le Concert Royal de la Nuit

André Grétry's Richard Coeur de Lion, or Richard the Lionhearted, lay neglected until 2019 when a production by the Opéra Royal de Versailles was mounted. This album is taken from that performance, and it's very well recorded indeed. The opera was quite well known in its time and was even performed in the young U.S. (in Boston, in 1796), and it's a great find, a real crowd-pleaser as much today as at the end of the 18th century. The story is based on a probably imaginary tale of an episode during Richard's return from the Crusades, when he was imprisoned in Linz, Austria. A trouvère singer named Blondel who serves the king realizes his predicament, sneaks into the prison disguised as a blind fiddler, and touches off an action-packed sequence of events with a romance involving the prison governor, a grand party, and a visiting Flemish countess whose troops rescue Richard in the end.

The Anthology of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra is a transcription in sound of the concert-giving history of the Concertgebouw Orchestra, based upon radio recordings from the archives of Dutch Radio and Radio Netherlands World Service. Six decades of the 20th century are put under the spotlight in six boxes, each containing 14 CDs. We have chosen not only legendary performances under chief conductors of the KCO but also concerts led by countless guest conductors of both greater and lesser renown. Famous soloists make their debuts with the orchestra alongside world premieres of works that have since become classics of the repertoire. This fifth volume of the Anthology features the radio recordings made by the orchestra in the 1980s, presenting an overview on 14 CDs of the orchestra's artistic development under various conductors during that period.

Jordi Savall - M.A. Charpentier - A La Chapelle Royale De Versailles (2014) {2CD+DVD Alia Vox AVDVD 9905}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 748 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 325 Mb
DVD9 -> 5.79 Gb | All Regions | PAL 16:9 | LPCM, 2 ch | ~ 92 min | ISO Image
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 315 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2014 Alia Vox | AVDVD 9905
Classical / Baroque / Choral / Chamber Music

A treasure map is needed to find one’s way through this release. The CDs and DVD, exquisitely encased in a beautiful book – full of facsimiles, photographs and essays as well as vocal texts in innumerable translations – contain performances of some of the most beautifully crafted, deeply spiritual music Charpentier ever wrote. Catherine Cessac, the foremost French authority on Charpentier, writes eloquently on the music and Savall on the impetus for the collection. The repertoire, inspired by the story of the Virgin Mary, is drawn from all periods of Charpentier’s life and reflects the different private and public circumstances of his employment, the musical resources available to him and occasions for which he composed. In several cases more than one performance, each with different personnel, has been included, hence the need for a map.

Phillips' Great Pianists of the 20th Century issue has gotten a lot of publicity in the ten or so years since it has been released. In a musical niche suffering from falling revenues, it was a decent seller. But it left many connoisseurs disappointed, as the quality was limited to the fancy packaging.

Belle collection les genies du Classique. Editions ATLAS et Guilde Internationale du Disque. Tous les chefs-d'oeuvre de la musique classique.

Durant l'été 2010, Vanessa Paradis a proposé une série de 20 concerts acoustiques en France : véritable évènement ! Pour la première fois, ses plus grandes chansons, de « Joe le taxi » à « Divine Idylle », étaient revisitées avec 8 musiciens acoustiques dont un quatuor à cordes. Vanessa Paradis et Barclay ont donc décidé d'enregistrer et filmer l'un des 2 concerts donnés à l'Opéra Royal du Château de Versailles, les 11 et 12 juillet. Ce concert représente une autre façon de dire que les chansons de Vanessa nous sont devenues familières.

Django Reinhardt - Intégrale - La Collection Complète (1928-1953) {20 vols - 40CD - Fremeaux & Associes rel 1996-2005}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 8.28 Gb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (jpg) -> 1.32 Gb | 5% repair rar
© 1928-1953, 1996-2005 Frémeaux & Associés | FA 301 ~ FA 323
Jazz / Continental Jazz / Swing / Gypsy / Guitar

Set of Fremeaux’s definitive Integrale Django Reinhardt collection. Mastered by Daniel Nevers, there are 20 volumes of these, and each volume has 2 CDs – 40 CDs total. Each volume also comes with a fairly thick booklet with discography and notes. And the booklets and inserts have very nice B&W pictures of Django. Une réédition d’exception ! Depuis quelques années maintenant, les éditions Frémeaux ont entrepris la publication d’une intégrale des enregistrements de Django Reinhardt.