L'oasis Enchantée

If you enjoy opera, you will surely appreciate the new twist given here to the loveliest arias and most famous overtures, as arranged by the members of "The Magic Flute Quartet." True to its vocation, the group presents the most beautiful works from the classical repertoire in a manner accessible to all.

This recording of works by Sir Paul McCartney transcribed for flute quartet is a tribute to his love for his hometown and his immense love of music, a love he has shared with all so generously for nearly half a century.

Even by the supremely high production standards of Alpha recordings, this issue is especially splendid. Entitled Versailles, L'ile enchantée, it fully lives up to its name. As directed by Skip Sempé, the widely varied program features music written for Louis XIV's pleasure palace, performed by the Capriccio Stravagante Orchestra with mezzo soprano Guillemette Laurens and bass violist Jay Bernfeld. Each work is superbly selected, and every performance is absolutely idiomatic and wonderfully alive. There is wit and tenderness and elegance and, yes, nobility to their performances, which taken together form as much a portrait of the Sun King as the palace of Versailles itself.