Heaven Glittering Saint Princess

Over a remarkably long and illustrious career, Camille Saint-Saëns thrilled audiences around the world as a pianist and organist, shaped the course of musical life in France, and enriched a multitude of genres with some 600 works, all bearing witness to the mastery of his craft. Setting his best-known compositions in their dazzlingly diverse context, this edition invites exploration and discovery. It spans more than a century of recording history, encompassing a host of great instrumentalists, singers, conductors and orchestras, many of them from France. Setting the pace, in performances from as early as 1904, is the composer himself.

After the last album was released 13 years ago, DARK PRINCESS manifested themselves back to life with a few singles piece by piece equal to a “Phoenix”, and now complete the rebirth in the form of the new album, which bears the name of the fire bird. The broad vocal repertoire of Olga Trifonova inspires without limits. With her strong character mezzo-soprano the Russian outshines many of the 0815-voices of Symphonic and Gothic Metal and stays in the memory with that certain extra. Great cinema. Or glamorous opera. With Metal. The title track is a perfect introduction to “Phoenix”. DARK PRINCESS remains lyrically true to the theme of firebird, freedom and not giving up, which finally culminates in a spiritual way in a self-confident rebirth.

It's worth noting that all the music on this CD has been reissued on a budget priced two CD set of music by Gershwin, Porter, and Kern. The recording time on this CD is a little over 40 minutes, rather short measure. Nevertheless, what is here is enchanting. These were some of the earliest recordings of the original orchestrations of these Gershwin pieces. I have LPs of the later orchestrations of some of the overtures with Arthur Fiedler and Erich Kunzel, but McGlinn's CD is far superior in musical content. As for the performances, they are scintillating. The orchestra, filled with brilliant soloists, plays magnificently–with excitement and idiomatically.

The laus perennis that the monks every day in their psalmody offer to the Lord, is adorned with hymns, antiphons and responsories; all chants drawn from the ancient gregorian repertory. With this daily practice and custom, the monks become almost the only custodians and specialists of this patrimony of the highest religious, cultural and artistic merit that is gregorian chant. The monks of Montecassino – always faithful cultivators of this venerable chant, proper to the lit- urgy of the Church – with the present CD want to make these melodies, which are an elevated form of prayer, resound also outside of the monastery walls. The recording was completed at the Tomb of St. Benedict and is intended as an affectionate hymn of sons towards their father and master: in fact, a good part of the liturgy of the Solemnity of St.Benedict of the traditional date of March 21 was performed.