My Pas de Printemps Pour Marnie

The successful film Tous les matins du monde had the undisputed merit of bringing the world’s attention to the figure of Monsieur de Sainte-Colombe and to the viola da gamba in general, since Sainte-Colombe provided substantial contributions to the repertoire of this instrument. Still, the film’s plot was explicitly (and fully legitimately) grounded on a fictional work, a novel telling the history of Sainte-Colombe with references to what was, by then, known about him. Fortunately, a virtuous circle was ignited by the film, prompting new and meticulous research on his figure and effectively bringing to light some hard facts about his life.

The Orchestre de la Suisse Romande is a Swiss symphony orchestra, based in Geneva at the Victoria Hall. In addition to symphony concerts, the OSR performs as the opera orchestra in productions at the Grand Théâtre de Genève.

Maestro Yan Pascal Tortelier celebrates his twenty five-year recording career and seventy-album discography on Chandos with this album of three of Roussel's most remarkable compositions. It follows a highly praised Birmingham concert with the same forces, namely the exceptional BBCPO and CBSO Chorus, and three revelatory soloists: Kathryn Rudge, 2017 BBC New Generation Artist, the young tenor Alessandro Fisher, joint first prize winner at the 2016 Kathleen Ferrier Awards, and François Le Roux, famous for his award-winning performances of French operas.

Copenhagen-based early music ensemble Camerata Øresund takes a musical voyage throughout baroque Europe on their debut recording Pas de bourrée . Suites of dances by Campra, Roman and Purcell alternate with concertos by Bach and Vivaldi and a programme work by Telemann. A theme of travel and journeying unites these pieces. Camerata Øresund cannot keep their feet still even in the most virtuoso of concertos. They dance an energetic "pas de bourrée" to the Allegro of Bach's Harpsichord Concerto, whilst the slow movement from Vivaldi's L’estro armonico is transformed into a hypnotic Sarabande. Pas de bourrée is a colourful kaleidoscope of moods, emotions, characters and stories. Camerata Øresund remains true to their promise that everything they touch will turn into a dance.

L'heure espagnole is a French one-act opera from 1911, described as a comédie musicale, with music by Maurice Ravel to a French libretto by Franc-Nohain, based on Franc-Nohain's 1904 play ('comédie-bouffe') of the same name. The opera, set in Spain in the 18th century, is about a clockmaker whose unfaithful wife attempts to make love to several different men while he is away, leading to them hiding in, and eventually getting stuck in, her husband's clocks. The title can be translated literally as "The Spanish Hour", but the word "heure" also means "time" – "Spanish Time", with the connotation "How They Keep Time in Spain".