French band formed in 1968 by former Pingouins lead singer Jacques Mercier. In the early 1970s they released two eponymous albums covering a wide variety of psych, prog, blues-rock and experimental styles, and also had some success with few pop singles…
Coupling powerful interpretations with path-breaking scholarship, the choir Contrapunctus presents music by the best-known composers as well as unfamiliar masterpieces. Directed by Owen Rees, a specialist in music of the 16th and 17 centuries, the group presents imaginative programmes revealing previously undiscovered musical treasures and throwing new light on familiar works.
This Collector's Edition presents a challenge to reviewers. There's so much of it. I could never do it any sort of justice if I approached this as if reviewing a smaller set. This, after all, comprises 37 CDs. As it is all I have been able to do is to sample, reminisce about known recordings and write around the subject. With this caveat stated, let's make a start.
There are three principal strands of Britten recordings. These are broadly tied into and defined by record companies, artists and eras. First we have Britten recording Britten for Decca.
This CD contains a program devoted entirely to the figure of John Brudieu (Limoges, 1520? - La Seu d´Urgell 1591), one of the masters of Renaissance Europe and one of the most famous composers of the Catalonian countries. He was master of La Seu d´Urgell, where a Mass was conserved defunctorum cum Quator vocibus. That is a Requiem Mass for 4 voices, accompanied by two more songs. The three works can be framed in the ordinary of the mass for the dead: an input, a communion and one output. Thus establishing a synergy between the works and liturgical texts (in latin) to be modified by madrigals (in catalan). The group Exaudi We offer a quality recreation and beauty along with extraordinary career in Columna Musica.
Adiós Nonino (Farewell, Granddaddy in Rioplatense Spanish) is a composition by tango Argentine composer Ástor Piazzolla, written in October 1959 while in New York, in memory of his father, Vicente "Nonino" Piazzolla, a few days after his father's death. The piece was based on Piazzolla's earlier tango Nonino, composed in Paris in 1954, of which he kept the rhythmic part and re-arranged the rest with some additions. It would prove to be one of Piazzolla's most well-known and popular compositions, and has been recorded many times with many different arrangements and with various instruments.
Founded in 1906, Les Petits Chanteurs à la Croix des Bois (Little Singers of the Wooden Cross) are renowned as one of the world's most established children's choirs. Founded by Paul Berthier and Pierre Martin, two students on vacation at l'Abbeye de Tamie, the Paris-based traveling choir broke tradition with its lack of affiliation to a particular parish or cathedral. Directed by Father Fernand Maillet, they soon developed an international presence thanks to performances at the Vatican and an appearance in the 1945 film La Cage aux Rossignols, and continued to remain active throughout the 20th century, with singer/songwriter Matthieu Chédid, Les Prêtres' Charles Troesch, and Olympic rowing champion Adrien Hardy among some of their famous former members. By its centenary year, which was celebrated by a France2 show featuring duets with the likes of Tina Arena, Lara Fabian, and Nolwenn Leroy, the choir school had developed into a full-time educational institution, combining regular studies with a global touring schedule.