Christophe

Les Talens Lyriques, Flemish Radio Choir & Christophe Rousset - Spontini: La vestale (2023)

Les Talens Lyriques, Flemish Radio Choir & Christophe Rousset - Spontini: La vestale (2023)
WEB FLAC (tracks) - 625 Mb | MP3 CBR 320 kbps - 307 Mb | Digital booklet | 02:12:00
Classical, Opera | Label: Bru Zane

Guilty of allowing the sacred fire to go out while declaring her love to the general Licinius, the Vestal Virgin Julia is sentenced to be buried alive. But her execution is averted by a divine intervention, which rekindles the altar flame and absolves the victim. The simple plot of Gaspare Spontini’s La Vestale achieved resounding success in 1807 thanks to the highly skilled treatment of the characters’ psychology and the transparency of the political allusions – Licinius is an allegory of Napoleon Bonaparte himself. Yet the work is more than a mere piece of propaganda: it represents one of the links between the tragédie lyrique of the Ancien Régime and the future grand opéra à la française, even anticipating Bellinian bel canto.
Les Talens Lyriques & Christophe Rousset - Pancrace Royer: Surprising Royer, Orchestral Suites (2023)

Les Talens Lyriques & Christophe Rousset - Pancrace Royer: Surprising Royer, Orchestral Suites (2023)
WEB FLAC (tracks) - 424 Mb | MP3 CBR 320 kbps - 193 Mb | Digital booklet | 01:22:05
Classical | Label: Aparté

After two recordings devoted to the harpsichord pieces of Savoyard composer Pancrace Royer, Christophe Rousset, this time conducting, turns to the composer's orchestral suites. Taken from Royer's operatic works and (with the exception of a live version of Pyrrhus) never previously recorded, these choreographic pieces reveal a new facet of the composer. The brilliance and virtuosity of his harpsichord compositions are well known; here we discover his gift for refinement and lyricism. These dances show Royer's singular sense of harmony and fine use of orchestral contrasts, as well as an almost whimsical rhetoric of the unexpected. Some of his best-known pieces, including the famous "March of the Scythians" from Zaïde, are to be heard here in their orchestral form. This recording will undoubtedly further the rediscovery of this iconoclastic composer, whose very personal style and innate sense of drama are given striking depth and relief here under the baton of Christophe Rousset.

Christophe Deslignes - La seconde main (2021)  Music

Posted by delpotro at Aug. 1, 2023
Christophe Deslignes - La seconde main (2021)

Christophe Deslignes - La seconde main (2021)
EAC Rip | FLAC (tracks+log+.cue) - 639 Mb | MP3 CBR 320 kbps - 421 Mb | Covers included | 01:16:14
Classical | Label: HΩme Recordings

Improvisations, free improvisations and medieval music from Codex Faenza (ca 1400) and Conrad Paumann (ca 1409-1473), plaid on Clavicymbalum, Clavicytherium and Clavichordium, all medieval keyboard instruments built by David Boinnard in Lille, France.
Trio Wanderer, Christophe Gaugué & Catherine Montier - Robert Schumann: Complete Piano Trios, Quartet & Quintet (2021)

Trio Wanderer, Christophe Gaugué & Catherine Montier - Robert Schumann: Complete Piano Trios, Quartet & Quintet (2021)
WEB FLAC (tracks) - 651 Mb | MP3 CBR 320 kbps - 352 Mb | Digital booklet | 02:32:52
Classical | Label: harmonia mundi

Constantly shifting from the most impulsive exuberance to the most restrained meditation, from the most intense passion to the most innocent tenderness, this programme forms a representative panorama of Schumann’s chamber music. Going beyond the piano trios, which already give us a fully rounded account of Schumann, Trio Wanderer have invited their favourite partners to join them for their interpretation of two supreme masterpieces - the Piano Quartet and Piano Quintet.
Les Talens Lyriques, Christophe Rousset & Choeur de Chambre de Namur - Lully: Ballet royal de la Naissance de Vénus (2021)

Les Talens Lyriques, Christophe Rousset & Choeur de Chambre de Namur - Lully: Ballet royal de la Naissance de Vénus (2021)
MP3 CBR 320 kbps | Digital booklet | 01:12:10 | 171 Mb
Classical, Opera | Label: Aparté

Written at the request of Louis XIV in honour of his sisterin- law, Henrietta of England, Le Ballet royal de la naissance de Vénus was performed in 1665 with Henrietta herself as the goddess of love and youth. In twelve entrées, this grandiose spectacle, combining dancing, music and poetry, served the power of the king, while attesting to the magnificence of his court. Musically very inventive, it shows the culmination of the ballet genre, on which Lully was to draw in creating the tragédie en musique. To complete the programme, excerpts from Les Amours déguisés (Armida’s famous lament “Ah! Rinaldo, e dove sei?”), Psyché, Le Bourgeois gentil homme and Le Carnaval - from the latter, a piece recycled from Les Noces de village, a burlesque aria sung by the boastful village schoolmaster Barbacola, a basso buffo role that Lully wrote for himself.
Christophe Coin, Christopher Hogwood - Antonio Vivaldi: 6 Cello Sonatas (1989)

Antonio Vivaldi: 6 Cello Sonatas (1989)
Christophe Coin, cello; Christopher Hogwood, harpsichord

EAC | FLAC | Tracks (Cue&Log) ~ 305 Mb | Mp3 (CBR320) ~ 165 Mb | Scans ~ 48 Mb
Classical, Baroque | Label: Decca, L'Oiseau-Lyre | # 421 060-2 | 01:11:50

Nine cello sonatas by Vivaldi have survived. Six of them were published as a set in Paris in about 1740; that set, mistakenly known as the composer's Op. 14, contains the sonatas recorded in this release. The three remaining sonatas come from manuscript collections. All but one of the six works are cast in the slow-fast-slow-fast pattern of movements of the sonata da chiesa. The odd one out, RV46, in fact, retains the four movement sequence but inclines towards the sonata da camera in the use of dance titles. The music of these sonatas is almost consistently interesting, often reaching high points of expressive eloquence, as we find, for example, in the justifiably popular Sonata in E minor, RV40. Christophe Coin brings to life these details in the music with technical assurance and a spirit evidently responsive to its poetic content. Particularly affecting instances of this occur in the third movements of the A minor and the E minor Sonatas where Coin shapes each phrase, lovingly achieving at the same time a beautifully sustained cantabile.
Thélème & Jean-Christophe Groffe - Josquin Desprez: Baisiez moy (2021)

Thélème & Jean-Christophe Groffe - Josquin Desprez: Baisiez moy (2021)
WEB FLAC (tracks) - 247 Mb | MP3 CBR 320 kbps - 145 Mb | Digital booklet | 01:02:34
Classical, Vocal | Label: Aparté

Josquin was one of the greatest composers of his time, the author of sacred and secular music and works for court and city. The ensemble Theleme and Jean-Christophe Groffe offer a bold and original interpretation of some of Josquin's songs. Combining the language of the Renaissance with very different sounds - ondes Martenot, Fender Rhodes piano, Buchla synthesizer - they create a lively and astonishingly fertile dialogue, in keeping with the spirit of the composer. Five hundred years after his death, this album pays tribute to a groundbreaking composer, whose innovations inspire us to this day.
Christophe Coin, The Academy of Ancient Music, Christopher Hogwood - Antonio Vivaldi: 6 Cello Concertos (1989)

Antonio Vivaldi: 6 Cello Concertos (1989)
Christophe Coin, cello; The Academy of Ancient Music; Christopher Hogwood, conductor

EAC | FLAC | Tracks (Cue&Log) ~ 260 Mb | Mp3 (CBR320) ~ 132 Mb | Scans ~ 47 Mb
Classical, Baroque | Label: Decca, L'Oiseau-Lyre | # 421 732-2 | 00:57:32

Following his attractive performance of six of Vivaldi's cello sonatas, Christophe Coin has recorded six of the composer's 24 or so concertos for the instrument. Five of these, Michael Talbot tells us in an interesting accompanying note, probably belong to the 1720s while the sixth, the Concerto in G minor (RV416), is evidently a much earlier work. Coin has chosen, if I may use the expression somewhat out of its usual context, six of the best and plays them with virtuosity and an affecting awareness of their lyrical content. That quality, furthermore, is not confined to slow movements but occurs frequently in solo passages of faster ones, too. It would be difficult to single out any one work among the six for particular praise. My own favourite has long been the happily spirited Concerto in G major (RV413) with which Coin ends his programme. Strongly recommended. (Gramophone Magazine)
Accentus, Christophe Grapperon & Eloïse Bella Kohn - Saint-Saëns - Hahn: À la lumière (2022)

Accentus, Christophe Grapperon & Eloïse Bella Kohn - Saint-Saëns - Hahn: À la lumière (2022)
WEB FLAC (tracks) - 205 Mb | MP3 CBR 320 kbps - 125 Mb | Digital booklet | 00:53:21
Classical, Choral | Label: Alpha Classics, Outhere Music

Ever since its creation more than twenty-five years ago, the Accentus chamber choir has ardently championed the a cappella repertory: under its conductor and founder Laurence Equilbey, it has produced an impressive discography that sets the benchmark in this music. For this new recording, the first for Alpha, she hands over direction of the ensemble to Christophe Grapperon, its associate conductor since 2013: ‘It can never be said often enough: the a cappella repertory is a Holy Grail of vocal music! It is a sensory experience directly accessible to everyone, but demanding and often atypical for the listener.’ Hahn and Saint-Saëns are on the programme of this album in superb choral works combining simplicity and expressive power, some of which have never been recorded before.
Marina Viotti, Les Talens Lyriques & Christophe Rousset - A Tribute to Pauline Viardot (2022)

Marina Viotti, Les Talens Lyriques & Christophe Rousset - A Tribute to Pauline Viardot (2022)
WEB FLAC (tracks) - 363 Mb | MP3 CBR 320 kbps - 182 Mb | Digital booklet | 01:18:08
Classical, Vocal | Label: Aparté

Christophe Rousset and Les Talens Lyriques make a foray into the Romantic repertoire with this tribute to Pauline Viardot, who was not only the most influential singer of the nineteenth century, but also a pedagogue and composer, whose gifts, personality and incomparable aura made her one of the leading figures of French Romanticism. Together the mezzo-soprano Marina Viotti and Christophe Rousset retrace Pauline Viardot’s versatile career and, taking up her great roles, present a musical portrait of a unique performer, who was unanimously acclaimed by the audiences of her time.