le Manegement

When the French court moved into the magnificent residence of Versailles on May 6, 1682, France was at the zenith of its power. The king, no longer a young man in his mid-forties by the standards of the time, was increasingly coming under the influence of Madame de Maintenon, who had risen from the position of governess to his illegitimate children to become the Sun King's maitresse and later wife. The pious lady brought the king back into the arms of the church, which was not without influence on the musical entertainment of his majesty. In addition to chamber music, which Louis always appreciated, sacred cantatas in French were now in demand for the court's devotions.

The Song of the Earth is Gustav Mahler's most personal composition, as the composer himself revealed. It takes on all it's twilight hues with Stéphane Degout's vocal performance. Ardently conducted by Maxime Pascal, Le Balcon delivers a performance which sets the standard, using Arnold Schönberg's pared-down transcription in the royal acoustic setting of the Basilica of Saint-Denis. Le Balcon and the Saint-Denis Festival have a long history, which began in 2014 with a recital by the soprano Julie Fuchs in the Music Pavilion of the Maison Education de la Légion d'honneur. Since then, all Le Balcon's concerts given in the Basilica of Saint-Denis have left their mark on our respective histories: whether it be Monteverdi's Vespers in 2015 (with a sound system and an electric guitar in the orchestra, a historic first for this repertoire), the final scene of Stockhausen's Samstag aus Licht in 2016 (impressively rigorous, it literally transfixed the audience) or Mahler's seventh symphony in 2017. Freedom, innovation, creativity but total respect for the works and composers are the words that immediately come to mind when thinking of Le Balcon, whose collective ad-venture is the basis of a faultless career.

This excellent recording is largely considered to be Le Orme's magnum opus. The trio, comprised of Aldo Tagliapietra (vocals, bass, guitar), Toni Pagliuca (organ/Mellotron, piano), and Michi Dei Rossi (drums), produced some of the best Italian progressive rock ever recorded. Influenced by Emerson, Lake & Palmer and Genesis, the band forged their own unique blend of sophisticated symphonic prog rock. Tagliapietra's vocals give the music an ethereal quality, and he actually sounds quite a bit like Sting (or the other way around). Their high level of musicianship is evident on "Sospesi Nell 'Incredibile," but the focus is more on mood, song structure, and texture. The original recording contains Italian lyrics, while Van Der Graaf Generator vocalist Peter Hammill penned English lyrics for a subsequent release. Stick with the Italian version for the full effect of this prog rock classic.

Etude qui apporte un regard nouveau sur le fascisme. Réaffirmant le caractère totalitaire du régime, l'auteur rattache néanmoins cette idéologie, par sa visée révolutionnaire, au changement anthropologique entrepris par les Lumières, et explique les raisons pour lesquelles l'histoire du fascisme est celle d'une révolution avortée. …

The result really is something special, a performance of growing intensity and concentration, which gradually exerted an iron grip on me as listener – right up until a deeply moving ‘Der Leiermann’.

Following on from Callirhoé (André Cardinal Destouches), Sémélé (Marin Marais) and Proserpine (Jean-Baptiste Lully), three important tragédies lyriques rescued from oblivion by Hervé Niquet and Le Concert Spirituel, Glossa is now restoring to the catalogue and within its collection of French Baroque opera, a recording made in Metz in December 2001: Daphnis et Chloé, the work which was to add Joseph Bodin de Boismortier to the roll call of the history of music in a most determined fashion.