Allan je Rame, je Tangue

Allan Clayton demonstrates his exceptional versatility with a Liszt programme of eighteen songs, all of which—in contrasting ways—make prodigious technical and musical demands of the performers.

Ainsi Soit Je… (a play on ainsi soit-il, which can mean either "so be it" or "amen") is the second album by Mylène Farmer, released in April 1988. It contains the hit singles "Sans contrefaçon", "Pourvu qu'elles soient douces" and "Sans logique". Generally well-received by critics, it was very successful and remains to date the second best-selling album of the singer. In France, the album debuted at number 8 in April 1988. Thanks to the successful single "Pourvu qu'elles soient douces" (number-one hit in December 1988), the album reached number one for two weeks in December 1988. The album managed to stay for eleven months in the top ten and about one year on the chart. The album was certified Diamond on 14 November 1989.

The listener may be forgiven for not knowing that any Debussy "Edgar Allan Poe Operas" existed, for neither of the works recorded here was ever completed. Moreover, and you don't learn this unless you read the notes or have investigated for yourself, one of them was hardly begun. After the success of Pelléas et Mélisande in New York, Debussy was encouraged to adapt a pair of Poe's short stories for a new American production. Debussy needed little encouragement and quickly produced a pair of scenarios, but other projects intervened, and the operas were never finished. The more complete one is La chute de la maison Usher (The Fall of the House of Usher), for which there are substantial sketches and several full realizations including the one here by "creative musicologist" Robert Orledge.

On November 11, 2003, Diamanda Galás released two albums, ending a five-year recording hiatus with a bang. Both are solo live recordings and present two very different sides of her. La Serpenta Canta showcased her song-based material (mostly blues). Defixiones: Will and Testament, Orders From the Dead is more typical of her operatic works of the 1990s.