Louis vi

The Columbia/RCA live package includes nearly 163 tracks of Pops' most popular songs along with many that are far less familiar; 75 tracks are being released for the first time. The set begins with 20 tracks from Armstrong's1947 concert at New York's Town Hall with his small group dubbed the All Stars: Jack Teagarden on trombone, clarinetist Peanuts Hucko, pianist Dick Cary, bassist Bob Haggart and two alternating drummers, George Wettling and "Big" Sid Catlett. Also included is Armstrong's 1947 Carnegie Hall concert, which sat improperly labeled in RCA's vaults for over half a century and is issued here for the very first time. Some 90 minutes of material was preserved—18 tracks, also featuring Teagarden, Cary and Catlett, but this time with Barney Bigard on clarinet, bassist Arvell Shaw and the vocalist Velma Middleton.

Martini devait connaître la gloire à la Cour de France et une véritable proximité avec les souverains : nommé Surintendant de la Musique du Roi en 1788, il triompha à Paris avec son opéra Sapho et intégra le Conservatoire en 1796 ! C'est alors que lui échut l'honneur de donner à Saint-Denis sa Messe des morts avec grand orchestre, le 21 janvier 1815, à l'occasion de la translation des dépouilles de Louis XVI et Marie-Antoinette dans la Basilique Royale. Ce Requiem spectaculaire pour trois voix solistes, orchestre fourni et choeur semble dater de 1811 et trouve les accents de la musique de l'Empire pour célébrer… la Monarchie ! Hervé Niquet donne à cette oeuvre si symbolique de l'histoire de France et de Versailles une résurrection, remettant Martini sous la lumière des derniers fastes monarchiques.

Considéré comme l’un des plus grands compositeurs du Grand Siècle en France, Louis Marchand nous laisse une musique colorée, très inspirée, et d’une grande audace. Emmanuel Arakélian explore ici quelques-unes de ses plus belles pages, jouées sur deux instruments historiques, l’orgue Isnard (1774) de Saint-Maximin la Sainte-Baume et le clavecin du château d’Assas.

Musical life at the court of Louis XIV was elaborate and spectacular, but what kind of music did the Sun King enjoy on withdrawing from public gaze? This album reveals the intimate sound world inside the private chambers of the grand royal palaces, exploring the depths of human emotion that Baroque art sought to express. The softly expressive combination of traverso, viola da gamba and theorbo was known as the Royal Trio, called upon for such duties as the official retirement-to-bed ceremony. Lullys Chaconne pour le Coucher du Roi provides a fitting close to this rich and fascinating programme.

Armand-Louis Couperin – François Couperin ("le Grand") was his father's cousin – was regarded as one of the finest musicians of his time, and his compositions, though little known today, provide us with precious evidence of the brilliance of the French harpsichord school and the skills of one of its most virtuosic representatives. Sensuous and very original, his Pièces de clavecin are played here by Christophe Rousset on a period instrument by Goujon, now in the Musée de la musique in Paris.

From the great French Couperin family of musicians, two in particular are still known today. Louis Couperin had a fleeting existence that passed through the 17th century like a shooting star He died in 1661 at the age of only 35.

Two Te Deums go head to head! The famous one by Marc-Antoine Charpentier and a completely new one by Henry Desmarets. Charpentier and Desmarets, remarkable composers of both sacred music and opera, shared a taste for Italian music and travel, but they also shared the disadvantage of having spent some time in Jean-Baptiste Lully's 'shadow'! Desmarets' life was somewhat tormented, between disgrace and exile; it was while he was superintendent of music at the Court of Lorraine that he composed two Te Deums, including the Te Deum "de Lyon". Written for the same ensemble as Charpentier's famous Te Deum, it uses trumpets and timpani for the grandiloquent sections. It is a true work of craftsmanship, notably in the variety of instrumentation, but also in its alternation of different vocal forces.

Un roman historique captivant qui traverse un siècle rythmé par la loi du talion, l'inceste, les batailles, et nous dévoile les destins de celles et ceux qui vont forger la France d'aujourd'hui.