Stephane Grappeli

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.

Warner Classics & Erato DVD catalogue already contains several characteristically stylish and imaginative productions by the French opera director Laurent Pelly: Offenbach’s La Vie Parisienne and La Grande-Duchesse de Gérolstein, Massenet’s Cendrillon, Donizetti’s La Fille du régiment, Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande and Handel’s Giulio Cesare. The last three all star Natalie Dessay, and now she and Pelly are reunited once again, this time for Offenbach’s Les Contes d’Hoffmann, staged at Barcelona’s Liceu opera house in early 2013.

The great composer Jean-Baptiste Lully deployed all his musical science in his grand motets to express intense emotion; Madame de Sévigné said: "all eyes were filled with tears". With their large chorals, small ensembles, trios, duets, solos and orchestral symphonies, these large religious compositions are representative of the pomp deployed at Louis XIV's court, at the service of the monarch's absolute power. If O Lachrymae fideles, composed in winter 1664, goes from contained emotion to jubilant dance, the two other motets are deeply solemn. The Dies Irae and De Profundis were played at the funeral of the King's wife, queen Maria-Teresa of Austria, in 1683, in the Basilique Saint-Denis. Les Epopées will give a sparkling, theatrical and expressive version of this music, with rich and abundant ornamentation, echoing the sun's play on Versailles's windows, mirrors and gilt.

Stéphane Tétreault and Olivier Hébert-Bouchard present Images retrouvées, the second volume of works by Claude Debussy transcribed for cello and piano. The series was inaugurated in 2023 with the first volume, Images oubliées.

Violinist Stephane Grappelli, although a veteran of the swing era, has always kept an open mind toward newer styles even while he has retained his own sound and veteran repertoire. This duet set with pianist McCoy Tyner might seem unlikely at first glance but it works quite well. The duo sticks to standards (including two that are associated with John Coltrane) and find plenty of common ground. The mutual respect they have for each other is obvious and they both sound a bit inspired.