Mouvements Un Drame Musical Instantane

The four works that this album brings together are among the most beautiful of the French repertoire for violin. In the last decades of the 19th century, a new kind of music emerged in France that revisited French culture and tradition. For until then, the German classics and romantics had dominated the concert halls of France. Works by French composers were rarely performed. Saint-Saëns recalled in retrospect, "It was not long ago […] when […] the name of a French composer, a living one at that, was enough to scare the whole world away." The lost Franco-Prussian War of 1870 was the impetus for a new orientation. Now the "Grande Nation" had to prove itself anew and find a new self-image. People looked back to their own traditions and wanted to revive French music. To this end, several composers founded the "Société nationale de musique". Among the founding members were Camille Saint-Saëns, César Franck and Gabriel Fauré. Under the motto "Ars gallica," this society was to promote and disseminate French music. It was to be music that combined German profundity with French charm and esprit.

Suite Of Time, publié sur le label Stunt, distribué par Una Volta Music, consiste en 4 mouvements, un prélude, un sacrement et un postlude inspirés par un texte de l'historien Henrik Jensen retraçant les différentes périodes historiques que l'église a traversées. Ainsi seront évoquées musicalement les années 1945, 1967, 1989 et 2001 et après - moments charnières de l'époque dans laquelle nous vivons - et sur lesquelles se tournent les regards d'Ulrik et de ses musiciens.

Oxmo Puccino's 1998 debut, Opéra Puccino, was produced almost entirely by DJ Mars, who evidently gleans inspiration from Pete Rock and DJ Premier. His alternately sensitive and rugged beats are a fitting backdrop for the French-language MC’s low-profile yet tense flow. “Mensongeur” is a surprising dancefloor diversion, where Puccino is pitched somewhere between Notorious B.I.G. and Mase.

Studio Album and Live Album recorded with National Orchestra of Bretagne conducted by Zahia Ziaouni.

Studio Album and Live Album recorded with National Orchestra of Bretagne conducted by Zahia Ziaouni.

Au moment de cet enregistrement, au début des années quatre-vingt, Sir Georg Solti était encore tout auréolé du prestige d'une précédente interprétation du Bal masqué réalisée en 33 tours. Plus encore que dans la première mouture, le chef d'origine hongroise exacerbe ici la violence du drame, poussant tous les personnages vers leur destin, dans un souffle épique d'une rare intensité. Une distribution quasiment idéale fait face au chef : un Pavarotti de la grande époque, un Bruson idiomatique et une Christa Ludwig d'une ardeur insoupçonnée.