Philippe Katerinecomme Disait ma Petite Sœur

There are quite a few French Baroque ballet and opera samplers on the market, perhaps because theses repertories, with their arcane textual and musical conventions and their unfamiliar genres, are thought to be rather inaccessible for general listeners in complete works or large chunks of them. The reconstructions of William Christie and others, including this disc's conductor, Sigiswald Kuijken, have shown that equal parts of imagination and musicality can go a long way toward making the operas of the French Baroque come alive, and the repertoires of virtuoso singers are beginning to reflect this.

The “Péchés de vieillesse” composed by Gioacchino Rossini exclusively for private use during the final years of his life in Paris (1857-68) bring together thirteen volumes of vocal, choral, and chamber music as well as more than a hundred piano pieces that he termed “semi-comic” and dedicated to “fourth-class pianists.” The wit and humor of Rossini’s piano music make it unique in the history of music. Of great virtuosity, pervaded by the ideal of Italian song, playing with influences from the opera, the salon, and the cabaret, and taking boundless delight in brilliantly wild ideas and waggish parodies, it remains a very personal bequeathal full of profound seriousness and playful irony, movingly intimate, and merciless toward the composer’s own weaknesses.

Moins médiatique que les autres chanteurs de son époque, Henri Tachan n'en est pas moins un fin lettré qui, comme Léo Ferré et tant d'autres, flirte avec Verlaine, Rimbaud et Baudelaire. Son goût musical pour Beethoven ou Schubert se ressent dans les sonorités de ses musiques comme dans la chanson Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert et Rossini.

Based on concerts presented in Spain and France countertenors Philippe Jaroussky and Max Emanuel Cencic have joined with William Christie and the Les Arts Florissants to produce this CD of duets written for countertenors.

The 18th century was a time when deportment and noble behavior were essential for people of quality. Dance formed a major part of all social ceremonies and theatrical presentations. Nowhere was dancing more highly regarded than in France, where ballets de cour assumed great importance, and the Lullian tragedie en musique had its counterpart in the ballet en action of the opera-ballet. The Fantaisie (1729) and Plaisirs champetres (1734) of Jean-Fiery Rebel, reflecting the differing personalities of their prima ballerinas Camargo and Salle, have been called choreographic symphonies.