Emilie Simon La Marche De L'empereur

In the third of the four songs of Don Quixote by Alexandre Arnoux and Jacques Ibert, Dulcinea is sung of as "La Dame de mes songes" (The lady of my dreams).

Michel Corboz besuchte zuerst in Freiburg (Schweiz) das Lehrerseminar bei Pierre Kaelin und studierte dann am dortigen Konservatorium KF Gesang bei Juliette Bise und Musiktheorie bei Aloÿs Fornerod sowie am Institut Ribaupierre in Lausanne Komposition bei Pierre Chatton.

The CATHEDRALIS label releases its second disc, an album dedicated to the historic organs housed in the Cathedral of Salamanca, two of them located in the Old Cathedral and the other two in the New Cathedral. It is an album integral to the history of these instruments, not only because it is the first to include sound recordings of all four organs on the same disc, but also because of the detailed information about them contained in the booklet. The booklet features detailed registrations of each of the pieces, the dispositions of each organ, and texts introducing the history and particularities of each instrument.

The harmonia mundi label, once well known for specializing in the French Baroque repertoire, makes a welcome and triumphant return to this treasure trove of musical delights. For their first release on harmonia mundi, Sébastien Daucé and the Ensemble Correspondances present a sumptuous interpretation of the six-voice motets composed by Marc-Antoine Charpentier for the House of Guise.

Born in what is now the Netherlands in approximately 1440, Franco-Flemish composer Johannes Martini was one of the most exciting and in-demand cultural figures of his age. Alas, he is almost entirely unknown today, yet decades before Josquin Des Prez was the toast of Italy, Martini spent much of his career there, and he was handsomely rewarded for the innovative music he wrote for the ducal court of Ferrara.

Charles Péguy and Julien Joubert have at least two things in common – they were both born in Orléans (separated by exactly a century) and both of them have a special relationship with the figure of Joan of Arc. At the age of 24, Julien Joubert read Jeanne d'Arc, a play written in 1897 by Charles Péguy – also aged 24 – who had just gained his teaching diploma. Péguy’s drama awakened in Julien Joubert the strong desire to compose. His first idea was to set it as a musical comedy, a crazy notion that he soon abandoned.

France, 1615: Louis XIII marries Anne of Austria, Infanta of Spain. The new queen arrives at the French court accompanied by her Spanish courtiers; French composers are inspired by the Spanish vogue and write airs de cour in this new language.

Acadian soprano Suzie LeBlanc chose traditional songs that range from the serious to the comical and arranged them in collaboration with Bergeron, Lauzer, and Nadeau-Tremblay. “My interest in traditional Acadian songs began some twenty years ago, and I have since recorded three albums of this repertoire with ATMA Classique”, says LeBlanc. “The majority of these songs come from France. But songs, just like peoples, are nomadic: they have no borders!” “The common airs de cour may have crossed the Atlantic stowed in the baggage of musicians and noblemen” says LeBlanc. “The French nobility who settled in Quebec in the 17th century wanted to reproduce the glories of Versailles, and some of these airs could have reached the shores of Shippagan”.