|
|
|
Massenet - Thaïs / Fleming, Hampson, Sabbatini, Shkosa, Vidal, Devellereau, Cals, Yves Abel
: :Given the renaissance in recent years of an interest in Jules Massenet--consider, for example, the 1999 release of two Werthers back to back--the time definitely has become ripe for a new account of his late opera, Thaïs. This is the first alternative to appear on CD since the problematic version with Beverly Sills from the 1970s. While far from flawless (curiously, it was recorded in two stretches, with a pause of 15 months between them), it makes a mostly convincing case for the stirring beauty of Massenet's much-misunderstood work. For Thaïs, with its ...
|
|
|
Albert Roussel: Les Mélodies
from: Timpani
: :Given the renaissance in recent years of an interest in Jules Massenet--consider, for example, the 1999 release of two Werthers back to back--the time definitely has become ripe for a new account of his late opera, Thaïs. This is the first alternative to appear on CD since the problematic version with Beverly Sills from the 1970s. While far from flawless (curiously, it was recorded in two stretches, with a pause of 15 months between them), it makes a mostly convincing case for the stirring beauty of Massenet's much-misunderstood work. For Thaïs, with its ...
|
|
|
Victor Hugo: Poèmes en musique
from: Ambroisie
: :Given the renaissance in recent years of an interest in Jules Massenet--consider, for example, the 1999 release of two Werthers back to back--the time definitely has become ripe for a new account of his late opera, Thaïs. This is the first alternative to appear on CD since the problematic version with Beverly Sills from the 1970s. While far from flawless (curiously, it was recorded in two stretches, with a pause of 15 months between them), it makes a mostly convincing case for the stirring beauty of Massenet's much-misunderstood work. For Thaïs, with its ...
|
|
|
Petitgirard - Joseph Merrick de Elephant Man / Stutzmann · Rivenq · Breault · Koch · Devellereau · Petitgirard
: :Fond, at times, of Ravel's stirring oboe-range tones, Laurent Petitgirard is likewise fond of the dancing quality of French impressionist composition. This is not to say that Petitgirard's first opera, Joseph Merrick dit Elephant Man is at all a dance piece, but only to note that the flurrying notes and cascading washes of strings run up against ominous horn calls and invoke impressionist techniques both obliquely and overtly. The story here is that of Joseph Merrick, whose rare condition, which many concluded was neurofibromatosis and others now claim was the even rarer Proteus ...
|
|
|
Laurent Petitgirard: John Merrick, The Elephant Man
from: Naxos
: :Fond, at times, of Ravel's stirring oboe-range tones, Laurent Petitgirard is likewise fond of the dancing quality of French impressionist composition. This is not to say that Petitgirard's first opera, Joseph Merrick dit Elephant Man is at all a dance piece, but only to note that the flurrying notes and cascading washes of strings run up against ominous horn calls and invoke impressionist techniques both obliquely and overtly. The story here is that of Joseph Merrick, whose rare condition, which many concluded was neurofibromatosis and others now claim was the even rarer Proteus ...
|
|