Stephane Grappeli

This generous song recital of Debussy Mélodies features soprano Sophie Karthäuser and baritone Stéphane Degout, accompanied by pianists Eugene Asti and Alain Planès. Drawing on Symbolist and Impressionist poets, this program, including Trois Ballades de François Villon and Cinq poèmes de Baudelaire, showcases some of the composer's finest cycles. For Debussy, the artistic journey is first and foremost a matter of color.

Composer Joseph Guy Ropartz enjoyed a lifespan that cut across an enormous territory of French music; when he was born, Jacques Offenbach had just premiered La belle Hélène and the year he died, Henri Dutilleux rolled out his second symphony. Ropartz also achieved an astounding rite of passage in his own work, starting out deep inside the Franck school, but also embracing impressionist language and ultimately emerging as the chief tone poet of his native region, Brittany; late in life Ropartz flirted with neo-classicism. Before the advent of CDs, recordings of Ropartz's music were so seldom made that they were almost unknown; however, just 25 years into the digital era practically all of his 200 works have been recorded.

The words "eclectic" and "virtuosic" describe not only the works selected for this CD, but also the artists who perform them: trumpeter Stéphane Beaulac and organist Vincent Boucher. The works recorded here are those they have selected to perform in their Concerts Desjardins series of touring concerts, which is organized by Jeunesses musicales du Canada, and which will continue to be presented in various parts of Quebec until summer 2006. The selection on this CD recalls the legendary pairs of musicians who first made this repertoire so celebrated: Maurice André and Marie-Claire Alain, or Roger Delmotte and Pierre Cochereau (it was to the latter that Georges Delerue dedicated his Sonate.)