Lalo Schifrin:the Legendary Paris Concert

Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater has enjoyed enormous fame ever since the eighteenth century – Rousseau called its first movement ‘the most perfect and touching that has ever come from the pen of any composer’. There were many arrangements of the work, by Bach or Hiller among others. It was performed more than eighty times at the Concert Spirituel in Paris between 1753 and 1790, in multiple versions, probably also with the participation of a choir. After consulting several manuscripts and editions held at the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Julien Chauvin has chosen to record it with soprano and mezzo soloists (the equivalent of the French dessus and bas-dessus) and a two-part children’s choir: ‘The choir can play a real role in the narration of so powerful and poignant a text’, he says.

Sandrine Piau and Véronique Gens have a longstanding rapport and dreamed of making a recording together. Here they pay tribute to two singers who, like them, were born within a year of each other, Mme Dugazon (1755-1821) and Mme Saint-Huberty (1756-1812): both enjoyed triumphant careers in Paris, inspiring numerous librettists and composers. Gluck even nicknamed Saint-Huberty ‘Madamela- Ressource’, while ‘a Dugazon’ became a generic name for the roles of naïve girls in love, and later of comical mothers. Rivals? They very likely were, given the quarrelsome spirit of the operatic world of the time, even if they never crossed paths on stage.

The history of film music would be different without John Williams. Cinema classics like Star Wars, Indiana Jones and Harry Potter are inextricably linked with his musical style. His soundtracks captivate listeners with thrilling, moving themes and a tremendous range of atmospheres and sounds. John Williams conducts the greatest orchestra in the world; a once in a lifetime recording celebrating the legendary composer’s 90th birthday. Featuring completely new arrangements and repertoire all recorded in breath-taking Dolby Atmos sound.

Like music lovers the world over, John Nelson believes Johann Sebastian Bach’s Mass in B Minor is a pinnacle of Western music. For years, he has cherished the dream of performing this masterwork in the Cathedral of Notre-Dame in Paris with the Ensemble Orchestral de Paris whose renown has grown constantly since he began conducting with them eight years ago. In addition to John Nelson and his Ensemble Orchestral de Paris, the Mass in B minor brings together the Maîtrise de Notre-Dame choir conducted by Nicole Corti as well as internationally recognized soloists Ruth Ziesak (soprano), Joyce DiDonato (mezzo), Daniel Taylor (alto), Paul Agnew (tenor) and Dietrich Henschel (baritone).

Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater has enjoyed enormous fame ever since the eighteenth century – Rousseau called its first movement ‘the most perfect and touching that has ever come from the pen of any composer’. There were many arrangements of the work, by Bach or Hiller among others. It was performed more than eighty times at the Concert Spirituel in Paris between 1753 and 1790, in multiple versions, probably also with the participation of a choir. After consulting several manuscripts and editions held at the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Julien Chauvin has chosen to record it with soprano and mezzo soloists (the equivalent of the French dessus and bas-dessus) and a two-part children’s choir: ‘The choir can play a real role in the narration of so powerful and poignant a text’, he says.

Klaus Mäkelä’s second album with the Orchestre de Paris from the series celebrating Ballets Russes scores. His previous two albums have achieved a plethora of 5* reviews and incredible physical and streaming success - over 16M streams and €400k revenue combined. His upcoming international concert dates and US Tour start on 14th March 2024, including Klaus' debut at Carnegie Hall on 16th March. This is Orchestre de Paris' first Carnegie Hall appearance in over 20 years. The programme includes Stravinsky's “Le sacre du printemps” and “L’Oiseau de feu”.

Klaus Mäkelä’s second album with the Orchestre de Paris from the series celebrating Ballets Russes scores. His previous two albums have achieved a plethora of 5* reviews and incredible physical and streaming success - over 16M streams and €400k revenue combined. His upcoming international concert dates and US Tour start on 14th March 2024, including Klaus' debut at Carnegie Hall on 16th March. This is Orchestre de Paris' first Carnegie Hall appearance in over 20 years. The programme includes Stravinsky's “Le sacre du printemps” and “L’Oiseau de feu”.

"Haydn’s 104 symphonies are all fantastic, original, full of incredible fantasy, and careful work brings out the true radicalism of this writing," explained Douglas Boyd, a formidable pioneer. Commissioned in 1785 by the Count of Ogny for the prestigious Concert of the Parisian Olympic Lodge, Symphony n° 87 is one of six so-called “Parisian” symphonies that Haydn composed far from Paris, in the Hungarian Palace of Esterháza (which however is proud of a sumptuous French garden). It was there too that he composed Il Mondo della Luna, an opera-bouffe inspired by Goldoni. Later, the Symphonie concertante belongs to the master's London period and will be celebrated by a dazzled critic from its premiere across the Channel.

Les Vêpres Siciliennes is one of Verdi’s misunderstood operas. It is usually presented to audiences today as I vespri Siciliani - that is, in a clumsy and pedestrian Italian translation and as such gives a false representation of Verdi’s original concept. This opera was composed for the Paris Opera to a libretto by Eugene Scribe, one of the greatest poets of the day and Charles Duveyrier. Verdi embraces the French idiom – the musical forms, the orchestration, the vocal writing – with the same grandeur and sense of occasion as Rossini and Meyerbeer before him. Certainly to give an opera in translation is no crime but to continually deprive the public of this particularly beautiful marriage of text and music is close to criminal. This is the third in the Verdi Originals series and this BBC recording of the opera finally restores the original French libretto.