Metz I.o.u.

Michel Plasson is one of the most important French conductors from the later twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. He is well known for his interpretations of French opera, particularly those of Gounod and Massenet. He has also received praise for his work in the choral music of Duruflé and Fauré, and the orchestral works of Magnard, Ravel, and other French composers.

Dans l'histoire de l'enregistrement, le pianiste Richter est bien celui dont les éditions témoignent de la plus hallucinante autant que pléthorique foutraquerie, mâtinée de beaucoup de redondances sur fond d'éditions pirates et officieuses. C'est la vraie tour de Babel de l'édition musicale, et Brueghel l'Ancien n'a plus qu'à aller se rhabiller de son manteau de probité. Je renonce donc ici (ce réveillon de fin d'année m'a tué) à recenser ma discothèque personnelle (quelque 15 000 disques…) pour discerner si, dans l'ordre ou dans le désordre, ce qu'on trouve sur ce CD nous est donné pour la première fois, ou si c'est là doublon partiel ou intégral, voire la trois virgule quatorze cent seizième version du même par les mêmes.

There is nothing surprising in the fact that Amandine Beyer and her ensemble Gli Incogniti should tackle Arcangelo Corelli's Concerti Grossi, Op. 6. Indeed, the 12 concerti making up this opus represent a form of apogee of this musical genre in the Baroque era and, at the same time, testimony to the great Italian composer's exceptional talent as a violinist and conductor.

Dresden’s image as the fosterer of a musical golden age during the 18th century is assured, today more than ever, thanks to the almost perfect preservation of the music of that period. So far as the 17th century is concerned, however, the picture is much bleaker: the bombardment of the town by Friedrich II of Brandenburg- Prussia (during the Seven Years’ War in 1760), destroyed not only the residence of Johann Adolf Hasse (whom Friedrich admired passionately), along with the engravings for the planned complete edition of his works by the Leipzig publisher Breitkopf, but also the archive in which a selection of the music of the court chapel was stored.