Elisa Tovati le Bleu Des Regrets

Les deux oeuvres sont des classiques des concerts pour enfants qui connaissent un même succès mon­dial : le conte musical « Pierre et le loup » de Prokofiev et « Le Carnaval des animaux » de Camille Saint-Saëns, que ce dernier a décrit – probablement avec un clin d’oeil – comme une « Grande fantaisie zoologique ». Est-ce que l’essentiel est ainsi dit ? Pas du tout. Car la question se pose de savoir pourquoi les adultes appré­cient autant que les enfants l’histoire du brave Pierre et du méchant loup. Cela a sans doute à voir avec la géniale musique de Prokofiev. Il faut en outre se sou­venir que Saint-Saëns a composé son « Carnaval » pour un concert privé à domicile, c›est-à-dire pour le divertissement d’adultes. Et ces derniers ne pou­vaient apparemment pas se retenir de rire, si bien que le compositeur a soudain pris peur et a strictement interdit la publication de son oeuvre charmante, crai­gnant que ses oeuvres sérieuses ne soient dès lors plus prises au sérieux. D’une certaine façon, on lui a donné raison : en termes de popularité auprès des jeunes et moins jeunes, aucune autre oeuvre de Saint-Saëns ne peut rivaliser avec le « Carnaval des animaux ».

Marais's Alcione is the last great 'tragedy' in music from the reign of Louis XIV. It is a total spectacle at the crossroads of the 17th and 18th centuries, from which it takes the mythological source, it's praise of the sovereign's glory and the literary requirement to combine choreography and stage movements. Jordi Savall rediscovered this work and brought it back to life for the first stage production in Paris since 1771.

The essence of Camille Saint-Saëns' music comes through perhaps most clearly in his music for solo instrument and orchestra, which exemplifies his elegant combination of melody and conservatory-generated virtuosity. The two cello concertos are here, plus a pair of crowd-pleasing short works for piano and orchestra, and the evergreen Carnival of the Animals, with pianists Louis Lortie and Hélène Mercier joining forces along with a collection of instruments that includes the often-omitted glass harmonica. There are all kinds of attractions here: the gently humorous and not over-broad Carnival, the songful cello playing of Truls Mørk, and the little-known piano-and-orchestra scene Africa, Op. 89, with its lightly Tunisian flavor (sample this final track). But really, the central thread connecting them all is the conducting of Neeme Järvi and the light, graceful work of the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra; French music is the nearly 80-year-old Järvi's most congenial environment, and in this recording, perhaps his last devoted to Saint-Saëns, he has never been better.

François-Xavier Roth and Les Siècles offer us a double-sided portrait of Saint-Saëns here. On one side, some of the most fascinating symphonic poems of French Romanticism are revealed in all the shimmering timbres of the period. On the other, we rediscover a composer who enjoyed a good laugh (The Carnival of the Animals also returns to its original colours!), when he was not involved in the early days of the cinema, with the very first music ever composed for a film!

Le Retour des Dieux sur la Terre and Le Caprice d'Erato are part of the tradition inherited from Louis XIV of occasional pieces that served to illustrate major events at Court: Composed four years apart, the first to celebrate the wedding of Louis XV and Marie Leszczynska in 1725 and the second for the birth of their first son in 1729, these two divertissements are veritable little concert operas in which splendid grand narratives, triumphal overtures, surprising dances, solemn choruses and grandiose finales follow one another.

Pierre Perret - Le Plaisirs des Dieux
French Singer/singwriter | MP3 @192 kbps | Covers | Time: 0.53 | 74.4 MB

Biography by Jason Ankeny
The music of Pierre Perret captured the lives of the French working class with uncommon precision. A supremely gifted lyricist renowned for his mordant wit and playful eroticism, his songs employed everyday slang to startlingly poetic effect. Born in Castelsarrazin on July 9, 1934, Perret spent a sizable chunk of his adolescence in his father's restaurant, Le Café du Pont, absorbing the street-smart patois of the local workers who comprised its core clientele. At the same time, he studied music theory and saxophone, and later attended the Toulouse Conservatoire. Beginning in 1953, Perret served a three-year term in the French military. Assigned to the army music corps, he began writing his first songs, and during a subsequent stint playing guitar in support of aspiring singer Françoise Lô (later known as Sophie Makhno), he occasionally performed his own material in between sets. In time Perret came to the attention of agent Emile Hebey, who introduced him to label owner Eddie Barclay. His debut single, "Moi J'Attends Adèle," was released in 1957, but despite a regular presence on the Paris nightclub circuit, most notably an extended residency at the Colombe on the Ile de la Cité, the record failed to catch on. After a 1958 tour of Africa and France in support of the immortal American R&B vocal quintet the Platters, Perret was diagnosed with pleurisy. He spent the better part of two years in a sanatorium, writing the songs that comprised his 1960 debut LP, Le Bonheur Conjugal, but sales were again middling and Barclay terminated his contract. Perret resurfaced on Vogue in 1963 with "Le Tord Boyaux" ("Rot Gut"). The single proved a blockbuster hit, selling more than 100,000 copies and establishing the acerbic wit that would remain the hallmark of his lyrics for the duration of his career. A series of follow-up hits including "Trop Contente" and "La Corrida" culminated with 1966's "Les Jolies Colonies de Vacances," the biggest and most beloved French pop song of its year. That November, Perret headlined his first performance at the famed Olympia Theatre, returning two years later to cut a live album. After co-starring in Claude Autant-Lara's 1969 feature film Les Patates, Perret resumed his music career with 1971's "La Cage aux Oiseaux." His biggest hit to date, 1974's "Le Zizi" ("The Willie") sold more than five million copies, but in the years to follow his music grew more thoughtful, with 1977's "Lily" winning the Prix de la Ligue Contre le Racisme et l'Antisémitisme for its attack on racism. Perret subsequently explored suburban malaise ("Y'a des Gosses Dans l'Escalier"), abortion ("Elle Attend Son Petit"), and famine ("Riz Pile"), and spent much of the 1980s channeling his energy into books, most notably Le Petit Perret Illustré par l'Exemple.

Mentored by Erik Satie and Jean Cocteau between 1917 to 1923, the celebrated French compositional group known as Les Six comprised Georges Auric, Louis Durey, Arthur Honegger, Darius Milhaud, Francis Poulenc and Germaine Taillefaire. The artful relationship between Les Six and their mentors formed an important cornerstone of the inter-war avant garde.