Muet Devant

Brégent was formed around two brothers, vocalist Jacques and keyboardist Michel-Georges Brégent, with a backing band of guitar, bass, drums/percussion and two saxophone players.
After the formation and dissipation of Dionne Brégent, the Brégent brothers got back together for “Partir pour Ailleurs” (1979). Vincent Dionne is enlisted here on percussion. With the exception of one track from 1977, all music was written between 1970 and 1972. Once more, many of the lyrics are from poets such as Léo Ferré, but a good number are written by Félix Leclerc, a popular singer in Quebec during the 70s. The album was not recorded until 1978; the reason for it being seven years in the making remains a mystery. The music is more rock-oriented, even funky at times…

It was 1988, and at that time the vast majority of Charpentier’s works were still accessible only via the original sources, so we had to rely on microfilms of the composer’s complete works collected in the twenty-eight manuscript volumes known as “Meslanges”. Poring over the manuscript pages on the screen of our microfilm reader, I studied and selected the works for the programme on the basis of the original texts.

Based on 33 years of scholarship and promotion by the Istituto Nazionale Tostiano and a lifetime of studies on the part of Francesco Sanvitale, this volume lives up to its predecessors in bringing to wider attention the work of a born songsmith, at home in the English and French tongues as well as his native Italian, and one who brought the genre of salon song to a peak of perfection. No one, not even the most dedicated Tosti singers such as Gigli and Caruso, had ever addressed Tostis oeuvre with anything near a comprehensive approach. Yet the chronological approach to his work taken by this project proves that he was certainly not confined within the limited universe of love requited, rejected, desired, misunderstood, suffered or unspoken. The songs in this third volume cover the last decade of the 19th century, by which time Tosti had settled in London, been appointed singing teacher to the royal family and to a professorship at the Royal Academy of Music.

Sir Simon Rattle leads an all-star cast in this highly anticipated new recording of Debussy’s evocative opera Pelléas et Mélisande. It was captured in January 2016 during performances of an innovative collaboration between Rattle and Peter Sellars, two of the boldest creative minds in music and theatre today. Supported by the London Symphony Chorus, prepared by renowned choral director Simon Halsey, it is a moving statement of intent for Rattle’s tenure as LSO Music Director.

After Les Danaïdes and Les Horaces, Les Talens Lyriques concludes the group’s cycle of Antonio Salieri’s French operas with the world premiere recording of Tarare. Often unfairly overshadowed by his brilliant contemporary Mozart, Salieri here composed a genuine masterpiece on the only libretto ever written by Beaumarchais.