Allas Sings Arias From Verdi Operas Callas Remastered Maria Callas, Nicola Rescigno, Orchestre de la Société Des Concerts du Conservatoire, Orchestre du Théâtre National de L'opéra de Paris

Igor Borisovich Markevitch was a Russian-born composer and conductor who studied and worked in Paris and became a naturalized Italian and French citizen in 1947 and 1982 respectively. He was commissioned in 1929 for a piano concerto by impresario Serge Diaghilev of the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo. Markevitch settled in Italy during World War II. After the war, he moved to Switzerland. He had an international conducting career from there.

To mark the centenary of the death of Camille Saint-Saëns, the Palazzetto Bru Zane offers a chance to discover one of his most performed and admired operas in his lifetime, presented here in a rare version. Completed in 1893 and premiered the same year at the Opéra-Comique, the piece amusingly recounts the love affair between Nicias and Phryné, who dupes the old archon Dicephilus in order to avenge his cruelty.

Ernest Ansermet conducts L'Orchestre de la Suisse Romande for this 1954 recording of Borodin's Second & Third Symphonies. Symphony No. 2 in B minor by Alexander Borodin was composed intermittently between 1869 and 1876. It consists of four movements and is considered the most important large-scale work completed by the composer himself. It has many melodic resemblances to both Prince Igor and Mlada, two theatre works that diverted Borodin's attention on and off during the six years of composition.

Ernest Ansermet conducts L'Orchestre de la Suisse Romande for this 1954 recording of Borodin's Second & Third Symphonies. Symphony No. 2 in B minor by Alexander Borodin was composed intermittently between 1869 and 1876. It consists of four movements and is considered the most important large-scale work completed by the composer himself. It has many melodic resemblances to both Prince Igor and Mlada, two theatre works that diverted Borodin's attention on and off during the six years of composition.

To inaugurate his urban investigations Olivier Benoit naturally chose Paris, a city he knows intimately for having lived and worked there for twenty years; the musicians in his orchestra have an intimate knowledge of Paris as well, most of them being Parisians by adoption. In this sense, EUROPA Paris intends to be a “manifesto” for the French capital’s artistic effervescence, as Paris continues to attract artists of all horizons (both geographical and aesthetic) who dissolve into a crucible whose diversity and inventiveness are extraordinary. Creating EUROPA PARIS unquestionably put the seal on the new group, bonding its members together in a symbol of the capital’s vitality!

This collection of arias from the operas Il Tigrane, Poro, La Sofonisba, L’Ippolito is a testimony of Christoph Willibald Gluck’s opera activity from the year 1743 to 1745. At the age of 30, yet already successful composer, Gluck wrote his operas for the most important events in the cities of Crema, Turin and Milan, almost without a break. He seems to be at the peak of his career, yet he has not created those great compositions such as Orpheus and Euridice, Paride ed Elena, Alceste, that would have linked his name to the reform of opera theorised together with Ranieri de’ Calzabigi and which made him one of the immortal names in the music history.

Jean-François Paillard leads his chamber orchestra in this reference recording of Couperin's "Les Nations". "Les Nations" is a vast project in which the virtues of both the French and Italian styles are set next to each other. Each of the four ordres celebrates a Catholic power of Europe – France, Spain, the Holy Roman Empire and the Savoy dynasty of Piedmont – and each is a combination of an Italianate trio sonata with its free-form virtuosity and a large-scale and elaborate French dance suite.

Charles Richard-Hamelin continues his exploration of Frédéric Chopin’s oeuvre with this recording of the Preludes, op. 28, and the "Andante spianato et Grande polonaise brillante, op. 22".

At the time of its release - 1960 - Ansermet's stereo recording of the Mussorgsky-Ravel Pictures at an Exhibition was demonstration worthy, and it still, today, retains its sense of space and impact. Much of the remainder of the program makes its first international appearance on SACD and will be especially sought after by collectors.

For Bernard Labadie, Le Chemin de Noël is the realization of a great dream inspired by the tradition of the annual Christmas concerts at the Chapel of King’s College in Cambridge, England. Named after the beloved annual concerts that Labadie has conducted in Quebec since 2016, Le Chemin de Noël is the conductor’s deeply personal reflection on the meaning on Christmas.