Madiran And Pacherenc du Vic Bilh

Sing to emancipate the African woman. A unique encounter between the Bantu lullabies of the Congo, electronic music and hip-hop. A hybrid project which gives pride of place to dance and which highlights the daily life of Congolese women in a daring way and above all connected with the times. Gladys Samba, renowned singer and percussionist, had for years wanted to revive and popularize the lullabies of the Republic of Congo, considered as a true cultural heritage of his region. In 2018, with the help of the Institut Francais du Congo, she succeeded in doing this with the show "Les Mamans du Congo". Forks, plates, baskets, pestles and recovery equipment accompany with rhythm and subtlety the voices of the five mothers of the Congo. For his part in France, the artist Rrobin has been exploring electronic music and hip-hop since 2013.

The gorgeous early music releases of France's Alpha label, each illustrated with a relevant painting along with discussion of both the music and the artwork, offer a splendid introduction to the culture of the ancien régime. The discussions get down to the kind of depth that academics traffic in, yet the performances are by and large sensuous ones entrusted to some of France's best historical-instrument ensembles.

When Richard Wagner failed to have his one-act version of Der fliegende Holländer staged at the Paris Opera, the cash-strapped composer sold a synopsis of the plot, written in broken French. This was fashioned into a proper libretto, which was then set to music by Pierre-Louis Dietsch, who enjoyed 11 performances of Le Vasseau fantôme before it was pulled from the repertoire in 1843. Ironically, Wagner's success with Der fliegende Holländer in Dresden happened shortly after that, and the expanded three-act version has remained an essential part of Wagner's canon.

This is an untouchably great performance of one of Handel's most interesting oratorios: its examination of jealousy is on a par with what can be found in Otello and Pelléas. There's drama galore–in fact, during its first run it was referred to as a "musical drama" (rather than an oratorio), and Handel and his librettist, Thomas Broughton, always referred to its "acts" rather than "parts", as sections of oratorios were commonly known.

Les Pages and les Chantres celebrate 20 years of the teaching and musical direction of Olivier Schneebeli. He has brought together children's and adult voices in new ways to celebrate the traditions of the Royal Chapel of Versailles, a vital component in the French repertoire of the 17th and 18th centuries. This exceptional box invites the listener on a journey through the masterpieces of sacred composers from the reign of Henry IV and highlights the birth of the musical genre emblematic of the Chapel Royal: the grand motet.

Marc Minkowski and Les Musiciens du Louvre return to Handel with a complete recording of his opera Alcina. The title role is interpreted by Magdalena Kožená, who reunites with Les Musiciens and maestro Minkowski after a series of acclaimed baroque recordings.She is joined by an excellent cast of soloists, consisting of Erin Morley (Morgana), Anna Bonitatibus (Ruggiero), Elizabeth De Shong (Bradamante), Alois Mühlbacher (Oberto), Valerio Contaldo (Oronte) and Alex Rosen (Melisso).This studio recording transports the listener to Alcina’s enchanted island, and shows Handel at the peak of his power: the score is dramatic, lush and colourful as well as introspective and profound where the story requires it.

Very obscure and unknown, strictly short-lived and super rare to spot, but worth mentioning in the end, Plat du Jour mark a dot on the French eclectic Prog map, somewhere near Rouen apparently, during the year 1977. Their self-titled LP was released under the label Speedball, five compositions (or six, depending on how the first two-part epic is regarded) lasting around 35 minutes. The music can be placed either in jazz-rock, either in avant-prog, but with those two essences clustering and a bit of extra fuzzy psychedelism, cold bass Zeuhl and straight progressive rock being heard, it's wiser to take in account all the nuances.