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Patricia Petibon, Andrea Marcon, La Cetra Barockorchester Basel - Nouveau Monde: Baroque Arias and Songs (2012)

Posted By: ArlegZ
Patricia Petibon, Andrea Marcon, La Cetra Barockorchester Basel - Nouveau Monde: Baroque Arias and Songs (2012)

Patricia Petibon, Andrea Marcon, La Cetra Barockorchester Basel - Nouveau Monde: Baroque Arias and Songs (2012)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 338 Mb | Total time: 67:53 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Deutsche Grammophone | # 479 0079 | Recorded: 2012

Admired for her remarkable creative imagination and exemplary musicianship, soprano Patricia Petibon, in her newest album for Deutsche Grammophon, offers a treasure-trove of fascinating Baroque curiosities guaranteed to enthral both the Baroque aficionado and the casual listener.

Patricia Petibon, Josep Pons, Orquestra Nacional de España - Melancolía: Spanish Arias and Songs (2011)

Posted By: ArlegZ
Patricia Petibon, Josep Pons, Orquestra Nacional de España - Melancolía: Spanish Arias and Songs (2011)

Patricia Petibon, Josep Pons, Orquestra Nacional de España - Melancolía: Spanish Arias and Songs (2011)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 245 Mb | Total time: 57:24 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Deutsche Grammophone | # 477 9447 | Recorded: 2010

Patricia Petibon's album Melancolía: Spanish Arias and Songs is a result of the soprano's lifelong fascination with the music and culture of Spain, with a special interest in the ways Spanish and French influences have cross-pollinated. She has put together an exceptionally attractive selection of songs and arias from zarzuelas, most of them likely to be unfamiliar to general audiences. Petibon is known for her light, silvery coloratura, and her gift for inhabiting her roles, both dramatic and comic, with great spirit and penetrating insight.

William Christie, Les Arts Florissants - Marc-Antoine Charpentier: La Descente d'Orphée aux Enfers (1995)

Posted By: ArlegZ
William Christie, Les Arts Florissants - Marc-Antoine Charpentier: La Descente d'Orphée aux Enfers (1995)

William Christie, Les Arts Florissants - Marc-Antoine Charpentier: La Descente d'Orphée aux Enfers (1995)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 278 Mb | Total time: 56:10 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Erato | 0630-11913-2 | Recorded: 1995

The myth of Orpheus–the divine musician who went to Hades to rescue his bride Eurydice from the dead and whose song actually persuaded Pluto to release her–has been irresistible to operatic composers from Monteverdi to Offenbach. One of the happiest rediscoveries of the Baroque revival is this lovely one-act chamber opera by Marc-Antoine Charpentier, which combines the gentle lilt typical of French Baroque music with the beautiful melodies and delicious suspensions in which Charpentier excelled. Charpentier diverged from the myth in one important respect: he omitted the tragic ending in which Orpheus loses Eurydice a second time, instead allowing the couple to live happily ever after.

Patricia Petibon - Poulenc: Stabat Mater, Gloria, Litanies a la Vierge Noire (2013)

Posted By: tirexiss
Patricia Petibon - Poulenc: Stabat Mater, Gloria, Litanies a la Vierge Noire (2013)

Patricia Petibon - Poulenc: Stabat Mater, Gloria, Litanies a la Vierge Noire (2013)
XLD | FLAC (tracks+.cue, log) | Covers Included | 63:48 | 261 MB
Genre: Classical, Sacred | Label: Deutsche Grammophon | Catalog: 0289 479 1497 6 CD DDD GH

Francis Poulenc was the best-known composer of the iconoclastic group Les Six, and his reputation for blending sophistication and flippant humor in his songs and concert music made him something of an enfant terrible. Yet the deaths of several close friends and a visit to the Black Madonna of Rocamadour in 1936 brought about soul-searching and a fresh commitment to the Catholicism of his youth.

Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Concentus Musicus Wien - Joseph Haydn: Orlando Paladino (2006)

Posted By: ArlegZ
Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Concentus Musicus Wien - Joseph Haydn: Orlando Paladino (2006)

Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Concentus Musicus Wien - Joseph Haydn: Orlando Paladino (2006)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 689 Mb | Total time: 69:44+71:37 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Deutsche Harmonia Mundi | # 82876 73370 2 | Recorded: 2005

This delightful "dramma eroicomico" ("heroic-comic drama"–-a made-up phrase brimming with irony) tells the story of the noble knight Orlando, who goes mad being torn between duty and love, his love, Angelica, who actually wants Medoro, and Alcina, an evil sorceress out to get Orlando, and turns it into a type of farce, with great results. There is some lovely music, mostly for Angelica and Medoro, but most of it is fun and light, with characters whistling, trying to impress people with how well they sing, etc. The scoring wittily underlines their foibles.

Christoph König, Orchester der Oper Zürich - Mozart: Die Entführung aus dem Serail (2003)

Posted By: Vilboa
Christoph König, Orchester der Oper Zürich - Mozart: Die Entführung aus dem Serail (2003)

Christoph König, Orchester der Oper Zürich - Mozart: Die Entführung aus dem Serail (2003)
PAL 16:9 (720x576) | Deutsch | LinearPCM, 2 ch | Dolby AC3, 6 ch | DTS, 5 ch | 7,55 Gb (DVD9) | 143 min
Classical | Bel Air Classiques | Sub: English, Deutsch, Francais, Espanol

Nous ne sommes pas certains que les spectateurs de l’Opéra de Zurich aient éprouvé tout à fait le même plaisir que nous à la vue de cette production de Jonathan Miller. Car la réussite de cette captation doit beaucoup au travail de la réalisatrice vidéo Chloé Perlemuter qui, avec un dispositif volontairement réduit, a décidé d’épouser le regard du spectateur, furtif, parfois inquisiteur et parfois distrait. Quelques regards sur les chanteurs en coulisses, des cadrages audacieux, rompent la monotonie d’un spectacle assez statique où l’investissement se lit presque exclusivement sur les visages, ce que soulignent parfaitement de pertinents gros plans. La captation offre donc au travail minimaliste et pudique de Jonathan Miller une profondeur supplémentaire, comme elle offre d’autres perspectives au décor d’une sobriété monacale d’Isabella Bywater, également signataires de costumes chatoyants qui nous renvoient directement au siècle des Lumières.

Patrick Davin, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande - Offenbach: Les Contes d'Hoffmann (2009)

Posted By: Vilboa
Patrick Davin, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande - Offenbach: Les Contes d'Hoffmann (2009)

Patrick Davin, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande - Offenbach: Les Contes d'Hoffmann (2009)
NTSC 16:9 (720x480) | Français | LinearPCM, 2 ch | Dolby AC3, 6 ch | DTS, 6 ch | 6.00+6.15 Gb (2xDVD9) | 171 min
Classical | Bel Air Classiques | Sub: Francais, English, Deutsch, Español

Offenbach's masterpiece, based on three stories by the German author E.T.A. Hoffmann, is both a three-act opera and a trilogy of taut, individual dramas, all rolled into one.This Geneva production from 2002 features baritone Marc Laho in the tour-de-force triple villain roles, with three different standout sopranos as the tales' three heroines. French producer Olivier Py caused an uproar among Geneva operagoers with a staging of Tales of Hoffmann that features full-frontal male and female nudity and simulated on-stage lesbian and heterosexual sex.Audiences were left "gasping, giggling or reduced to stunned silence" by the production, which interprets the popular opera as an indictment of capitalist society. Py adds several simulated sex acts, including one between the poet Hoffman and the life-sized doll Olympia as she sings her main aria. Soprano Patricia Petitbon is a major tour de force as she sings Olympia wearing only a transparent body stocking in a Venetian bordello.

Emmanuelle Haim, Le Concert d'Astree - George Frideric Handel: Arcadian Duets (2002)

Posted By: ArlegZ
Emmanuelle Haim, Le Concert d'Astree - George Frideric Handel: Arcadian Duets (2002)

Emmanuelle Haïm, Le Concert d'Astrée - George Frideric Handel: Arcadian Duets (2002)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 259 Mb | Total time: 62:18 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Virgin Veritas | # 5 45524 2 | Recorded: 2001-2002

It's tempting to think these duets, which Handel composed at various points in his career, are just chips from the master's block. But they constitute a delightful hour's worth of music, and when sung with the vocal brilliance and stylishness displayed here by ten top singers in various pairings, they add up to one of those rare discs it's hard to stop returning to. Handel must have thought a lot of them too–since he reused some of this music for oratorios like Messiah–and turned to the chamber duet form in his last years as well. There isn't a weak link among the soloists, though the contributions of Natalie Dessay, Veronique Gens, and Sara Mingardo are especially noteworthy. Whether asked to sing plaintive laments or flashy coloratura displays, these well-matched voices thrill.

Michel Plasson, Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, Natalie Dessay - Léo Delibes: Lakmé (2022)

Posted By: ArlegZ
Michel Plasson, Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, Natalie Dessay - Léo Delibes: Lakmé (2022)

Michel Plasson, Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, Natalie Dessay - Léo Delibes: Lakmé (2022)
WEB FLAC | Tracks ~ 542 Mb | Total time: 2 h 22 min | Cover
Classical | Label: Erato | # 9029627909 | Recorded: 1997

For all its exotically tinged, trademark Orientalism, so fashionable in late-19th-century France, Delibe's opera Lakmé is at heart a simple story of tragically misplaced love. This marvelous and sensitively wrought interpretation renders the intensity of that love story with a surprising emotional credibility. Conductor Michel Plasson allows the music's arching melodies to breathe and unfold leisurely, like a lovingly cultivated floral display; he even discovers hidden nuances within the formulaic fluff that pads Delibe's score. And his vision is shared by the outstanding principals here. As the titular Hindu princess, Natalie Dessay gives a jewel-like performance, full of stunningly shaped phrases and tapered notes that sound like spun silk (and one that can favorably compare with Joan Sutherland's account on London).

John Eliot Gardiner, Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique - Christoph Willibald Gluck: Orphee et Eurydice (2008)

Posted By: ArlegZ
John Eliot Gardiner, Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique - Christoph Willibald Gluck: Orphee et Eurydice (2008)

John Eliot Gardiner, Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique, Monteverdi Choir - Christoph Willibald Gluck: Orphée et Eurydice (2008)
NTSC 16:9 (720x480) | Français (LinearPCM, 2 ch) | (DTS, 5 ch) | 100 min | 6,94 Gb (DVD9)
Classical | Label: EMI Classics | Sub: English, Français, Deutsch | Recorded: 1999

When the historic Theatre du Chatelet in Paris re-opened after a period of extensive refurbishment, the first two productions mounted in the theatre were Gluck’s Alceste and Orphée et Eurydice. Both operas were sung in their French versions and were mounted and designed by Robert Wilson and conducted by John Eliot Gardiner. This was the first time Wilson and Gardiner had collaborated and their individual credentials combined to produce an exceptional result.

Fabio Biondi, Europa Galante - Antonio Caldara: La Passione di Gesù Cristo Signor Nostro (1999)

Posted By: ArlegZ
Fabio Biondi, Europa Galante - Antonio Caldara: La Passione di Gesù Cristo Signor Nostro (1999)

Fabio Biondi, Europa Galante - Antonio Caldara: La Passione di Gesù Cristo Signor Nostro (1999)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 381 Mb | Total time: 79:31 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Virgin | # 7243 545325 2 8 | Recorded: 1998

Antonio Caldara was a mainstay at the Hapsburg court of Charles VI, and this large-scale oratorio (almost 80 minutes long) to a text by the renowned Metastasio was premiered at the royal chapel in 1730. It's a series of recitatives, arias, and intermittent choral interjections telling the story of the Passion and meditating on it. The overall mood is devotional, but the attractive music occasionally startles, as in the trombone accompaniment to the soprano aria "Dovunque il guardo." The attractive soloists wrap their voices around sonorous verbal felicities, and Fabio Biondi's fine early-music band plays with verve, making this a welcome exploration of a substantial work by an important contemporary of Vivaldi.

William Christie, Les Arts Florissants - Jean-Philippe Rameau: Hippolyte et Aricie (1997)

Posted By: ArlegZ
William Christie, Les Arts Florissants - Jean-Philippe Rameau: Hippolyte et Aricie (1997)

William Christie, Les Arts Florissants - Jean-Philippe Rameau: Hippolyte et Aricie (1997)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 940 Mb | Total time: 57:26+59:23+65:53 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Erato | # 0630-15517-2 | Recorded: 1995

“Christie's love-affair with Hippolyte informs every note of this mesmerising performance, transporting the listener from enchanting pastoral scenes to ominous, Stygian shores.” BBC Music Magazine

William Christie, Cappella Coloniensis - Étienne-Nicolas Méhul: Stratonice (1996)

Posted By: ArlegZ
William Christie, Cappella Coloniensis - Étienne-Nicolas Méhul: Stratonice (1996)

William Christie, Cappella Coloniensis - Étienne-Nicolas Méhul: Stratonice (1996)
EAC | FLAC | Tracks (Cue & Log) ~ 278 Mb | Total time: 61:41 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Erato | # 0630-12714-2 | Recorded: 1995

Mehul was the most famous French composer in the time of the Revolution, Consulate and Empire, praised by Mendelssohn, Schumann, Weber and Berlioz, and lauded to the skies by Cherubini, who called Stratonice (the fifth of his 35 operas) “a work of genius, Mehul’s masterpiece”. Nor was he alone in this opinion, since in Paris alone it was performed over 200 times during the next quarter of a century, though withdrawn during the Reign of Terror because of the finale praising royal compassion. The opera – comique only in the sense of including spoken dialogue – is serious in tone (as the grave and dramatic overture presages): based on a classical subject, it tells how Seleucus, King of Syria, engages a doctor (Erasistrate) to cure his son Antiochus’s suicidal depression, which is in fact caused by his love for his father’s fiancee, the Princess Stratonice.

Emmanuelle Haïm, Le Concert d’Astrée - Mozart: Mitridate (2017)

Posted By: Vilboa
Emmanuelle Haïm, Le Concert d’Astrée - Mozart: Mitridate (2017)

Emmanuelle Haïm, Le Concert d’Astrée - Mozart: Mitridate (2017)
NTSC 16:9 (720x480) | Italiano | LinearPCM, 2 ch | Dolby AC3, 6 ch | 6.92 + 5.15 Gb (2xDVD9) | 174 min
Classical | Erato | Sub.: Italiano, Francais, Deutsch, English

Mozart was just 14 years old when he composed Mitridate, re di Ponto, a noble opera seria based on a play by Racine. A great success at its premiere, it is only rarely staged today, so this 2016 performance, led by Emmanuelle Haïm at Paris’s Théâtre des Champs Elysées, was by definition a special occasion. The dazzlingly virtuosic cast is led by tenor Michael Spyres and sopranos Patricia Petibon and Sabine Devieilhe, while the intense modern staging is by Clément Hervieu-Léger, a resident director at France’s most illustrious theatre company, the Comédie Française.

William Christie, Les Arts Florissants - Jean-Philippe Rameau: Les Indes Galantes (2005)

Posted By: ArlegZ
William Christie, Les Arts Florissants - Jean-Philippe Rameau: Les Indes Galantes (2005)

William Christie, Les Arts Florissants - Jean-Philippe Rameau: Les Indes Galantes (2005)
NTSC 16:9 (720x480) | Français (LinearPCM, 2 ch) | (DTS, 5 ch) | 244 min | 7,66+7,27 Gb (2xDVD9)
Classical | Label: Opus Arte | Sub: Deutsch, English, Espanol, Francais, Italiano | Recorded: 2003

"Described as an Opera-Ballet in four Acts, Les Indes Galantes was Rameau's biggest stage success in his own lifetime, and one can understand why from this spectacular production, staged at the Paris Opéra in 2004. The director, Andrei Serban, presents the piece with the sort of lavish effects and movement that would have delighted 18th-century audiences…Outstanding among the soloists are Nathan Berg as Huascar…Anna Maria Panzarella as Emilie and Paul Agnew as Valere, with Joao Fernandez memorably in drag as Bellone. The final curtain brings an exuberant encore after the credits, with Christie hilariously joining in the dance.