Charmant

Few things weigh as heavily in the world of classical music as Gramophone's endorsement. This recording didn't lack one. In fact, Les Fetes d'Hebe won Gramophone 1998 Best Early Opera award, joining other highly-acclaimed Les Arts Florissants recordings and cementing William Christie's fame as the principal exponent of French baroque repertory. Les Fetes d'Hebe is an example of the most popular genre in the 18th-century France - opera-ballet. It is not based on a dramatic plot, but presents a series of "entrees," each with an individual subplot and a distinct musical palette. Both vocal and orchestral numbers delight the senses. The cast is mostly composed of performers who frequently appear with Les Arts Florissants. The degree of artistic cohesion this group has achieved is remarkable…
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Chantal Santon Jeffery and the Orfeo Orchestra, conducted by György Vashegyi, take us through a musical journey that leads straight to the French Enlightenments, the glorious time of the sopranos légères, whose agile voices allowed all fantasies and ornaments. It’s during Louis the Beloved’s reign that French opera reaches new heights: the public hastens to every representation to delight in hearing the demoiselles vocalize with their brilliant voices. Chantal Santon Jeffery pays tribute to these opera virtuosos with a beautiful recital that celebrates all the splendours of the repertoire, in association with the Centre de musique baroque de Versailles: with numerous unrecorded works, Chantal Santon Jeffery brings this admirable singing back to life.

Le toréador, ou L'accord parfait (The Toreador, or The Perfect Agreement) is an opéra comique in two acts by the French composer Adolphe Adam with a libretto by Thomas-Marie-François Sauvage. It was first performed at the Opéra-Comique, Paris on May 18, 1849. It was a huge success and the work regularly appeared in the repertoire of the Opéra-Comique until 1869.

A short bio of Madame Jenkins appears in a wonderful book called "American Eccentrics" by Carl Sifakis. It explains the history (or is it hysteria?) of this most maligned and misunderstood of American coloraturas. The most telling of anecdotes regarding M. Jenkins is that she was riding in a New York taxi that crashed. She was going to sue the taxi company until she discovered that she could sing ". . .a higher F than ever before…". Need I say more? Apparently, she sent the cabbie a box of expensive cigars as a thank-you.

Qui sont-ils ? Comment s'en protéger ? Sympathiques, séduisants, réservés ou carrément tyranniques, les manipulateurs empruntent différentes attitudes, utilisent diverses manœuvres pour parvenir à leurs fins. Agissant en douceur, nous flattant et nous charmant par leurs paroles, ces proches - parents, conjoint, connaissances, collègues de travail - parviennent par ailleurs à nous culpabiliser et à nous dévaloriser, à semer en nous le doute et le malaise. …