Offenbach: Les Contes D'hoffmann

Soprano Jodie Devos, who has signed with Alpha for several recordings, here pays homage to Offenbach, whose bicentenary of his birth is celebrated in 2019. This programme shows Offenbach’s fascination with the vocal fireworks of coloratura divas. This kind of ‘lyric coloratura’ or ‘soprano leggero’ voice runs like a thread through most of the composer’s oeuvre, from his first pieces for two or three soloists to those grand frescoes of his maturity, La Vie parisienne, Robinson Crusoé, and Orphée aux Enfers.

He was born in Cologne, but it was in Paris that Jacques Offenbach achieved fame. A special feature of this 30-CD collection are star-studded recordings in both French and German of his most celebrated operettas – works that overflow with joie de vivre and satirical wit – and of Les Contes d’Hoffmann, an opera that daringly fuses fantasy, comedy and tragedy. It also includes irresistibly stylish performances of such tempting rarities as Les Brigands, Pomme d’Api, Monsieur Choufleuri and Mesdames de la Halle.

On 20 June 1819, 200 years ago, the famous composer Jaques Offenbach was born in Cologne as "Jakob" Offenbach. The young cellist Raphaela Gromes, who already received excellent reviews and even celebrated chart successes with her first two albums for Sony Classical, has come up with a very special Offenbach album for the anniversary, having already presented Offenbach's "Hommage à Rossini" in a highly praised premiere recording on her last Rossini album. For, before Offenbach was acclaimed in musical theatre, he himself had a great career as a cellist and was even celebrated throughout Europe as the "Liszt of the cello"

For her debut album on the yellow label Camille has chosen music full of youthful invention – uplifting and positive. She brings her own sensitive interpretation to the French Romantic works for cello and orchestra by Saint-Saëns and Offenbach, including the former’s First Cello Concerto, a masterpiece of its genre, and a delightful excerpt from the latter’s Harmonies des bois “Les Larmes de Jacqueline”. The album was recorded with the Orchestre National de Lille and Alexandre Bloch, and also includes guest appearances by tenor Rolando Villazón and violinist Nemanja Radulović.

The highlight of the inaugural week of Jean Nouval's new opera house in Lyon was the premiere of "Tales of Hoffmann." Inspired by Offenbach's "Les Contes d'Hoffmann" and freely based on the performing edition by leading American musicologist Michael Kaye, this production is far removed from its familiar settings. Hoffmann–poet, musician and philosopher–finds himself trapped in some kind of infernal huis clos, surrounded by mutant incarnations of the men and women who have been instrumental in his moral and creative decline. Insanity, drunkenness or nightmare? Daniel Galvez-Vallejo, a young French tenor of Spanish descent, makes a striking impression in the title role. The four villains are portrayed by the peerless Belgian bass-baritone Jose van Dam, and the legendary Gabriel Bacquier plays Spalanzani, Crespel and Schlemil with veteran aplomb.

‘A dancer’s blood runs in my veins’ announces the heroine of Léhar’s Giuditta in the beguiling bolero-cum-waltz ‘Meine Lippen, sie küssen so heiß!’ which blazes into life around fifteen minutes into today’s Recording of the Week from Egyptian soprano Fatma Said, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo and special guests including lutenist David Bergmüller, Quinteto Ángel and the vision string quartet.

Comme vous pouvez le constater, ce sont des titres de contes connus qui ont été réinventés de façon dramatique, de sorte que l’on balance du côté obscur de l’histoire. Ces livres sont vraiment d’une atrocité remarquable, tellement bien décrits qu’un des auteurs est poursuivi pour des scènes trop explicites. Il y a plusieurs auteurs qui prennent la défense d’Yvan Godbout, l’auteur de «Hansel et Gretel». La maison d’édition et Yvan sont poursuivis par le Directeur des poursuites criminelles et pénales (DPCP)…