Ultra Vomit et le Pouvoir de la Puissance

When the French court moved into the magnificent residence of Versailles on May 6, 1682, France was at the zenith of its power. The king, no longer a young man in his mid-forties by the standards of the time, was increasingly coming under the influence of Madame de Maintenon, who had risen from the position of governess to his illegitimate children to become the Sun King's maitresse and later wife. The pious lady brought the king back into the arms of the church, which was not without influence on the musical entertainment of his majesty. In addition to chamber music, which Louis always appreciated, sacred cantatas in French were now in demand for the court's devotions.

Petro Torri is one of the least known and at the same time best composers which lived at the Münich Palace. Around 1665 he was born in Peschiera by the Gardasee. His musical education is unknown. Until his death in 1732 he composed for the Wittelbachischen noble house. After the defeat at the battle of Höchstadt 1704 Torri moved to Brussels and there he worked as "maître de chapelle" at the church of St. Gundule, after the invasion of Brussels by the English 1706, Max Emanuelle fled. After the armistice of Rastatt (1714) Torri started composing again of which the cantata "Le triomphe de la paix" was the product. Beside this piece in the French style the recording also includes "Magnificat à 15 et più" and "Veniat dilectus meus".

Mune Le Gardien De La Lune is a 2014 French animation film directed by Alexandre Heboyan & Benoit Philippon and starring Omar Sy, Izia Higelin and Michael Gregorio. When a faun named Mune becomes the Guardian of the Moon, little did he had unprepared experience with the Moon and an accident that could put both the Moon and the Sun in danger, including a corrupt titan named Necross who wants the Sun for himself and placing the balance of night and day in great peril. Now with the help of a wax-child named Glim and the warrior, Sohone who also became the Sun Guardian, they go out on an exciting journey to get the Sun back and restore the Moon to their rightful place in the sky. The score is composed by Bruno Coulais…

Sandrine Piau and Véronique Gens have a longstanding rapport and dreamed of making a recording together. Here they pay tribute to two singers who, like them, were born within a year of each other, Mme Dugazon (1755-1821) and Mme Saint-Huberty (1756-1812): both enjoyed triumphant careers in Paris, inspiring numerous librettists and composers. Gluck even nicknamed Saint-Huberty ‘Madamela- Ressource’, while ‘a Dugazon’ became a generic name for the roles of naïve girls in love, and later of comical mothers. Rivals? They very likely were, given the quarrelsome spirit of the operatic world of the time, even if they never crossed paths on stage.

Sandrine Piau’s first recital for the ALPHA Label, with Susan Manoff (Chimères – Alpha 397), proved an enormous hit (Diapason d’Or of the year, Choc of the year, and Gramophone Editor’s Choice). Her new project is a recital with orchestra celebrating French song of the period when it moved from the private salon to the concert hall. Planned in partnership with the Palazzetto Bru Zane, this programme evokes anticipation, desire, pleasure, memory, in short all the vagaries of love experienced by a romantic heroine… To verses of the poets Hugo, Lamartine, Gautier, and Verlaine, Sandrine Piau has selected song settings by Saint-Saëns (L’attente, Papillons), Massenet (Extase, Aimons-nous), and Vierne, as well as by the rarely-heard Dubois, Guilmant, and Bordes…

Le Concert de la Loge and Julien Chauvin continue the Haydn adventure with the Paris symphonies no.84 and no.86. The conductor and his period instruments orchestra complete the programme with the beautiful Stabat Mater, one of Haydn’s most performed ones during his lifetime. Composed in 1767 during the Sturm and Drang period, the Stabat Mater’s strikingly sober and plain expression (« Fac me vere tecum flere ») doesn’t exclude some outstanding passages, as in the « Sancta Mater, istud agas ».