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Handel: Alcina

Les Musiciens du Louvre

Opera - Released February 2, 2024 | PentaTone

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Handel's Alcina, a work in the vocally virtuosic opera seria genre from 1735, returned to opera stages after a revival by Joan Sutherland in 1960, but recordings of it are not abundant. This is partly because it is a very visual work, with dances and sorcery special effects that don't come through on a recording. Another reason is that it contains some of Handel's most strenuous vocal writing, requiring a trio of top-notch female singers. The latter problem is solved in this 2024 release by Les Musiciens du Louvre and its director Marc Minkowski, who keep the massive, three-and-a-quarter-hour spectacle moving with tough, resolute playing. The title role is sung by mezzo-soprano Magdalena Kožená (Lady Rattle for peerage freaks), a Handel specialist of long standing who has absolutely outdone herself here in one of the big Handel roles that exploits her entire range, both physically and emotionally. The love-triangle (or rectangle) plot, however, requires other singers who can stand up to the star, and this the opera receives in Erin Morley as Alcina's sister, Morgana, and Elizabeth DeShong as Bradamente, a fiancée disguised as her own brother. Though the plot is over-intricate, the emotional threads remain clear in this performance, and the engineering from PentaTone Classics is top-notch. This release made classical best-seller charts in early 2024, something not often accomplished by hefty Handel opera recordings.© James Manheim /TiVo
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Apelogies

Shaka Ponk

Rock - Released November 6, 2020 | tôt Ou tard

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Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (Original Score)

Daniel Pemberton

Film Soundtracks - Released December 14, 2018 | Sony Classical

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Louise Bertin: Fausto

Les Talens Lyriques

Classical - Released January 26, 2024 | Bru Zane

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The classical best-seller charts are unfamiliar environs for the Palazzetto Bru Zane label, which specializes in forgotten 19th century opera. However, this release achieved best-seller status in early 2024, and this is absolutely no surprise, for Louise Bertin's Fausto is a remarkable work. One wonders how long it will take programmers to present it in a cycle with Berlioz's and Gounod's versions of the Faust tale (and perhaps Arrigo Boito's); the work is colorful in the extreme and is sure to be a crowd-pleaser even though it closed after three performances in 1831 and was shelved for the next 190 years. Perhaps the opera mixed so many influences that audiences just did not know what to make of it. Bertin, who was 25 when the work had its premiere in Paris, wrote the libretto herself in Italian. It has all the trappings of Rossinian opera -- fortepiano-accompanied recitative, aria, scena, preghiera, cavatina, big multi-part finales ending with a fast stretta -- but the effect of the music is completely different, and the settings stand up to the weighty aspect of the material. It is as if Weber had written a Faust opera, sometimes even as if Beethoven had written one. The role of Faust is sung by a mezzo-soprano, which is how Bertin wrote it, although a tenor version also exists. This results in intriguing equal-status duets between Karine Deshayes as Fausto and Karina Gauvin as Margarita. Conductor Christophe Rousset catches the ambition and the drama; his ensemble Les Talens Lyriques uses historical instruments but wisely bulks up to an adequate size for the work. Palazzetto Bru Zane, as usual, does the opera justice sonically with a studio recording. This is a remarkable release, not only for lovers of 19th century opera or those interested in music by women, but for anyone.© James Manheim /TiVo
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MTV Unplugged

Mana

Latin - Released June 22, 1999 | WM Mexico

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The unplugged trend of the 1990s could be quite revealing. If a band used amplification to mask its deficiencies, going acoustic could easily expose them. But when artists who had a lot going for them -- everyone from Aerosmith and Bruce Springsteen to L.L. Cool J -- went unplugged, they had a lot of strong material to rely on and triumphed in an acoustic or electro-acoustic environment. Stripped of the arena rock amplification it was known for, Maná generally sounds decent on this live-in-a-studio recording for MTV Unplugged. Much of the material is commercial, middle-of-the-road pop/rock fare; ballads like "Vivir Sin Aire" and "Cachito" are enjoyable, though not earth shattering. Nonetheless, the Mexican rock en Español band can be challenging at times. "Cuando Los Angeles Lloran" is a poignant ode to Chico Mendez, a South American environmentalist/activist who was murdered because of his fight to save the Amazon, while "Ana" describes the desperation of a pregnant 15-year-old who is afraid to tell her parents and gets no support from the boy who impregnated her. Equally sobering is the reggae-influenced "Falta Amor," an account of a homeless child. For the most part, however, Unplugged is the work of a band that is content to be decent when it's quite capable of being compelling.© Alex Henderson /TiVo
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Chasing Dreams

Sofia Portanet

Pop - Released April 5, 2024 | Duchess Box Records

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The Geeks and the Jerkin' Socks

Shaka Ponk

Rock - Released June 6, 2011 | tôt Ou tard

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Their first release since recruiting female vocalist Samaha Sam, The Geeks & The Jerkin Socks is the third studio album from experimental electro-rock outfit Shaka Ponk, best-known for their Gorillaz-esque digitally animated character, Goz. The follow-up to 2009's Bad Porn Movie Trax includes collaborations with Noir Desir frontman Bertrand Cantat ("Palabra Mi Amor") and U.S. rapper Beat Assailant ("Old School Rocka"), alongside the lead single "Let's Bang."© Jon O'Brien /TiVo
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TANGO y TANGO

Philippe Cohen Solal

Dance - Released May 5, 2023 | Ya Basta! records

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Corbetta: La Guitarre Royalle

Simone Vallerotonda

Classical - Released January 12, 2024 | Arcana

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Caminos Flamencos

Renaud Garcia-Fons

World - Released August 19, 2022 | Cézame Latin

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Alfonsina: Canciones argentinas

Mariana Florès

World - Released October 6, 2023 | Alpha Classics

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Raconte-moi...

Stacey Kent

Vocal Jazz - Released March 15, 2010 | Token Productions

Over a dozen albums and several compilations, American-born British resident Stacey Kent has sung standards with polish and class, but perhaps her fans might not have expected the result on this CD. A program of tunes interpreted entirely in French, Kent here fancies herself as a modern-day Edith Piaf, with a very low-key, late-night, romantic approach. Her thin, wispy voice rides very much under the radar of these selections, with a small instrumental complement including pianist Graham Harvey, guitarist John Parricelli, and in select spots her husband, saxophonist Jim Tomlinson. Most of the tracks are French pop songs, but occasionally Kent sneaks in a ringer like Antonio Carlos Jobim's always delightful "Les Eaux de Mars" (Waters of March), and adds a Brazilian flavor to the title selection or calypso on the most upbeat number, "Mi Amor." Harvey's pristine piano is the telling factor on how this music inspires Kent to dig deep into her soul without pulling in demons or being extroverted. Though there are moments when the band swings, goes into a circular motion, or actually does a jazz standard ("It Might As Well Be Spring"), Kent and her mates stick to ballads and torch songs in the main. This is her second CD for the Blue Note label, more likely to appeal on a international European than stateside U.S. level, but it is heartfelt and purely soulful no matter the lyrics or language.© Michael G. Nastos /TiVo

Cantona sings Eric - First Tour Ever

Eric Cantona

Alternative & Indie - Released March 29, 2024 | Universal Music Division Barclay

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Mexican Spaghetti Western

Chingon

Rock - Released January 23, 2020 | Rocket Racing Rebels Publishing

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Dreamer in Concert

Stacey Kent

Vocal Jazz - Released August 31, 2011 | Token Productions

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En mi piel

Buika

World - Released September 2, 2011 | WM Spain

The first official compilation by the acclaimed flamenco fusion/jazz/soul vocalist from Palma de Mallorca, En Mi Piel: The Best of Buika collects highlights from the four excellent albums she recorded between 2005 and 2009. This generous two-CD set concentrates on her projects with producer Javier Limón, and while it does not feature any material from her rare 2000 debut Mestizüo, it includes many tracks not available on her original albums. Among these are collaborations with Sean, Armando Manzanero, and the Iván Melón Lewis Quintet; her two superb contributions to Pedro Almodóvar's 2011 film La Piel Que Habito ("Por el Amor de Amar" and "Se Me Hizo Fácil"); and two previously unreleased tracks, "Sueño con Ella" and "Como Era."© Mariano Prunes /TiVo
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La Voz

Hector Lavoe

World - Released January 1, 1975 | Craft Recordings

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We Broke The Rules

Aventura

World - Released June 1, 2002 | Premium Latin Music

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Exiliados En La Bahía: Lo Mejor De Maná

Mana

Latin - Released August 24, 2012 | WM Mexico

Available in both 14-track and 32-track versions, Exiliados en la Bahía: Lo Mejor de Maná fills a void, offering up the first major Maná "best-of" set since Esencials landed in 2003. Of course, that series was big and conceptual, dividing the rock en español pioneers' work into three themed discs with rare tracks mixed in. Here, it's two new cuts -- an excellent, heartfelt take of Juan Gabriel's "Hasta Que Te Conocí" plus the uplifting "Un Nuevo Amanecer," a campfire singalong that grows into a full-bodied power ballad -- and then on to the hits and career-defining moments. The sequence of "Labios Compartidos" (epic fan favorite), "Bendita Tu Luz" (sweet bachata with Juan Luis Guerra), and then "Mariposa Traicionera" (sexy and spicy with the delicate butterfly as a metaphor for love and loss) is the versatile beauty of the band in three easy pieces, while elsewhere, there's the punkish reggae-rock ("Clavado en un Bar") they're prone to break out, plus a slight taste of their soft and grand '80s sound ("Rayando el Sol") back when they were saying goodbye to new wave, the Polygram label, and their original name, Sombrero Verde. Some early, arguably lesser hits are missing, and with two decades of Grammy-winning, platinum-selling, and massively influential work to choose from, fans can argue about what's omitted and still have a hard time topping this solid track list. An easy introduction for newcomers or a portable hits set for fans, Exiliados en la Bahía is the superstar "best-of" done right.© David Jeffries /TiVo
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Invocación (Deluxe Version)

Yilian Cañizares

World - Released January 19, 2017 | naïve

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