recorded in partnership with another bass virtuoso, Edgar Meyer, himself exploring other idioms and imagining other landscapes (from bluegrass to “crossover” classical), indisputably introduces a new perspective to the bassist’s rich discography.Intended to feel like a conversation between friends, each speaking in a relaxed, playful tone, offering support through active listening in order for each to be able to “play their own melody” with full peace and security of mind, But Who’s Gonna Play the Melody? sounds like a charming and timeless departure into a world entirely dedicated to the bass. Applying their great virtuosity towards each melody, without ever veering into competitive territory, the two musicians, with an irresistibly natural sense of groove, never cease to seduce the listener through a repertoire that draws not only from jazz, but also from folk, classical music, bluegrass, and funk, making room for the kind of collective memory that goes beyond styles and generations. An album with no pretense other than the pure pleasure of playing music – authentically all-encompassing in the best possible way. © Stéphane Ollivier/Qobuz
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