Nesles Blanche

Live album from this 9-piece Celtic-oriented instrumental French folk group. Instrumentation includes bouzouki, flutes, whistles, hurdy-gurdy, violin, accordion, bass. They get quite a groove going.

A world renowned specialist in the music of Sergei Prokofiev, Valery Gergiev and his Mariinsky Orchestra and opera company have performed all of the composer's symphonies, concerti and operas on numerous occasions, both in St. Petersburg and on tour. This new video of Prokofiev's opera The Gambler, recorded and filmed in high-resolution at the historic Mariinsky Theatre in 2010, stars celebrated Russian tenor Vladimir Galuzin and bass Sergei Aleksashkin. Premiered in 1929 at the Theatre Royal de la Monnaie, Brussels, the opera was originally conceived for first performance at the Mariinsky Theatre, but it was postponed due to the Revolution in 1917. On this filmed version, Georgian director Temur Chkheidze (who directed the opera with critical success at the Metropolitan Opera in 2001) gives a fresh look to Prokofiev's first opera. The Gambler is a four-act opera that displays the dramatic highs and lows involved in the game of chance. All of the characters fall victim to the temptation of gambling, each one consumed by the obsession and greed that drives them.

The genre of the mélodie accompanied Fauré like a kind of personal journal. This music voluptuously – and sometimes vehemently – encompasses the meanderings of the soul: dreams, nostalgia, reflections or mirages . . . Stéphane Degout and Alain Planès take advantage of the iridescent tones of an 1892 Pleyel in their interpretation of some of his finest song cycles, including the testamentary L’Horizon chimérique.

Dupont wrote Les Heures Dolentes ('The Mournful Hours') whilst suffering and then recuperating from tuberculosis. The suggestive subtitles of the fourteen movements reflect a physical and mental journey through convalescence at a spa, from the peacefulness of 'Evening Falls inside the Bedroom', the early optimism of 'Sunshine in the Garden' and 'A Lady Friend Has Come with Some Flowers', the ambiguities of 'The Doctor', the eerie resignation of 'Death Lurks' and the sinister sonorities and rhythms of 'Sleepless Night - Hallucinations'. Fortunately Dupont survives and the work finishes ……

Though Gabriel Dupont was known largely for his operatic works, he was also acclaimed for his piano suites. Les heures dolentes was composed during Dupont’s convalescence from his first bout of tuberculosis — the disease that would ultimately bring about his untimely death at the age of 36. La maison dans les dunes was composed at Cap Ferret, a small island refuge for tuberculosis patients. Dupont was in much better health than he had been while writing Les heures dolentes, and this second piano suite sculpts a new musical landscape that is rich and vibrant.

Handel · Boieldieu · Dittersdorf · Harp Concertos · Marisa Robles · ASMF · Iona Brown
FLAC+CUE 289 MB | MP3 HQ 118 MB | EAC | No Log | Covers | 1990

This is a delightful disc and these recordings have been available for over 20 years. The opening theme of the Handel is a real joy, 'catchy' and very welcome. Marisa Robles captures the spirit if it to perfection and the larghetto is wonderfully controlled.

Nouvelles Lectures Cosmopolites is a project of French composer Julien Ash, leader and only permanent member, helped by various artists. NLC combines Neo-Classical music with electronics for a unique example of modern chamber music. Piano is joined by violin, acoustic guitar, and acoustic bass plus ambient electronics and processed voices (singing and speaking).