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Deified

National Brass Ensemble

Classical - Released June 23, 2023 | PentaTone

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It may have been surprising to see this release by a newish U.S. ensemble show up on British classical best-seller charts in the summer of 2023. Several factors may have contributed, one being the marketing muscle of the PentaTone Classics label and another being that label's engineering staff getting splendid results from a live 2021 concert at San Francisco's Davies Symphony Hall. A third factor might be the unusual large brass ensemble format: there are 31 players, allowing an unusually large palette of sounds and textures. This is especially effective in the work that takes up the whole second CD and second part of the program, The Ring, a condensation of Wagner's entire Ring cycle by Timothy Higgins. This hits many of the familiar pieces from those four operas, which of course, contain a great deal of writing for brass in the first place. There are other unfamiliar and intriguing pieces: a rare fanfare by Richard Strauss, the title work by Jonathan Bingham, which is palindromic in several respects, and a pleasing, lightly Latin-accented Brass Fantasy of Arturo Sandoval. The National Brass Ensemble is not a standing group but one drawn from top players in various U.S. orchestras (the San Francisco Symphony has the largest group); conductor Eun Sun Kim's direction is crisp, and the virtuosity of several of the players is notable although the cohesion of a well-drilled chamber group is impossible. There have been several other instrumental "summaries" of the Ring, but this one is both unusual and engaging. A must for brass fans. © James Manheim /TiVo
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Lully: Armide

Les Talens Lyriques

Classical - Released March 24, 2017 | Aparté

Hi-Res Booklet Distinctions 4F de Télérama - Gramophone Editor's Choice
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Atys

Christophe Rousset

Opera - Released January 5, 2024 | Château de Versailles Spectacles

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Backed by the Sun King despite a lukewarm audience reception at first, Lully's Atys (1676) went on to become one of the composer's most successful operas, with revivals at French court theaters as late as 1753. In modern times, however, it is a considerably rarer item due to the massive forces and time required. Christophe Rousset was in the pit as harpsichordist when conductor William Christie gave the first modern revival of the work in the late '80s. That experience marks this 2024 release, which made classical best-seller lists at the beginning of that year. That is not common for a hefty five-act Baroque opera, but even a bit of sampling will confirm why it happened: Rousset, from the keyboard, brings tremendous energy to the opera. He pushes the tempo in the numerous dances and entrance numbers, and the musicians of Les Talens Lyriques and the singers of the Choeur du Chambre de Namur, all of whom have worked closely with Rousset in the past, keep right up. The singers in the solo roles are all fine; haut-contre Reinoud Van Mechelen in the title role and Ambroisine Bré as the goddess Cybèle, who sets the tragic plot in motion, are standouts. The sound from the increasingly engineering-expert Château de Versailles label is exceptionally clear in complex textures, and the sensuous cover art (representing, it is true, not the Roman mythological figure of Atys but Hippomène and Atalante) is a bonus. In the end, this is Rousset's Atys, and that is a very good thing.© James Manheim /TiVo
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Ravel : Boléro, Rapsodie espagnole, Ma mère l'Oye

Pierre Boulez

Classical - Released October 14, 2016 | Deutsche Grammophon (DG)

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David & Jonathas

Gaétan Jarry

Classical - Released June 9, 2023 | Château de Versailles Spectacles

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Elisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre: Céphale et Procris

Reinoud Van Mechelen

Classical - Released February 9, 2024 | Château de Versailles Spectacles

Hi-Res Booklet Distinctions Diapason d'or
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Psyché

Christophe Rousset

Classical - Released January 13, 2023 | Château de Versailles Spectacles

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Ravel: Ma Mère l'Oye, Tombeau de Couperin, Shéhérazade

Les Siècles

Symphonic Music - Released April 13, 2018 | harmonia mundi

Hi-Res Booklet Distinctions Diapason d'or - 5 Sterne Fono Forum Klassik
Recording Ravel's music on period instruments is the kind of thing that might raise a smile... until you realise just how much the production of instruments has changed in less than a hundred years: it's the return of catgut strings, skin drum heads, the French basson (and not the German system bassoon which is used across all the world's orchestras today), shaper tips, trumpets and trombones of French manufacture. At the head of his orchestra Les Siècles, François-Xavier Roth gives a new, orthodox, historically-informed version of Ma Mère l’oye (complete ballet), the Tombeau de Couperin and Shéhérazade, the long-neglected "ouverture de féérie" [Fairy Overture] which is pure Ravel. This return to the roots is clearly easier and more straightforwardly authentic for this period of music history, because, unlike earlier works, we possess recordings which date back to the 1920s, and even earlier, which can tell us about the style, the colours, the phrasing and the tempo. But it isn't enough just to have all this historical information to hand to make something interesting. What makes this record thrilling is that all the musicians in the Siècles are excellent, and François-Xavier Roth is a talented artist himself, who knows this music inside out. At which point, his complete recording of Stravinsky's Firebird has already struck us with its quality. This rediscovery of Ravel resounds with clarity and finesse; it is a feast of well-defined timbres which cuts against the "beautiful sound" which prevails in orchestras around the world today. © François Hudry/Qobuz
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Satie: Gymnopedies

Denis Pascal

Classical - Released December 2, 2022 | La Musica

Hi-Res Booklet Distinctions 4F de Télérama - Choc de Classica
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Jean-Baptiste Lully : Amadis

Christophe Rousset

Opera - Released September 22, 2014 | Aparté

Hi-Res Booklet Distinctions 4F de Télérama - Diamant d'Opéra - Choc de Classica - 5 Sterne Fono Forum Klassik
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Ravel: Complete Orchestral Works, Vol. 1

Ludovic Morlot

Classical - Released April 5, 2024 | L'Auditori

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Tchaikovsky: Eugène Onéguine (Diapason n°598)

Galina Vichnievskaia

Full Operas - Released September 25, 2010 | Les Indispensables de Diapason

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Ravel: Daphnis et Chloé Suites Nos. 1 & 2, Ma mère l'oye & Valses nobles et sentimentales

St. Olaf Choir

Classical - Released January 1, 1975 | Vox

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Paradise Lost

Anna Prohaska

Classical - Released April 10, 2020 | Alpha Classics

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The gestation of this project lasted two years. Anna Prohaska and Julius Drake finally concentrated their research on the themes of Eve, Paradise and banishment. Some songs were obvious choices, such as Fauré’s Paradis, in which God appears to Eve and asks her to name each flower and animal, or Purcell’s Sleep, Adam, sleep with its references to Genesis. But Anna Prohaska also wished to illustrate the cliché of the woman who brought original sin into the world and her status as a tempter who leads man astray, as in Brahms’s Salamander, Wolf’s Die Bekehrte or Ravel’s Air du Feu. In Das Paradies und die Peri, Schumann conjures up the image of Syria’s rose-covered plains. Bernstein also transports us to the desert with Silhouette.. John Milton’s seventeenth-century masterpiece Paradise Lost was the inspiration for Charles Ives and Benjamin Britten, also featured in this very rich programme that constitutes an invitation to travel and reflection. © Alpha Classics
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Stravinsky: Les Noces, Cantata & Mass

Karel Ancerl

Classical - Released May 31, 1994 | Supraphon a.s.

A huge record! A must! This is a merger of two Supraphon LPs which were released in the 1960s. Boasting a dazzling cast, with four of the greatest singers of the Czech national scene (Libuše Domanínská, Marie Mrázová, Ivo Žídek, Dalibor Jedlička!), Les Noces was recorded between the 28th and 30th of May 1964 in the Rudolfinum Studio in Prague, while the Cantata and the Mass were recorded three years later in the Domovina Studio - on the 3rd and 4th of April, and the 20th of June 1967 for the Cantata, and on the 28th and 29th of March for the Mass.Karel Ančerl's Les Noces are unforgettable in more ways than one: the rhythmic acuity and vocal and instrumental precision never obscure the very authentic, often mischievous tone of these strange 'Russian choreographic scenes'. Karel Ančerl achieves heights of poetic intensity in the final passage, in which the gamelan melody gradually encroaches upon the musical space, before triumphing immediately after Jedlička's sublime story is concluded.The other side of this 2004 reissue is no less vital. In comparison to the very fine version by Colin Davis (1964), in Karel Ančerl's hands the Cantata becomes a marvel of fluidity; the woodwinds of the Czech Philharmonic shine in the 'verses'. And the two singers, both the marvellous Barbara Robotham with her incredibly luscious tone in Ricercar I and Gerald English, perfect in style, spirit and singing (especially the high notes!), in his long and very difficult narrative segment in Ricercar II, are absolutely unmatched by any other recording of this material. This is pure poetry. A more difficult score, the Mass displays all the spirit of its darker side (Gloria), and its powerful harmonies. Once again, the Czech Philharmonic provides great moments of musical beauty. These are impressive recordings, without a doubt. © Pierre-Yves Lascar/Qobuz
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Recollection

Laurent Voulzy

French Music - Released June 30, 2008 | RCA Records Label

Recollection is strange mish-mash of nostalgic tunes by the team of Laurent Voulzy and Alain Souchon that revisits his first smash, "Rockcollection," by rewriting (new verses) and re-recording it with production that may be up to the minute, but which recalls the '80s. Other tracks include medleys of hit tunes by other artists such as "Jukebox: Rebel, Rebel/Venus/Heart of Glass/Shiny Happy People/It's Rain," and "Radio Collection: Locomotion/A Hard Day's Night/I Get Around/Gloria/Sat." Even the new tracks, such as "Jelly Bean," and "Sous la Lune" recall earlier decades in pop. This is a truly bizarre affair from top to bottom.© Thom Jurek /TiVo
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Camille Saint-Saëns: Phryné

Hervé Niquet

Opera - Released February 11, 2022 | Bru Zane

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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
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Cadmus & Hermione

Vincent Dumestre

Classical - Released May 1, 2021 | Château de Versailles Spectacles

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Jean-Baptiste Lully's Cadmus & Hermione of 1673 was arguably the first true French opera, telling a tragic story (Lully and his librettist Philippe Quinault called it a tragédie en lyrique), employing Italian-style recitatives, and collecting the varied music and dance forms of Louis XIV's opulent court into a coherent narrative that at once celebrated Louis (he is conflated with Cadmus of Thebes) and moved beyond the ceremonial nature of earlier French dramatic music. It's a sprawling work, with five acts, an overture, and a sizable Prologue with its own overture; highlights include a dragon that eats Africans, a monster snake, and a full complement of Greek gods and goddesses. Realization of the work has, until now, been beyond the means of early music performance groups, and this is the world premiere recording of the opera, made in 2019 and based on a 2008 performance at Versailles Palace by some of the same performers. The leader is Vincent Dumestre, conducting the Le Poème Harmonique orchestra and the vocal ensembles Aedes. The forces are large enough to capture the splendor of the music (thankfully, no one-voice-per-part techniques here), and Dumestre is alert to the huge variety of musical devices Lully brings to bear on his story; there are dances, big choruses, bagpipes, and much more. Cadmus & Hermione may be a difficult work to bring to life for modern audiences, but Dumestre keeps things moving along and probably comes as close as anyone could. Of course, anyone interested in the life of the French court in the 17th century will find this an essential acquisition that will keep giving and giving. © TiVo
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Ravel: Ma mère l'Oye & Valses nobles et sentimentales

André Cluytens

Classical - Released May 17, 2019 | Warner Classics