Made in Paris (2006) Pascal Bonitzer, Edouard Baer, Géraldine Pailhas, Marina de Van

At the dawn of a new century when André Campra was busy writing his Carnaval de Venise (1699), was the composer aware that he would be passing onto the Académie Royale de Musique a fabulous and legendary work that would remain without successors? And whilst the court of the ageing Louis XIV was endeavouring to conserve the spirit of the Grand Siècle at Versailles, Paris was already humming with the new ideas of the Age of Enlightenment.

As everybody knows, Paris Hilton is famous simply for existing. Even before she was a household name the heiress to the Hilton hotel fortune was famous in certain circles, partially because of her pedigree, partially because she was at every exclusive party, partially because of her very name, an instantly memorable and malleable moniker that spawned T-shirts ("Paris Hilton Is Burning") and gossip websites alike. All this hipster activity was bound to spill over into the mainstream and it did in a spectacular fashion in 2003 when she and Nicole Richie – her best friend for life circa 2003 – starred in the reality series The Simple Life, which saw the two pampered socialites attempting to fit into the real world of Wal-Marts and roadhouse saloons.

Mireille Mathieu is a French singer. She has recorded over 1200 songs in eleven languages, with more than 150 million albums sold worldwide.

This doble CD contains the opera Ifigenia in Aulide by Vicente Martín y Soler (1754-1806), a Spanish opera composer whose European recognition rivalled that of Mozart —in 2004 the 250th anniversary of Mozart’s birthday was celebrated. The libretto is based on a classical tragedy named after the Greek heroine Ifigenia. The action takes place in Troya in 1100 B.C. and among the characters are Ifigenia, Aquiles, Agamenón, Ulises, and Arcadia. The author of the libretto was Luigi Serio. This opera had not been represented since its premiere at San Carlo theatre in Naples in 1779. Its premier in Úbeda-Baeza was an important landmark in the first years of the Festival, due to the complexity of the production and the excellent artistic results.

‘Judith triumphant over the barbarians of Holofernes’ is the only survivor of the four oratorios that Vivaldi is known to have composed. The work was commissioned to celebrate the victory of the Republic of Venice over the Turks during the siege of Corfu. All characters, male and female, are interpreted by women (originally the singers of the Ospedale della Pietà in Venice). Although the rest of the oratorio survives completely intact, the overture has been lost and Jordi Savall has selected two existing concertos as introduction, of which the key, mode and no doubt date of composition coincide most closely with the subject of the oratorio.

This 7CD set is the fruit of the love affair that developed in Paris between Leonard Bernstein and the Orchestre National de France in the 1970s. Beside long-admired studio recordings, featuring Mstislav Rostropovich and Alexis Weissenberg among the soloists, it presents live performances completely new to the catalogue: a 1975 programme to celebrate Ravel’s centenary – with Bernstein himself as soloist in the G major piano concerto – and orchestral suites taken from two of Bernstein’s most celebrated and brilliant works, both infused with jazz: the film score On the Waterfront and the landmark Broadway musical West Side Story. 25th August 2018 marks the centenary of the birth of American conductor and composer Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990). He was one of the most celebrated and charismatic musicians of his time, an artist who transcended conventional boundaries between genres.

Michel de Villers made the beautiful evenings of La Rose Rouge before attending the Trois Mailletz with his accomplices Guy Lafitte and André Persiani. Attached to the swing, the saxophonist worked to demonstrate that good music and entertainment were perfectly reconcilable. A point of view shared by Boris Vian, artistic director of Philips discs. His clientele demanding dance records, Boris supervised the recordings. Entrusted to Villers, arranged by Persiani, these big band faces from 1958 and 1959 - we ignore the staff - instrumental adaptations of fashionable themes, still retain all their charm. In 1961, Jean-Christophe Averty produced a Claude Bolling Special Show for television. The show featured the pianist's nonette, a medium formation that sounded like great. In the absence of images, the music testifies to it.

Un homme d'affaires est retrouvé sauvagement assassiné chez lui, l'oreille arrachée. Un tableau lui a également été dérobé, apparemment peint par Van Gogh et Gauguin alors qu'ils vivaient ensemble à Arles. Leur cohabitation s'était mal terminée et Van Gogh, resté seul, s'était tranché l'oreille. Saisi de l'enquête, le commandant Vicaux se demande si les deux événements sont liés. …

Mary Lou Williams spent a fair amount of time in Europe in the early '50s, prior to a temporary hiatus from jazz. This CD from Verve's Jazz in Paris series compiles two separate sessions from 1954; one features a trio, a quintet, and a pair of vocals by blues singer Beryl Bryden, and the other is purely a trio. All of the selections are fairly brief, with only one running over three-and-a-half minutes. The first 11 songs are a bit of a mixed bag. The strongest tracks feature Williams alone ("I Made You Love Paris" and her "Club Francais Blues") or with her trio ("Avalon," "Swingin' for the Guys," and "Memories of You"). Weaker are the four tracks with trumpeter Nelson Williams and tenor saxophonist Ray Lawrence, who aren't up to the playing level of horn players who typically worked with the pianist, though bassist Buddy Banks somewhat makes up for their shortcomings by contributing an enjoyable original ("Leg'n Lou") and a strong solo…