Caledon of The Mists

Le toréador, ou L'accord parfait (The Toreador, or The Perfect Agreement) is an opéra comique in two acts by the French composer Adolphe Adam with a libretto by Thomas-Marie-François Sauvage. It was first performed at the Opéra-Comique, Paris on May 18, 1849. It was a huge success and the work regularly appeared in the repertoire of the Opéra-Comique until 1869.

Christmas Oratorio is topical, it’s also universal. It doesn’t require lights or tinsel or presents under the tree to instruct, inspire, and/or entertain, especially if it is presented in as fine a performance as this one fashioned by Stephen Layton and his cohort. Layton is the director of music at Trinity College, Cambridge (having succeeded Richard Marlow), and his choir is top-notch, as is the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, mercifully identified as OAE. OAE’s roster is rife with such familiar names from the period instruments movement as Margaret Faultless (who is just that here) and Alison Bury. To mention Anthony Robson, oboe, and David Blackadder, trumpet, is not to slight any of the other players.

For more than four decades now, Eric Hoeprich has specialized in performing on the historical clarinet. His expertise as a musician, scholar and instrument maker allows for a unique approach to the repertoire of the 18th and 19th centuries. Founding member and principal clarinet of the Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century, Hoeprich has performed frequently as a soloist with the orchestra, with his recording of Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto for Glossa, under the direction of Frans Brüggen (2001), being a major milestone. With his ensembles Nachtmusique and Stadler Trio he has also made frequent recordings for Glossa, while his collaborations with the London Haydn Quartet have yielded another handful of fine albums for the label, the latest of which, published just a few months ago in 2020, contains two Weber Clarinet Quintets and is a perfect companion for the current release.