Richard Leech has sung his Raoul to enthusiastic audiences in Berlin and elsewhere, and it is good to hear a voice which has such a clean ring to it, evenly produced and tastefully directed (even if not invariably observing Meyerbeer's detailed instructions). The Valentine is Francoise Pollet, an exceptional singer (especially among the French) in the sympathetic roundness of her tone, exactly right for a good nine-tenths of the role (the remaining fraction calling for more rejoicing on the high Cs). As Nevers, the excellent Gilles Cachemaille gives a courtly, well-schooled performance. –Gramophone
Amongst several contemporaries of Scarlatti who devoted themselves to the solo cantata, one of the most prolific was influential globetrotter Giovanni Bononcini, who wrote up to 283. During the first quarter of the 18th century, Bononcini's cantatas represented the principal trend of this genre. In these works, a fluent and effective technique is combined with a real gift for the composition of melodies. These lamenti are the central element of Bononcini's dramatic works; his genius is perfectly adapted to tender and pathetic emotions. Another important aspect of his music is the magnificent use of the text. In 1789, Charles Burney called Bononcini "the most prolific cantatas composer" and claimed that Bononcini's recitatives were universally perceived as the best of their time. Now, Cyril Auvity and his ensemble L'Yriade offer an enthusiastic and totally committed interpretation of some of Bononcini's cantatas, revealing the extreme force of those magical works.
The surviving musical edition of Dutch Golden Age “Renaissance Man”, Constantijn Huygens receives a fresh new recording – issued on Glossa – from a singer who has become a connoisseur of vocal music from the seventeenth century: Cyril Auvity.
In the early years of the twentieth century, composer Cyril Scott was briefly heralded as one of the brightest hopes for English music, but after the First World War, as public tastes shifted, his work fell out of favor with audiences, and it was only toward the end of the twentieth century that a critical reappraisal began. His music, which was admired by Debussy, Elgar, and Strauss, is being played with greater frequency and is finding new listeners. The pieces presented here, his two piano concertos and Early One Morning, a tone poem for piano and orchestra, were recorded in 1975 and 1977 by pianist John Ogdon with Bernard Herrmann conducting the London Philharmonic.
German band Cyril was formed in 2010 following the demise of mainstream rock band Gabria. Denis Strassburg (bass), Ralf Dietsch (guitars), Marek Arnold (keyboards) and Clemens Litschko (drums) had been members of that band, and joined by Larry B. (vocals) they formed this new band. Cyril released their debut album "Gone Through Years" in the spring of 2013 through German label Progressive Promotion Records. Released at PPR again, “Paralyzed” shows the core skills of the band – melodic prog / rock songs with an eye on real songwriting and arrangements, that will guide you into an own athmosphere.
This is an attractive programme of comparatively rare vocal repertoire. Airs de cour by Charpentier (including verses from Corneille’s Le Cid) and Lambert are interpersed with instrumental movements from Couperin’s Les Nations. Cyril Auvity is an experienced advocate of the haute-contre repertoire and draws on all that experience to engage fully with the texts of these miniature dramas. His tone in the higher register can verge on the harsh, though this is a rare event.