In 1743, two years before Rameau’s Platée, Boismortier created an extraordinarily modern and madcap "comic ballet", Don Quichotte chez la Duchesse. As the exuberant plotunfurls, Cervantes’ hero encounters monsters, enchanters, princesses and people from Japan, making for plenty of offbeat and audacious dances and choruses. Musical beautyrubs shoulders with satirical and irreverent comedy. A choice work for Hervé Niquet, who leads his Concert Spirituel with unparalleled energy! © Château de Versailles Spectacles

Written in six weeks on a tatty little book and based on Victor Hugo’s Ruy Blas, Don César de Bazan is one of Jules Massenet’s first works. A comic-opera in the form of an espagnolade, a genre which was then highly fashionable and culminated three years later with Bizet’s Carmen. Don César is a youthful work not lacking in charm and a young Massenet adorns it with boléros, lullabies, love songs, drinking songs and choirs that highlight the comic aspect of an opera Saint-Saëns described as “light and elegant”.The instrumental parts and the orchestral section of the original version were burnt during the fire of the Opéra Comique in 1887. As a result, Massenet wrote a new version based on edited piano-vocal scores. Lighter and more stout in its orchestration, it debuted at Geneva’s Grand Théâtre under the direction of the composer in 1888, before some limited showings in Anvers, La Haye, Lyon, Nice, Brussels and Paris before disappearing from memory. The oeuvre was brought back in 2016 in several French towns thanks to the Frivolités Parisiennes initiative who recorded it in 2019 in an entirely revised layout in co-production with the Théâtre Impérial de Compiègne.Laurent Naouri plays the part of Don César, the great Spaniard who becomes governor of Grenada after his many adventures and sweet romance with Maritana, an ex-busker appointed Countess of Bazan played beautifully by Elsa Dreising. Founded in 2012, the Frivolités Parisiennes company sets itself the task of bringing back, in addition to its entire repertoire, the type of orchestra seen at the Opéra Comique which disappeared in the 60s. © François Hudry/Qobuz

Over the years, the Verbier Festival has earned a global reputation for bringin together the world’s biggest stars and promising young artists. Recently, the Swiss festival joined forces with Deutsche Grammophon and announced the launch of the Verbier Festival Gold label, which intends to publish the festivals vast archives at a rate of one publication per month. After Verdi’s Requiem conducted by Gianandrea Noseda and an album dedicated to pianist Yuja Wang, here we have Bryn Terfel’s recital which he performed in the Alps with pianist Llyr in 2011.In the nineteenth century, the beautiful Swiss mountains inspired the imaginations of numerous writers, painters and musicians. A regular at this festival, Bryn Terfel focused his recital programme on a small number of Schubert Lieder, including the sumptuous Liebesbotschaft (“Love message”), as well as Schumann’s great Liederkreis, Op. 39. It was fitting that he performed this with the Swiss Alps as a backdrop.The Welsh baritone had already recorded the vast Schumann cycle for DG with Malcom Martineau in 1999, and his vocals are equally breath-taking in this Verbier recording. His sensational diction and phrasing are coupled with beautiful expression. Something that really stands out on this recording is the increased power in his vocals, likely a result of the audience’s support and his recent involvement with Wagnerian operas that no doubt helped expand and strengthen his bass tone. Somewhat curiously, this high-level recital continued with Jacques Ibert’s Chansons de Don Quichotte and the Five Shakespeare Songs by British composer Roger Quilter. Bryn Terfel and his pianist generously provided numerous encore performances, appeasing the insatiable audience that kept asking for more. © François Hudry/Qobuz

It's one of those fairy stories that the world of lyrical music likes to keep secret. Still an unknown and barely emerged from the La Scala Lyrical Academy, Georgian mezzo-soprano Anita Rachvelishvili was given the title role in Carmen by Baremboim, alongside Jonas Kaufman: an international career seemed to beckon for the young singer. And so here we will hear some of opera's great tunes, including, of course, the hits from Carmen, but also the two great arias from Samson et Dalila by Saint-Saëns, a pair from Verdi, a touch of Mascagni, some Rimski – less-frequently performed, it is true – and a rarity from his compatriot Dimitri Arakishvili (1873-1953) whose style is solidly anchored in the Russia of his day, with several, probably regional, twists. Since 2009, she has sung Carmen's role around three hundred times, and we can only hope that she never gets bogged down in it - and takes on Santuzza, Eboli, Dalil: in other words, the great characters of the dramatic mezzo repertoire. © SM/Qobuz

Jules Massenet’s numerous operas (notably Manon and Werther) have somewhat overshadowed his symphonic works, not to mention his oratorios and melodies. At the head of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, French conductor Jean-Luc Tingaud brings some of his forgotten manuscripts back to life.Visions is a symphonic poem modelled on works by Liszt – particularly his famous Preludes. It was inspired by his travels, as Massenet said himself: “The last hour of the day, in the high and sad solitudes of Simplon. The traveller there has fallen asleep, but his sleep is disturbed by visions that are calm or agitated, smiling or terrible. He wakes up. Around him it is night...he no longer dreams, he listens and thinks he hears a voice dear to his memory.”Brumaire was written for a historical drama commemorating Napoleon’s coup d'etat that ended the 'Directoire' period. The Overture for “Phaedra”, written at the Pasdeloup Orchestra’s request, is considered one of Massenet’s best instrumental works and has long been included in the symphonic repertoire. The incidental music for Les Erinnyes and his ballet Espada show Massenet’s appeal for exoticism – something that was fashionable at the time. This aspect of his music is still largely undiscovered. © François Hudry/Qobuz

This is one of the most delightful programmes by the baritone Roderick Williams and pianist Roger Vignoles. Wanting to go beyond presenting only the most famous French works, their new album begins with Gabriel Fauré’s Mirages, Op. 113, and continues with much lesser-known pieces by André Caplet and the often-overlooked Arthur Honegger.With so much excellent music from Caplet just waiting to be discovered, these two British musicians have exhumed the Cinq ballades françaises, which were composed in 1919 and based on poems by Paul Fort. André Caplet worked on these compositions as if they were paintings. He carefully created their landscapes, flourishing each with his own understanding of light and movement. His interpretation is impressively refined, perfectly French, and colourful and vibrant in its essence.Arthur Honegger’s Petits cours de morale is an affectionate tribute to his old friend Francis Poulenc, who wrote these five songs with the singer Pierre Bernac during the Occupation in 1942. The five pretty girls described by Jean Giraudoux in his Alexandrine verse mischievously interfere with two performers who are not really into women... however the highly structured villanelles that form Saluste du Bartas, which was recorded the same year by Noémie Perugia (voice) and Irène Aïtoff (piano), instead tell the tale of an ambassador to the court of Henri IV. Honegger seems to delight in these perfect miniatures sprinkled with bold modulations.This beautiful album also features Les Ténèbres de l’amour, a cycle written in French and composed in 1994 by Roderick Williams. It features Poulenc, Ravel and Debussy, and the wonderfully rich programme is rounded off with Beau Soir, his very first melody featuring that fearsomely high F sharp. His sophisticated interpretation can only be admired. © François Hudry/Qobuz

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L'amour de loin (2000) is Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho's first opera, but the mastery of its memorably dramatic music demonstrates incontrovertibly that she is a born opera composer. The opera has had numerous international productions and in 2003 it received the Grawemeyer Award, the most prestigious international award for composition. Saariaho was inspired to write an opera after seeing the 1992 Salzburg Festival production of Messiaen's Saint François d'Assise, so it is not surprising that her first effort would be more concerned with introspection than with conventionally operatic drama. The French libretto, by Armin Maalouf, deals with twelfth century troubadour Jaufre Rudel, and the legend of his love for the Countess of Tripoli. Separated by thousands of miles, the two had an erotically charged but unconsummated relationship, which in the opera is sustained by messages carried between them by a Pilgrim. The poet finally makes the voyage to meet his love, only to die in her arms. For a work on such an intimate subject with such an understated dramatic profile, L'amour de loin feels like a very big opera. Saariaho is dealing with large emotions, and what it lacks in outward theatricality is more than made up for in the vividness and depth with which it probes the psychology of its characters. The orchestra and chorus are vehicles for making audible the lovers' states of mind, which are frequently roiling with conflict and anxiety, and the music is consequently turbulent, powerful, and often very loud. (It's closer in tone to Tristan and Isolde than to Pelléas et Mélisande, two tragedies of thwarted love that it resembles in some ways.) Saariaho's counterintuitive take on Maalouf's intensely inward libretto works brilliantly. The ravishing orchestral palette, deft blend of Medieval and contemporary musical traditions, and gorgeous choral and vocal writing make this is a work that seems destined to endure. Saariaho's text setting is exceptionally graceful and limber, and it's performed beautifully by the superlative singers on this recording. Mezzo-soprano Marie-Anne Todorovitch's shapely vocal interpretation invests the Pilgrim with so much nuanced individuality that the listener cannot help being drawn to the character. Her supple, infinitely colorful voice is responsive to the most subtle dramatic cues in the text and music; this is the kind of fully realized performance that opera composers dream of. The same can be said for soprano Ekaterina Lekhina and baritone Daniel Belcher as the lovers; the startling purity and focus of their voices, and the intensity and subtlety with which they inhabit their roles, make them absolutely compelling, both musically and dramatically. Kent Nagano leads Rundfunkchor Berlin and Deutsches Symphonie-Orchestra Berlin in a luminous reading of the richly variegated score. Harmonia Mundi's sound is pure, full, and warmly atmospheric. This outstanding performance of L'amour de loin should be of strong interest not only to fans of contemporary opera, but of new music in general, and to lovers of bel canto singing. Highly recommended. © TiVo

Everyone knows Camille Saint-Saëns has a great sense of humour thanks to his Carnaval des Animaux in which no one escapes ridicule, not even him. Now the Palazzetto Bru Zane Foundation and Hervé Niquet have unearthed Phryné, a forgotten comic opera from 1893 enriched with recitatives composed by André Messager three years later.Received with immense and lasting success in its time, this brilliant work eventually fell into the abyss, never to be seen again. Fortunately, fans of Saint-Saëns made great efforts to rediscover his works on the centenary of his death in 2021. Phryné captures the "Grecomania" that was prevalent in all the arts in France at this time, especially in Offenbach’s music and even in architecture (just think of the beautiful Parisian district of New Athens in the 9th arrondissement). Ironically, and perhaps a little cheekily, Saint-Saens confessed that he was “working on this little piece with infinite pleasure” and was infatuated with this courtesan musician who had served as a model for the sculptor Praxitele.Always keen to discover a forgotten repertoire, Hervé Niquet brought together a few singers, Florie Valiquette, Cyrille Dubois, Anaïs Constans and Thomas Dolié, to breathe some life back into Phryné with his Concert Spirituel, with the aim of producing a concert version to be performed in the Opéra de Rouen Normandie in 2021. Though Lucien Augé’s libretto may seem tasteless today with its hefty dose of misogyny, Saint-Saens’ music is simply delicious, with a succession of arias and ensembles. This modest and charming opera-comedy, which Charles Gounod so enjoyed, offers a less serious and less academic take of a composer that well and truly deserves to be rediscovered. © François Hudry/Qobuz