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Offenbach : La Périchole (Live)

Marc Minkowski

Classical - Released June 14, 2019 | Bru Zane

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Recordings of Offenbach's 1868 operetta La Périchole, here performed in an 1873 revision, have been rather uncommon. True, it doesn't contain any of the big Offenbach hits, and its Peruvian setting, with a variety of Spanish dances and chinoiserie standing in for whatever music might have been heard in colonial Peru, seems increasingly preposterous as time goes on. However, verisimilitude has never been a requirement in operetta, and this story of the titular street singer (who was an actual historical individual) pursued by a sleazy colonial administrator hits a lot of the bases. Anglophone listeners will note that Arthur Sullivan surely knew this music inside and out, and replicated the combination of limpid songs for the heroine and quite a few sharp narrative choruses. This production, recorded live in 2018 at the Festival Radio France Occitanie in Montpellier, is nothing fancy, but that is its charm. La Périchole is nicely sung by a mezzo-soprano with the delightful name of Aude Extrémo, who resists the temptation to ham it up (sample her drunk scene, "Ah, quel diner je viens de faire") and inhabits the role well. The large cast is consistent, and conductor Marc Minkowski and Les Musiciens du Louvre, far from their Baroque origins, keep things moving in a lively way. One gets the sense that Offenbach would have been fully satisfied, and the recording is a must for any operetta fan.© TiVo
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Et nous voilà !

Nicolas Peyrac

French Music - Released October 14, 2013 | Wagram Music

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Massenet: Thaïs

Sir Andrew Davis

Opera - Released June 1, 2020 | Chandos

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This new recording of Massenet’s opera was recorded by Chandos during rehearsals and two concerts at Toronto’s Thomson Hall in November 2019, making the work feel like a great oratorio bathed in the sensuality of orchestral music. Known around the world for his Méditation with solo violin, which was used in the heyday of bandstands and orchestras in large hotels and fashionable spas, Thaïs is rarely played today. There are no arias "à l'italienne" in this opera, but instead it’s full of long dramatic passages that would inspire Debussy to compose Pelléas eight years later. The protagonists of this new recording are without a doubt the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir, whose conductor Sir Andrew Davis makes use of all their sonic and expressive resources, leaving the soloists somewhat sidelined in terms of sound balance. A special mention goes to the beautiful sound and intense expression that avoids any mawkishness of the concertmaster Jonathan Crow in the famous Méditation, which is in fact a simple interlude at the heart of the Act I.. This orientalising story about the conflict between paganism and Christianity in Alexandria in the fourth century is told by the baritone Joshua Hopkins with his powerful timbre in the role of Athanael, battling with the soprano Erin Wall as an exemplary Thai, and the tenor Andrew Staples, beautifully playing the role of Nicias, Athanael’s rich friend. The rest of the cast is of the same calibre. Sir Andrew Davis knows this work very well having directed it on several occasions, notably at the Edinburgh and Melbourne Festivals with the same Erin Wall in Thaïs, who he calls "the Thaïs of one’s dreams". © François Hudry/Qobuz
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Hahn : L'île du rêve

Hervé Niquet

Classical - Released October 23, 2020 | Bru Zane

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To have written that, you must be a poet, Massenet told Reynaldo Hahn when he read through the score of L’Île du rêve. Composed when the young man was not yet eighteen years old, this ‘curtain-raiser’ already had the qualities of the great works of the period. It reveals the coloristic talents of Bizet, the passionate outbursts of Massenet and even the prosodic originality of the young Debussy. The plot recounts a French naval officer’s love affair with a young Polynesian girl he has to abandon. This subject - also treated musically by Puccini (Madama Butterfly) and Delibes (Lakmé - is approached in an almost Symbolist style: the Romanticism of the music contrasts with a contemplative, introspective treatment of the narration. This is where the youthful Hahn particularly shines: in the very first bars (the hymn to Bora-Bora), in the various love scenes for Loti and Mahenu (notably the duet "Restons encore les paupieres mi-closes") and even in the neo-Handelian prelude to Act Two. © Bru Zane
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Vacances à tue-tête ! (32 comptines et chansons)

Yves Prual, Tropspiral

Children - Released June 30, 2009 | Didier Jeunesse

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Ariane et Barbe-Bleue

Marilyn Schmiege

Opera - Released September 6, 2011 | CapriccioNR

Booklet Distinctions Révérence de l'Avant-Scène Opéra
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Bizet: Les Pêcheurs des Perles

Georges Prêtre

Classical - Released January 6, 2012 | Warner Classics

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Massenet: Thaïs

Renée Fleming

Classical - Released July 7, 2000 | Decca Music Group Ltd.

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On ne dit jamais assez aux gens qu'on aime qu'on les aime

Louis Chedid

French Music - Released November 2, 2010 | Sony Music Entertainment

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Bluebeard (Barbe-bleue)

Jacques Offenbach

Opera - Released September 14, 1999 | Opera d'Oro

Ambroise Thomas : Hamlet

Richard Bonynge

Classical - Released October 16, 2016 | Universal Music Australia Pty. Ltd.

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Nous voilà tout oreilles ! (Niccolo Paganini)

Benoît Brière

Children - Released October 8, 2021 | The Secret Mountain

Booklet
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Airs de cour

Le Poème Harmonique

Classical - Released September 27, 2019 | Alpha Classics

Booklet
For more than a century, from the last Valois kings to the early years of the reign of Louis XIV, the air de cour was truly the emblematic genre of French secular music. The term bears witness to the influence on and transformation by worldly and literate circles of vocal genres of popular origin such as the vaudeville, combined with Italian influences (the villanella), based on the principles of a simple strophic musical setting that facilitated understanding of the poetic text. Three composers dominated the production of airs de cour in the reigns of Henry IV and Louis XIII, bringing the genre to its peak: Pierre Guédron (1565-1620), Antoine Boesset (1587-1643) and Étienne Moulinié (1599-1676). To mark the twentieth anniversary of his ensemble, Vincent Dumestre has chosen to celebrate the air de cour by bringing together excerpts from his five recordings devoted to the genre. A book accompanies this double album, including an article written by Thomas Leconte of the Centre de Musique Baroque de Versailles, a rich array of illustrations and an article on the historical context by Alexandre Maral, Curator General at the Musée National du Château de Versailles. © Alpha Classics
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Verdi: Don Carlos

Orchestra del Teatro della Scala di Milano

Classical - Released January 1, 2013 | Deutsche Grammophon (DG)

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Franck: Hulda, FWV 49 (Original Version)

Meagan Miller

Opera - Released October 8, 2021 | Naxos

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Most of César Franck’s works received scant attention at the time of their composition and Hulda was never performed in his lifetime. The narrative is set in 14th-century Norway at the time of the great tribal kings, with marauding hordes spreading fear and terror throughout the land. Hulda is kidnapped and transferred from one tribe to the other, her family is killed and she herself is humiliated. However, Hulda’s spirit cannot be crushed, and she survives with revenge as her goal in life. Franck’s music portrays raging clans, bloodthirsty murderers and shattered lives, but also moments of exquisite tenderness in this acclaimed revival of a forgotten masterpiece that places the role of Hulda among the great tragic stage heroines. © Naxos
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Boulevard des Italiens

Benjamin Bernheim

Classical - Released April 8, 2022 | Deutsche Grammophon (DG)

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You’ve got to be a little provocative to travel to Bologna, home to one of the most beautiful operas in the world, to record excerpts of famous Italian operas in French! This challenge didn’t faze Franco-Swiss tenor Benjamin Bernheim (whose incredible voice does justice to everything he sings) nor his accomplice, composer and conductor Frédéric Chaslin.From Donizetti to Puccini, more than a century of Italian lyrical music is on display on the famous Boulevard des Italiens in Paris, with the Opéra-Comique on one side and the Opéra Garnier on the other. This Italian presence serves as a reminder that the French capital was at the heart of opera throughout the 19th century.With the help of the Palazzetto Bru Zane – Centre de musique romantique française, Benjamin Bernheim has concocted a captivating programme, mixing famous works with lesser-known gems, such as excerpts from Donizetti’s Dom Sébastien, Verdi’s Jerusalem, Cherubini’s Ali Baba and Mascagni’s Amica, alongside Don Carlos, Madame Butterfly and Tosca. However, it’s Benjamin Bernheim’s stunning vocals that really shine, with his perfect diction and bright tone giving each piece a beautiful warmth. The two duets that feature baritone Florian Semprey are incredible, as is the warm and enthusiastic conducting of Frédéric Chaslin. © François Hudry/Qobuz

Ha! compagnons nous voyla bien

Élodie Bouchard

Classical - Released December 4, 2020 | Immersive Sound Art | IAN Records

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