Jul Ils M’ont Fait Mal

Recorded in 1967, the recording features Joan Sutherland and Luciano Pavarotti at the high-noon of their careers! Pavarotti, with great charm and humor, tosses off endless high notes in a barnstorming performance. Sutherland easily tackles the great vocal demands and gives an effortlessly stunning performance. No other recording of this opera has come close to surpassing this classic for vocal beauty and sheer thrills!

This classic account of La Fille du régiment has already seen print in the usual slip box fashion. This mid-price issue gives the same info and pictures (sans the covers, which are unique to each set), but drops the German and Italian translations in favor of French and English only…

Adam de la Halle (c. 1237 - 1288) was one of the first composers to receive the honour of having manuscripts copied comprising his complete works, surely indicative of the esteem in which he was held. De la Halle moved between two worlds as the music of the courts of the nobility was moving out into the aspiring merchant classes of the cities.
His songs of courtly love are characterised by, to use his own phrase, "mal joli", or delightful woe.

Juin 1965 : les Smetana ont pris le train de Prague à Stuttgart pour y fixer les quatuors de Janacek, fer de lance de leur répertoire. Janvier 2016 : on ne se gratte pas la tête bien longtemps au moment d'élire le carré d d'as de la discographie comparée que nous consacrons au N° 2 (cf. Diapason n° 642). Non seulement la formation signe là sa meilleure lecture enregistrée de la pièce, la deuxième sur cinq, mais elle domine aussi les gravures « historiques » du chef-d'œuvre aux côtés des Vlach.