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AIR

Zazie

French Music - Released November 17, 2023 | 6&7

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Crèvecœur (2019 remastered)

Daniel Darc

French Music - Released March 8, 2004 | Water Music

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Bizet: Djamileh

Münchner Rundfunkorchester

Opera - Released January 1, 2016 | Orfeo

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Cadmus & Hermione

Vincent Dumestre

Classical - Released May 1, 2021 | Château de Versailles Spectacles

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Jean-Baptiste Lully's Cadmus & Hermione of 1673 was arguably the first true French opera, telling a tragic story (Lully and his librettist Philippe Quinault called it a tragédie en lyrique), employing Italian-style recitatives, and collecting the varied music and dance forms of Louis XIV's opulent court into a coherent narrative that at once celebrated Louis (he is conflated with Cadmus of Thebes) and moved beyond the ceremonial nature of earlier French dramatic music. It's a sprawling work, with five acts, an overture, and a sizable Prologue with its own overture; highlights include a dragon that eats Africans, a monster snake, and a full complement of Greek gods and goddesses. Realization of the work has, until now, been beyond the means of early music performance groups, and this is the world premiere recording of the opera, made in 2019 and based on a 2008 performance at Versailles Palace by some of the same performers. The leader is Vincent Dumestre, conducting the Le Poème Harmonique orchestra and the vocal ensembles Aedes. The forces are large enough to capture the splendor of the music (thankfully, no one-voice-per-part techniques here), and Dumestre is alert to the huge variety of musical devices Lully brings to bear on his story; there are dances, big choruses, bagpipes, and much more. Cadmus & Hermione may be a difficult work to bring to life for modern audiences, but Dumestre keeps things moving along and probably comes as close as anyone could. Of course, anyone interested in the life of the French court in the 17th century will find this an essential acquisition that will keep giving and giving. © TiVo
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De verre en vers

Yves Jamait

French Music - Released January 1, 2001 | Wagram Music

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Traces

Jean-Jacques Goldman

French Music - Released March 13, 1989 | Epic

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La frime

Léo Ferré

French Music - Released November 1, 1977 | La Memoire Et La Mer

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C'est quand qu'il s'éteint ?

Jul

Miscellaneous - Released June 16, 2023 | D'Or et de Platine

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Nue Au Soleil

Brigitte Bardot

French Music - Released January 1, 2004 | Universal Music Division Mercury Records

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Superminouche

Gallimard Jeunesse

Miscellaneous - Released June 2, 2016 | Gallimard Jeunesse

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Live au Palais des Congrès 2000

Charles Aznavour

French Music - Released April 1, 2001 | Capitol Records

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Palais Des Sports 84

Eddy Mitchell

French Music - Released January 1, 1984 | Universal Music Division Barclay

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Ravel: L'Heure espagnole - Bolero

François-Xavier Roth

Opera - Released June 16, 2023 | harmonia mundi

Hi-Res Booklet Distinctions Choc de Classica
The main attraction of the orchestra Les Siècles and its conductor François-Xavier Roth is its use of period instruments from around 1900, the time period in which the group specializes. One could hardly ask for a better demonstration record (as audiophiles used to call them) than this take on Maurice Ravel's L'Heure espagnole, an edgy, rather tawdry but undeniably funny little opera about the extramarital escapades of a clockmaker's wife, complete with excellent satirical characterizations of her two lovers. The opera receives a pitch-perfect performance here from a quintet of younger singers, who deliver the kind of dry, close-to-spoken singing Ravel wanted. Even better, though, is the orchestral sound, where the opera's large contingent of winds, brass, and percussion displays the sound of Les Siècles at its most vivid. The score calls for trios of oboes, clarinets, and bassoons, and these all have a tangier sound than modern instruments provide. The program ends with Boléro, and this, too, stands out from among the hundreds or thousands of other recordings on the market. Ravel had very fixed ideas about how he wanted the work to sound, and he wrangled with Arturo Toscanini, who conducted the premiere in New York, about it: it should be played absolutely straight, with no variation in tempo and little expression. Notwithstanding the connotations that became attached to the work later on, he viewed it as an abstract work, and that is exactly what it becomes in Roth's bracing reading. Listeners who have been wanting to sample Roth's work with this orchestra are enthusiastically encouraged to try this release, which made classical best-seller charts in the summer of 2023.© James Manheim /TiVo
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Theatre of the Absurd presents C'est La Vie

Madness

Pop - Released September 28, 2023 | BMG Rights Management (UK) Limited

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Theatre of the Absurd Presents C'est La Vie is the 13th album from British pop outfit Madness and follows 2016's Can't Touch Us Now. Recorded at the beginning of 2023, the album brings the band's brand of nuttiness to a melting pot of ska-inflected pop songs.© Rich Wilson /TiVo
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Jules Massenet: Ariane

Münchner Rundfunkorchester

Classical - Released September 8, 2023 | Bru Zane

Hi-Res Booklet Distinctions Diapason d'or
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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Marais: Ariane et Bacchus

Le Concert Spirituel

Classical - Released March 24, 2023 | Alpha Classics

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Dans mes cordes

Renaud

French Music - Released December 1, 2023 | Parlophone (France)

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50 ans de chansons

Henri Dès

Children - Released October 27, 2014 | PRODUCTIONS MARY JOSEE

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Poulenc: La voix humaine

Véronique Gens

Classical - Released January 13, 2023 | Alpha Classics

Hi-Res Booklet Distinctions Choc de Classica
Francis Poulenc's La Voix Humaine ("The Human Voice") is a one-woman opera, less than an hour long, about a woman on the phone with her boyfriend as they break up. Set to a text by Jean Cocteau, it puts the woman through strong mood swings. (Country music fans may wish to compare it to As Soon as I Hang Up the Phone, although there, the boyfriend is present to deliver the final blow.) Soprano Véronique Gens is best known for music from the 17th century up to Mozart, but it is easy to believe the claim in the publicity materials for this release that she had always wanted to record this work; its direct, conversational quality, interspersed with occasional freakouts, fits her manner beautifully. It might seem that those freakouts require a bit more intensity than Gens gives them here, but that is not really in the Cocteau spirit and certainly not in the Poulenc spirit. Gens receives sensitive support from the Orchestre National de Lille under Alexandre Bloch, who also ring down the curtain with a lithe performance of the joyous Sinfonietta. There are other strong performances of Poulenc's little opera, which ought to be much more frequently heard and would be ideal for university voice programs, but this one is instantly appealing and quite memorable, and it is no surprise that it made classical best-seller charts in early 2023. © James Manheim /TiVo