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That globetrotting composer Camille Saint-Saëns wrote La Princesse jaune in 1872, exemplifying the current craze for all things Japanese. Kornélis, played by the tenor Mathias Vidal, dreams only of the Land of the Rising Sun. Under the influence of a hallucinogenic potion, he becomes infatuated with Ming, a fantasy princess. His cousin Léna – the soprano Judith van Wanroij – despairs of this passion and does not dare to confess her own feelings to Kornélis, who eventually comes to his senses. The running time of this opera enables us to offer a coupling in the shape of a previously unrecorded version of Saint-Saëns’s six Mélodies persanes, thus extending the guiding thread of a yearning for exotic horizons in another direction. Leo Hussain conducts the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse in both works. © Bru Zane

A serpent woman haunts Cecile McLorin Salvant's dreams on her boldly realized seventh album, 2023's Mélusine. Inspired by the European folktale most famously detailed by 14th century French writer Jean d'Arras, Mélusine tells the tale of a shapeshifting maiden, half-serpent/half-woman, whose righteous anger takes on ever-more dualistic meanings under Salvant's dynamic musical sway. Having been lavished with accolades, including several Grammy Awards for her clarion, swinging jazz and French chanson-infused albums, Salvant has increasingly leaned into the more stylistically experimental and personal aspects of her artistry. It was an approach she took to new levels with 2022's Ghost Song, performing her poetic originals alongside unexpected covers of songs by Kate Bush and Sting. Centered on the title track, which she composed during the Ghost Song sessions, Mélusine is a gorgeously realized production. Although there are some English lyrics here, the album features the most French Salvant has sung on record. Thankfully, she offers translations of each song with a sentence that also highlights how each track illuminates the story.The album also finds Salvant (who produced the album with Tom Korkidis) pulling together all of her disparate influences, from her moody cabaret jazz reading of Charles Trenet's "La Route Enchantee" to her playfully mischievous interpretation of the 14th century composition "Dites Moi Que Je Suis Belle," the latter of which is done in dancerly duet with djembe percussion master Weedie Braimah. Along with Braimah, she's joined throughout by several longtime associates including pianists Sullivan Fortner and Aaron Diehl, bassists Paul Sikivie and Luques Curtis, drummers Kyle Pool and Obed Calvaire, and saxophonist Godwin Louis. Shifting the line-up track to track, Salvant offers inspired forays into '70s sci-fi-inspired Canadian musical theater ("Petite Musique Terrienne" from Starmania), the dramatic French pop of Veronique Sanson ("Le Temps est Assassin"), and an Afro-Latin take on 12th century troubadour Almuc Castelnau's "Dame Iseut" that Salvant sings in both Occitan and Haitian Creole, languages that underline her own rich dual heritage. There's even a synthesizer-accented take on Michel Lambert's haunting 1660 air de coeur "D'un Feu Secret" that sounds like electronic composer Suzanne Ciani, Ella Fitzgerald, and the Modern Jazz Quartet giving a Baroque court performance. Her originals here are just as stylistically wide-ranging as she pulls together jazz and Haitian compas rhythms on "Doudou," accompanies herself on analog synth on "Wedo," and weaves a dreamy overlay of vocals and electric piano on "Aida." It almost goes without saying that Salvant's voice is utterly sublime on Mélusine, rich with an earthy jazz warmth on one song and shimmering with a brightly attenuated operatic resonance on another. There's also a feeling that for her, the story of a half-serpent half-woman is in keeping with her life as a Black woman raised in Miami by a Haitian father and French mother. Whether it's with the themes of romantic heartbreak and bodily autonomy, or the global boundary-pushing musicality at play on Mélusine, Salvant's work is transcendent.© Matt Collar /TiVo

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Following 2020's deep cuts collection Undiscovered, the revered Italian minimalist modern-classical composer and pianist presents this second volume, comprising tracks that wouldn't fit on the first. It features a selection of rarities and underplayed tunes from across the breadth of his career as well as pieces never before available physically, including a new solo piano version of fan favorite "Experience."© TiVo

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Given that his parents are of American and Lebanese heritage and he's spent significant parts of his life in England and Italy, Mika could be seen as a citizen of the world. However, it's not surprising that France holds a special place in his heart. It's where he spent his earliest years, where he began writing songs and learned to play the piano, and where his albums consistently place in the Top Ten of the charts. That France has been so important to his life and career makes it somewhat remarkable that Mika waited until his sixth album to release a record of songs sung entirely in French, but Que ta tête fleurisse toujours is a loving tribute to his roots in more ways than one. He named the album for a phrase his mother often said to him while growing up ("may your head always bloom"). Though she passed in 2021, the music she inspired is more uplifting than mournful, with the tenderness of "30 Secondes" and "Passager" coming through clearly even to listeners who don't speak a word of French. He complements these pensive moments with pulsing ones like "C'est la Vie" and "Touche Touche," where the pounding pianos and synths, disco rhythms, and falsetto vocals are unmistakably Mika. He rounds out the album with some skillful homages to classic French pop, such the string-laden daydream of "Moi, Andy et Paris" and the stylishly bittersweet "Jane Birkin," a much more restrained celebrity homage than his breakthrough single "Grace Kelly." By Mika's usual standards, Que ta tête fleurisse toujours may be understated, but its delicate ballads and feather-light pop make it a patisserie-worthy confection.© Heather Phares /TiVo

The connection between deep soul and country music is fortified thanks to an increasing number of singers like Jaime Wyatt. Wyatt also taps into another country music tradition: life behind bars. Having paid her debt, Wyatt's knowledge of Cash and Haggard gave her debut Felony Blues an undeniable authenticity. Here she's jumped a faster train with the guidance of producer/guitarist Adrian Quesada, who knows from his own band Black Pumas how to build arrangements around a strong voice. Throughout Feel Good Wyatt sings her heart out on a batch of solid originals that she's co-written. Most operate in an effective cross between country confessional and full-on retro soul. Working with Quesada was a sage move. The smooth, low-key production of "Feel Good" feels very much like a Hall & Oates number but surrounds her voice in the right ways. The slow, horn and electric keyboards of "Hold Me One Last Time" borrows atmosphere from the much-loved Stax/Volt canon. With its chorus of female backup singers, it's not a stretch to think of Tammi Terrell singing it. Quesada's cutting electric guitar solo brings it back to the current century. Recorded and mixed at Electric Deluxe Recorders in Austin, Texas, by Quesada and engineer Aaron Glemboski, the sound is clear, uncomplicated and full-bodied. As both a songwriter and a singer, Wyatt is at her best writing about subjects she's lived. In "Fugitive" she ponders, "They'll cut a check and then they'll call it alright /But that restitution is nowhere in sight." Throughout Feel Good, Wyatt's alto voice sends off words with the kind of commitment that says, "I've been there." She digs even further into her past in "Ain't Enough Whiskey" with co-writer Butch Walker singing harmony vocals: "And there ain't enough whiskey to keep me warm at night/ And there ain't enough cocaine to keep me standin' upright." Despite the title, Wyatt makes you believe that her hardships are real. © Robert Baird/Qobuz