Les Maitress du Silence

Le monde qui vit aujourd’hui le Temps comme une ligne droite, a oublié qu’il fut vécu comme un cercle dans un lointain passé, celui des sociétés traditionnelles. La sphère illustrait alors à merveille la présence de la Transcendance. En ce temps-là, la Création n’avait ni commencement ni fin. Dans le monde d’aujourd’hui si difficile à vivre, où règnent le conformisme, la démagogie et l’imposture, d’où le Sacré a été écarté au profit d’une rationalité toute puissante, demeure néanmoins un double miracle : l’amour de la Musique et l’amour de l’Autre. Sans la présence de ce double mystère, la vie n’a pas de Sens.

When Richard Wagner failed to have his one-act version of Der fliegende Holländer staged at the Paris Opera, the cash-strapped composer sold a synopsis of the plot, written in broken French. This was fashioned into a proper libretto, which was then set to music by Pierre-Louis Dietsch, who enjoyed 11 performances of Le Vasseau fantôme before it was pulled from the repertoire in 1843. Ironically, Wagner's success with Der fliegende Holländer in Dresden happened shortly after that, and the expanded three-act version has remained an essential part of Wagner's canon.

Marin Marais (1656-1728)est ajourd'hui célèbre grâce au fabuleux corpus de pièces pour violes de gambe qu'il nous a laissé et qui ont été remises à l'honneur avec le célèbre film "Tous les matins du monde" et les disques de Jordi Savall Mais Marais a aussi écrit 4 opéras dont Alcione, le meilleur d'entre eux.
Avant son enregistrement, celui-ci avait la réputation d'être digne des chefs-d'oeuvre de Lully et annonciateur des splendeurs ramistes, mais pour certains figé dans les règles passéistes du grand style français et refusant malencontreusement les harmonies italianisantes chères à Campra et Charpentier.

Marc Minkowski and Les Musiciens du Louvre return to Handel with a complete recording of his opera Alcina. The title role is interpreted by Magdalena Kožená, who reunites with Les Musiciens and maestro Minkowski after a series of acclaimed baroque recordings.She is joined by an excellent cast of soloists, consisting of Erin Morley (Morgana), Anna Bonitatibus (Ruggiero), Elizabeth De Shong (Bradamante), Alois Mühlbacher (Oberto), Valerio Contaldo (Oronte) and Alex Rosen (Melisso).This studio recording transports the listener to Alcina’s enchanted island, and shows Handel at the peak of his power: the score is dramatic, lush and colourful as well as introspective and profound where the story requires it.

Hippolyte et Aricie was Rameau's first surviving lyric tragedy and is perhaps his most durable, though you wouldn't know it from the decades we had to wait for a modern recording. Now there are two: this one, conducted by Marc Minkowski, and William Christie's version on Erato. Choosing between the two is tough. Minkowski uses a smaller and probably more authentic orchestra, and with the resulting leaner sound, the performance has more of a quicksilver quality accentuated by Minkowski's penchant for swift tempos. His cast is excellent. The central lovers in the title are beautifully sung by two truly French voices, soprano Véronique Gens and especially the light, slightly nasal tenor of Jean-Paul Fourchécourt. In the pivotal role of the jealous Phèdre, Bernarda Fink is perfectly good but not in the exalted league of Christie's Lorraine Hunt. So there's no clear front-runner, but anyone interested in French Baroque opera must have at least one.

Marc Minkowski and Les Musiciens du Louvre return to Handel with a complete recording of his opera Alcina. The title role is interpreted by Magdalena Kožená, who reunites with Les Musiciens and maestro Minkowski after a series of acclaimed baroque recordings.She is joined by an excellent cast of soloists, consisting of Erin Morley (Morgana), Anna Bonitatibus (Ruggiero), Elizabeth De Shong (Bradamante), Alois Mühlbacher (Oberto), Valerio Contaldo (Oronte) and Alex Rosen (Melisso).This studio recording transports the listener to Alcina’s enchanted island, and shows Handel at the peak of his power: the score is dramatic, lush and colourful as well as introspective and profound where the story requires it.

Initially a bassoonist, Marc Minkowski began conducting at an early age, notably under the guidance of Charles Bruck at the Pierre Monteux Memorial School in the United States. At the age of nineteen he founded Les Musiciens du Louvre, an ensemble that was to play an active role in the Baroque revival. After their success at the Wiener Konzerthaus in 2009 with a complete cycle of Haydn's 'London' Symphonies recorded live by Na+¯ve (their exclusive record label since 2007), Minkowski and Les Musiciens du Louvre-Grenoble now release the complete Schubert symphonies.

This is an untouchably great performance of one of Handel's most interesting oratorios: its examination of jealousy is on a par with what can be found in Otello and Pelléas. There's drama galore–in fact, during its first run it was referred to as a "musical drama" (rather than an oratorio), and Handel and his librettist, Thomas Broughton, always referred to its "acts" rather than "parts", as sections of oratorios were commonly known.