Donne Charles

L'auteur retrace le projet politique de l'empereur Charles Quint, dont l'ambition est de consolider l'unité chrétienne en restaurant un empire universel sur le continent. Après avoir évincé le roi de France François Ier, Charles Quint parvient à rétablir la paix dans le Saint Empire avant de s'enliser dans différents conflits à la fin de sa vie. …

(…) Les Chants de Nectaire is a perfect example of Koechlin's love of monody and of his comprehensive understanding of the possibilities of the flute. The range of the pieces is deceptively wide - from quiet, almost becalmed meditations to furious, abandoned dances in which the metre is ever changing and sometimes non-existent, while the melodies move from modality and diatonic purity to complex chromaticism, to create a flickering patchwork of moods. The technical demands on the player are enormous (not surprisingly this is the first ever recording of the complete cycle) but Pierre-Yves Artaud is one of the world's greatest flautists, and lavishes all his artistry on these haunting miniatures. - Andrew Clements, The Guardian

« Charles Bowden a toujours exploré sans peur ce qu aucun livre sur l Amérique n a jamais osé aborder. »
Jim Harrison

Six contes imainés par Charles Perrault pour ses enfants, voilà déjà trois siècles ! Toujours si vivants, si présents, que le monde entier les connaît et continue à les dévorer. Des textes éternels où se mèlent avec brio rêverie, féerie, bon sens et humour ! La voix rayonnante d’Anny Duperey donne éclat et chair à ces contes intemporels dont la comédienne révèle avec bonheur toute la magie, la cruauté et la sagesse. …

Among modern recordings of the opera, this one is a safe bet, assuming you want a safe version of this opera. Unlike Herbert von Karajan's oppressively string-heavy reading with the Berlin Philharmonic on EMI, this is a balanced, idiomatic account of the score, given a special luster by the Montreal Symphony Orchestra's coloristic instincts and the warm recording acoustic at St. Eustache Church. Conductor Charles Dutoit has a fine instinctive feel for Debussy in general and this score in particular. The singers in the title roles–Didier Henry and Colette Alloit-Lugaz–have both come to terms with the opera's enigmatic dramaturgy. However, it's very much a symphonic rather than operatic performance, clearly a product of the recording studio rather than of the stage.