Mon Cousin

Bernstein opera sets come few and far between, but those that do emerge are treated as isolated landmarks. Such was his recording of Richard Strauss` ''Der Rosenkavalier'' of 1971 (CBS M3K 42564, three CDs), recorded three years after he virtually swept the Viennese off their collective feet with it at the Staatsoper.

A collection of unrivalled completeness, Tout Satie proves that the music of Erik Satie (1866-1925) remains as provocative, delightful – and surprising – as ever. These 10 CDs, featuring artists with impeccable credentials in French repertoire, draw together his works for piano, orchestra, chamber ensemble and voice. They constantly remind us that Satie was not just a maverick or an eccentric: he was a true original.

That globetrotting composer Camille Saint-Saëns wrote La Princesse jaune in 1872, exemplifying the current craze for all things Japanese. Kornélis, played by the tenor Mathias Vidal, dreams only of the Land of the Rising Sun. Under the influence of a hallucinogenic potion, he becomes infatuated with Ming, a fantasy princess. His cousin Léna – the soprano Judith van Wanroij – despairs of this passion and does not dare to confess her own feelings to Kornélis, who eventually comes to his senses. The running time of this opera enables us to offer a coupling in the shape of a previously unrecorded version of Saint-Saëns’s six Mélodies persanes, thus extending the guiding thread of a yearning for exotic horizons in another direction. Leo Hussain conducts the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse in both works.

Given that Def Leppard sounded so fun and revitalized on their 2006 covers album Yeah!, it was easy to hope that they would try to channel that same kinetic energy into their next set of original material, 2008's Songs from the Sparkle Lounge. And try they do on this tight set of 11 songs, pushing rhythms to the forefront in an attempt to kick up excitement, dipping into a Gary Glitter stomp on "C'mon C'mon," hitting harder than they have in years on the pummeling "Bad Actress," and revving up the guitars on "Hallucinate" so they mimic "Photograph," which is not the only time they allude to previous peaks, as "Only the Good Die Young" shimmers with harmonies straight out of Hysteria and "Nine Lives," a duet with country superstar Tim McGraw (the partnership isn't all that odd, considering Leppard's former producer Mutt Lange went country in the '90s with his wife, Shania Twain), rides a riff that is a kissing cousin to "Pour Some Sugar on Me."

Following the success of 1999's thrilling Armide, Marc Minkowski and his excellent cast fully convey the power and drama of Gluck's masterpiece. They pull you into the story (based on a play by Euripides) through the emotional truth of their interpretation. The opening quiet strings create an air of mystery dispelled by a ferocious storm magnificently conveyed by these early-music specialists. Within a few phrases of Iphigénie's opening lament, Delunsch creates a believable, sympathetic character.

This is an auspicious beginning to what one hopes will be a series of recordings of French opera made with the forces of the Bastille under Chung. Without doubt this is the most subtly and expertly conducted performance of this work to appear on CD, excellent as others have been in this respect, and also the best played and sung. Chung's achievement is to have welded the elements of pagan ruthlessness, erotic stimulation and Wagnerian harmony that comprise Saint-Saens's masterpiece into a convincing whole.