Anne Bertin Hugault, Marianne Croux Rita Strohl Douze Chants de Bilitis

A mysterious opera, an historical piano, two singers, and four instrumentalists. Ensemble Hexameron presents a rich variety of instrumental and vocal music, thus painting a musical portrait of Paris at the dawn of the nineteenth century; a time when different cultures and genres were at crossroads, and when Mozart was yet to be truly discovered as a composer in France.

S'il est un nom qui, dans l'Angleterre du XIXe siècle, a suscité le scandale, c'est bien celui de Shelley. Et en particulier avec son dernier livre écrit avant l'exil, dont les intitulés ont changé plusieurs fois dès les éditions de 1817 : d'abord Laon et Cythna ou La Révolution dans la Cité d'Or, avant de prendre le titre définitif de La Révolte de l'Islam. Il s'agit d'un poème-hymne, d'un poème-pamphlet qui clame son désir de liberté pour les femmes…

The music on this CD is not what most people consider "Gregorian Chant". The music presented here is taken from the "Old Roman" chant repertory (ca. 7th-8th Centuries) which pre-dates what is most referred to as Gregorian Chant. The Gregorian Chant which most people are familiar with actually comes from the Carolingian Empire (ca. 850-1000), which came into existence later than the Old Roman period. Hence, the reportoire from the Old Roman period is unsingable if sung in the style suggested by Gregorian scholars for Carolingian chants.

Mirare present a recording that is common to Philippe Hersant and Benoît Menut, two composers from different generations who have known each other well for twenty-five years - an idea that came to their minds with Benoît Menut’s desire to write for the Trio Karénine a concertante work with a similar length, format and instrumentation to that of Philippe Hersant, Chant de l’isolé. Thus was Depuis le Rivage created.

Women composers had great difficulty in making their voices heard and gaining recognition during their lifetimes. Even today, they are all too rarely heard in the concert hall or the opera house. That situation obviously cries out for a change in attitude, but then come the questions: all right, let’s programme women composers, but which ones, and which of their works? In this eight-CD set featuring several hundred performers, the Palazzetto Bru Zane offers its initial answer as far as nineteenth-century France is concerned. The selections range over chamber music, orchestral works, piano pieces and songs. They highlight twenty-one female creators, from already identified personalities like Hélène de Montgeroult, Louise Farrenc, Pauline Viardot, Marie Jaëll and Mel Bonis to such completely unknown figures as Charlotte Sohy, Madeleine Jaeger, Marthe Grumbach, Jeanne Danglas, Hedwige Chrétien and Madeleine Lemariey. From now on, there will be no excuse for ignoring Romantic women composers.

Women composers had great difficulty in making their voices heard and gaining recognition during their lifetimes. Even today, they are all too rarely heard in the concert hall or the opera house. That situation obviously cries out for a change in attitude, but then come the questions: all right, let’s programme women composers, but which ones, and which of their works? In this eight-CD set featuring several hundred performers, the Palazzetto Bru Zane offers its initial answer as far as nineteenth-century France is concerned. The selections range over chamber music, orchestral works, piano pieces and songs. They highlight twenty-one female creators, from already identified personalities like Hélène de Montgeroult, Louise Farrenc, Pauline Viardot, Marie Jaëll and Mel Bonis to such completely unknown figures as Charlotte Sohy, Madeleine Jaeger, Marthe Grumbach, Jeanne Danglas, Hedwige Chrétien and Madeleine Lemariey. From now on, there will be no excuse for ignoring Romantic women composers.