Mon Pire Cauchemar [2011]

Quand Kalys est au « Betty Oups ! », elle essaie toujours de faire en sorte d’éblouir son public, d’être au top du top pour attirer les hommes à elle. …

Elle le veut. Elle n'en a pas le droit. Elle fera tout pour l'avoir. Clément est discret, posé, il jongle entre ses études de médecine et ses amis. Sa vie se retrouve chamboulée quand la nouvelle compagne de son père emménage chez lui, accompagnée de sa fille. Capucine est son exact opposé : charmeuse, pleine vie, elle aime attirer l'attention sur elle. Au premier regard, elle le désire. Malheureusement, le jeune homme ne semble pas réceptif et surtout pas prêt à braver l'interdit. Mais la jeune femme n'a pas l'habitude d'essuyer des refus – notamment des hommes. …

En arrivant à Paname, les Allemands s'étaient rendu compte qu'une menace plus dangereuse qu'eux sévissait déjà. Alors, en accord avec leurs autorités, ils laissèrent ma famille, les Renoir, continuer leurs petites affaires.
Je vais vous dire : cela aurait été plus simple si j'avais dû zigouiller des rongeurs et encore…

Camille Saint-Saëns and the Prix de Rome… surely a strange bringing together of ideas, given that the composer never gained that coveted award and consequently never took up residence in the famous Villa Medici? All the same, Saint-Saëns entered the competition on two separate occasions and, peculiarly in the history of the competition, twelve years apart: firstly in 1852 and then in 1864. On the first occasion he was still an adolescent, devoted to worshipping the memory of the great Mendelssohn; behind him, by the time of the second occasion, were already a number of his masterpieces later to be confirmed by posterity – and he had become acquainted with Verdi and had also discovered Wagner.

Hippolyte et Aricie was Rameau's first surviving lyric tragedy and is perhaps his most durable, though you wouldn't know it from the decades we had to wait for a modern recording. Now there are two: this one, conducted by Marc Minkowski, and William Christie's version on Erato. Choosing between the two is tough. Minkowski uses a smaller and probably more authentic orchestra, and with the resulting leaner sound, the performance has more of a quicksilver quality accentuated by Minkowski's penchant for swift tempos. His cast is excellent. The central lovers in the title are beautifully sung by two truly French voices, soprano Véronique Gens and especially the light, slightly nasal tenor of Jean-Paul Fourchécourt. In the pivotal role of the jealous Phèdre, Bernarda Fink is perfectly good but not in the exalted league of Christie's Lorraine Hunt. So there's no clear front-runner, but anyone interested in French Baroque opera must have at least one.