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Reflet

Sandrine Piau

Classical - Released January 12, 2024 | Alpha Classics

Hi-Res Booklet Distinctions Diapason d'or
In a world of "singles," pursued even by classical music labels nowadays, here is a whole album that makes up a single, sublime musical utterance. Reflet is a follow-up, similarly concerned with light effects, to soprano Sandrine Piau's German-language Clair-Obscur of a few years back. The German songs might have been a bigger stretch for Piau than the French material here, but Reflet has possibly an even more sublime coherence. One feels that every note is almost foreordained as the program opens with classic orchestral songs from Berlioz, Henri Duparc, and the less common Charles Koechlin, proceeding into darker, more mysterious realms with Ravel's Trois poèmes de Stéphane Mallarmé, and ending with the youthful ebullience of Britten's Quatre chansons françaises. An illustration of how carefully calibrated everything is here comes with two Debussy pieces, Clair de lune and "Pour remercier la pluie" (from the Six Épigraphes Antiques), arranged for orchestra from other media. These serve as entr'actes between the sections of Piau's program, and they should by all rights have been annoying: aren't there enough genuine orchestral pieces that could have filled the bill? But just listen. These fit into the patterns that run through the whole album, and they make perfect sense, just like everything else. Piau's voice is delicate, soaring, and richly beautiful; one of the miracles of the current scene is its durability and versatility. Her support from conductor Jean-François Verdier, leading the Victor Hugo Orchestra, is confidently smooth, never intruding on the spell Piau weaves. A magnificent orchestral song recital that made classical best-seller lists in early 2024.© James Manheim /TiVo
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Les nuits de Paris

François-Xavier Roth

Theatre Music - Released January 27, 2023 | Bru Zane

Hi-Res Booklet Distinctions Diapason d'or
The Palazetto Bru Zane, the centre for French Romantic music in Venice, has an uncanny ability to rouse our curiosity for rare musical offerings. For each discographic release, the institution makes a point of indulging the listener, presenting them with only the very best: from the casting to the sound recording, not to mention the cleverly constructed programmes and the detailed illustrated booklets, everything is flawlessly produced. They essentially offer a first-class journey to the land of Romantic music. With Les Nuits de Paris, the institute once again proves it knows what it’s doing. At the helm, François-Xavier Roth and his ensemble Les Siècles take us on a dizzying tour of French society during the Belle-Epoque. At the time, the Parisian public routinely frequented dance venues—the upper classes went to the opera whilst the lower classes turned to cabarets, music halls and other “café-concerts”. Links were made between the profane and the sacred, the stylish and the mainstream. This cheerful disc sheds light on this entire dancing tradition. Alongside the great composers of the period (Massenet, Delibes and Saint-Saëns), the programme introduces other figures who were well-known in their time but have been somewhat forgotten today: Ernest Guiraud, Victorin Joncières and Ambroise Thomas. A special mention must go to Jeanne Danglas, one of the rare female composers to have been able to escape the patriarchal grip of the period.François Xavier Roth and his orchestra fully embrace the retro charm of these compositions, which might have been considered a little absurd if it weren’t for their radiantly joyful and deliciously playful performance. This is a wonderful journey through time. © Pierre Lamy/Qobuz
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Berlioz: Les Nuits d'été, Op. 7 - Harold en Italie, Op. 16

Michael Spyres

Classical - Released November 18, 2022 | Warner Classics

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This release is part of a Berlioz series by conductor John Nelson and the Orchestre philharmonique de Strasbourg, but it is the soloists who shine here. Tenor Michael Spyres, who is really hitting his stride, has a voice pleasantly suited to French music, rounded and subtle, but there is more; Berlioz suggested that several singers perform the orchestral song cycle Les nuits d'été, Op. 7, but Spyres takes all the songs himself. Moreover, he does them in the original keys, which is rarer still. This calls for a singer with exceptional control of dynamic extremes in different parts of his range, and Spyres is exceptionally flexible in this regard. There is a confidence and nonchalance to this performance that grows on the listener as the performance proceeds, even as the sound engineering puts Spyres too far front and center to the detriment of the orchestra's contributions. This isn't so pronounced in the anti-concerto Harold en Italie, Op. 16, and here again, there is a standout soloist; Timothy Ridout offers a rich sound and a real narrative quality that seems to evoke the score's source in Lord Byron's long poem. This exceptionally satisfying Berlioz album hit best-seller charts in late 2022.© James Manheim /TiVo
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Persona (Nouvelle édition)

Bertrand Belin

French Music - Released February 1, 2019 | Wagram Music - Cinq 7

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Berlioz : Harold en Italie (Live) - Les Nuits d'été

Les Siècles

Classical - Released January 18, 2019 | harmonia mundi

Hi-Res Booklet Distinctions 4F de Télérama - Choc de Classica
A new aesthetic calls for new forms: such is the challenge the composer set for himself in the two works presented here. In Les Nuits d’été, Berlioz pioneered, well before Mahler and Ravel, a song cycle for voice and orchestra. In Harold in Italy, scored for large orchestra and solo viola, he experimented with the symphonic genre. These period-instrument performances by Les Siècles, led by François-Xavier Roth, with violist Tabea Zimmermann, also feature Stéphane Degout in the vocal cycle, heard here in the composer’s own version for baritone. File under: out of the ordinary. © harmonia mundi
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Saint-Saëns: Requiem

Le Madrigal de Paris

Sacred Vocal Music - Released October 10, 2010 | Studio SM

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Nougaro : Sur l'écran noir de mes nuits blanches

Natalie Dessay

French Music - Released November 15, 2019 | Sony Classical

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Ode à la nuit

Cello8

Chamber Music - Released January 20, 2023 | Mirare

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One might think that the market for massed-cello music had been satisfied by the durable 12 Cellos of the Berlin Philharmonic, but it is not so. There is a Cello Octet Amsterdam, oriented toward contemporary music, and now comes Cello8, the offshoot of an organization called Talents & Violin'celles that seeks to provide performing opportunities to young musicians and to showcase new French stringed instrument manufacturing. Ode à la nuit is largely the creation of cellist Raphaël Pidoux, artistic director of Cello8, compiler of the program, and author of all the arrangements heard here. They are a varied group, with a few famous pieces on the given theme of Ode à la nuit ("Ode to Night"), like Schubert's serenade Ständchen from Schwanengesang, D. 957. Others are rather obscure pieces, and one gets the feeling that Pidoux searched widely in order to create the desired effect. He mixes melodic pieces like the Schubert songs with chordal ones such as the choral pieces by Saint-Saëns and Strauss in such a way that the nocturnal mood deepens as things proceed and becomes delightfully murky. The music is lightened only at the end by a pair of Debussy nocturnes. Altogether fresh in conception and beautifully performed by its young players, this is a lovely release for anyone who enjoys the cello's sound.© James Manheim /TiVo

Françoise

Françoise Hardy

French Music - Released January 1, 1966 | Parlophone (France)

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Saint-Saëns - Hahn: À la lumière

Accentus

Classical - Released August 19, 2022 | Alpha Classics

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Ever since its creation more than twenty-five years ago, the Accentus chamber choir has ardently championed the a cappella repertory: under its conductor and founder Laurence Equilbey, it has produced an impressive discography that sets the benchmark in this music. For this new recording, the first for Alpha, she hands over direction of the ensemble to Christophe Grapperon, its associate conductor since 2013: ‘It can never be said often enough: the a cappella repertory is a Holy Grail of vocal music! It is a sensory experience directly accessible to everyone, but demanding and often atypical for the listener.’ Hahn and Saint-Saëns are on the programme of this album in superb choral works combining simplicity and expressive power, some of which have never been recorded before. © Alpha Classics
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Jean-Baptiste Robin: Time Circles, Orchestral & Chamber Music

Orchestre National de France

Classical - Released December 1, 2022 | Brilliant Classics

Hi-Res Distinctions Choc de Classica
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3.6.3

Indochine

Rock - Released December 15, 2003 | Columbia

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Saint-Saens: Messe de Requiem & Partsongs

Diego Fasolis

Masses, Passions, Requiems - Released June 1, 2004 | Chandos

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Berlioz: Les nuits d'été opus 7 - Harold en Italie opus 16

Marc Minkowski

Classical - Released October 10, 2011 | naïve classique

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Berlioz: Herminie, Les Nuits d'été, Cléopâtre

Barbara Hendricks

Classical - Released October 20, 2023 | Arte Verum

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La gouache

R.WAN

French Music - Released October 30, 2020 | Poupaprod

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Passager du réel

La Ruda Salska

French Rock - Released October 1, 2001 | Yelen Musiques

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Chausson: Poème de l'amour et de la mer / Berlioz: Les Nuits d'été / Duparc: Mélodies

Soile Isokoski

Vocal Music (Secular and Sacred) - Released July 31, 2015 | Ondine

Hi-Res Booklet Distinctions 5 de Diapason
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Coeur De Verre

Hélène Segara

Pop - Released February 25, 1996 | Universal Music Division Mercury Records