Eloiz Toujours là

The London Oboe Band have been around since the early 1980s yet this, remarkably, is their first recording. I dare say that ten years ago an ensemble of these potentially troublesome baroque wind instruments might not have been the happiest sound imaginable, but things have come a long way since then, and there is really no faulting the standard of playing on this disc. Led by one of the best baroque oboists around, the band plays with consistently accurate intonation, good blending and refinement of sound. Every one of their instruments is a modern copy, and if that means that the sheer exotic colouring of some of those wonderful old oboes is missing, the benefits in reliability are obvious right from the first notes.

In 1733, Pergolesi created La Serva padrona in Naples, which won over Paris in 1752, becoming the symbol of Italian music. Quickly played in French as La Servante Maitresse, it inspired Rousseau for his Devin du Village, a parody of which was created under the title Les Amours de Bastien et Bastienne. Mozart discovered it in 1768 and composed his Bastien und Bastienne in German for the private theatre of the magician Mesmer. These two masterpieces bound through style and history come to life with colourful plots: lightness, falsehoods and what is comic create delightfully bubbly situations for the tyrannical servant and naive shepherds, from which Pergolesi and Mozart derived the best musical effects. Adele Carlier, David Tricou and Marc Scoffoni, with the Opera Royal Orchestra and Gaetan Jarry, carry this torch of emotion and comedy, so emblematic of the 18th century.

VA - Jazz En France (2010)
Classic Jazz/Swing/BeBop | Sony Music | MP3 | VBR 192-320 kbps | 02:19:28 | 158 MB

A two-disc compilation of jazz classics from 1920's to our days. All of the performers are known and loved for their impact on jazz in France.
Le jazz a trouvé en France une véritable terre d’accueil auprès des intellectuels et des artistes, et ce dès les Années folles. « L’histoire d’amour avec notre pays est une affaire ancienne » comme l’écrit, dans ses excellentes notes de présentation, Stéphane Ollivier. Ce qui est tout à notre honneur. Mais avec le recul, on se dit que ça allait (presque) de soi. En effet, cette forme musicale, à l’origine vouée au divertissement, a évolué en une grande diversité de thèmes et de styles favorisés par une créativité toujours renouvelée, un sens inné de la réappropriation, même si l’Amérique reste « l’espace imaginaire de référence ».

Aznavour forever. Rather than an album title, a self-portrait. He's somewhat prodigious, given both the dizzying heights he reaches and his unswerving loyalty to his fans and his art. Aznavour has been part of our lives forever, for most of those of us who listen to his songs…