Jul Ils M’ont Fait Mal

Widely regarded as the singer who fused the traditions of the French chanson with the energy and verve of American jazz, Claude Nougaro was born in Toulouse on September 9, 1929. The son of an opera singer and a piano teacher, he was raised largely by his grandparents, devouring not only classical music but also the homegrown pop of Charles Trenet and Edith Piaf, and the American swing of Louis Armstrong and Glenn Miller broadcast via Radio-Toulouse. Despite his love of the arts, Nougaro never learned to read music or play an instrument, and in 1947, he briefly worked as a journalist before serving a stint in the French Foreign Legion in Morocco.

Si vous n’êtes pas familiers de la musique contemporaine, vous allez, en écoutant ces trois œuvres, être déroutés (un peu acide pour un brunch). La multiplicité des formes, le langage polyrythmique, les harmonies comme sculptées dans la matière brute, l’absence de repères mélodiques nécessitent un peu de concentration. Mais si vous poussez la curiosité plus loin, vous apprécierez la finesse, l’amour des timbres qui se confondent, s’imitent, se cherchent tout au long des trois pièces. Le concerto pour violon Exultet offre une fusion entre le soliste et l’orchestre. La palette sonore est immense et se rapproche parfois de celle de Karol Szymanowski. C’est de la musique sacrée qui traite des mystères de la vie et de la mort (chant de la nuit de Pâques).

Enrico, André et Diego en Ménage à Trois le temps d’un album, voici ce que le petit label qui monte, Bonsaï Music, nous propose en ce mois d’octobre 2016.

Paris discovered Massenet's Grisélidis at the Opéra-Comique on 20 November 1901. The work is based on a medieval folktale retold by Boccaccio and Perrault, among others, and already set to music several times in the Baroque era. It gave Massenet the opportunity to handle the ‘Gothic’ colouring of which the early twentieth century could not get enough. The inventive libretto by Armand Silvestre and Eugène Morand explores unusually contrasted registers: the religious, the fantastical, the sentimental and the warlike. Above all, the presence of a scene-stealing Devil, saddled with a cantankerous wife, offers the possibility of contrasting the serious (or sublime) and the comic (or grotesque). Massenet thus produced a rare example of cross-genre equilibrium, a jewel of French demi-caractère, typical of the Opéra-Comique repertory. Although the opera renounces spoken dialogue, theatrical declamation nevertheless creeps into a few particularly successful scenes. Two magnificent baritone roles – the Marquis and the Devil – oppose each other with the full trappings of Romantic vocality, while Grisélidis makes a noble and introspective heroine, the perfect model of the French soprano.

Paris discovered Massenet's Grisélidis at the Opéra-Comique on 20 November 1901. The work is based on a medieval folktale retold by Boccaccio and Perrault, among others, and already set to music several times in the Baroque era. It gave Massenet the opportunity to handle the ‘Gothic’ colouring of which the early twentieth century could not get enough. The inventive libretto by Armand Silvestre and Eugène Morand explores unusually contrasted registers: the religious, the fantastical, the sentimental and the warlike. Above all, the presence of a scene-stealing Devil, saddled with a cantankerous wife, offers the possibility of contrasting the serious (or sublime) and the comic (or grotesque). Massenet thus produced a rare example of cross-genre equilibrium, a jewel of French demi-caractère, typical of the Opéra-Comique repertory. Although the opera renounces spoken dialogue, theatrical declamation nevertheless creeps into a few particularly successful scenes. Two magnificent baritone roles – the Marquis and the Devil – oppose each other with the full trappings of Romantic vocality, while Grisélidis makes a noble and introspective heroine, the perfect model of the French soprano.

Porté par le premier single « Little Dolls », ce nouvel album d’Indochine « La République Des Météors » sortira le 9 mars en France. C’est le 11ème album studio du groupe. C’est un son plus authentique que nous offre Nicolas Sirkis après le très électrique « Alice & June ». Retour à des sonorités qui ont fait le succès du groupe dans les années 80. Pour Olivier Gérard, guitariste du groupe, ce nouvel album s’est dirigé naturellement vers des versions plus « brutes », sans grand travail du son en postproduction.