André Dran News
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2019-06-25 18:55:00
[…] was also hommage to Berlioz himself. Berlioz was literary : he loved words on the page as much as in the theatre. When he used text, it was often integral to his music. The concert included spoken quotations from Berlioz's own writings, and commentary. The speakers were clearly heard, again demonstrating the merits of the Pierre Boulez Salle. Thus the Chant de chemins de fer (H110, 1850), a cantata for voice, orchestra and chorus, with tenor Julien Dran. The text, by Jules Janin, expresses the exhilration of new technology, the coming of railways and the "merveilles de l’industrie". Berlioz wrote the piece very rapidly, taking time off from working on Le Damnation de Faust. Perhaps there are connections : just as Faust flies through the skies, trains carried people through the landcape at what were then almost unimaginable speeds. Even more pertinently, Goethe's Faust made his pact with Méphistofeles in order to […]
2018-09-30 06:00:48
Christophe Rousset conducts a fine recording of Les Horaces – then turns his hand to Couperin’s harpsichord suites • Antonio Salieri has had a renaissance as a composer famous for being not quite as good as Mozart. Partly as a result of Peter Shaffer’s Amadeus, his grand operas Les Danaïdes and Tarare have been revived. They were successful in their own time; now comes a fine account of Les Horaces (Aparte), which was not. Composed in 1786 (the year of Figaro), it was destined for the French court at Fontainebleau, but the queen rejected it, and in spite of adjustments it never found favour. The libretto, about a power struggle in ancient Rome, is awkward, but there is enough dramatic impetus to produce some terrific music, especially for the unfortunate Camille (Judith van Wanroij), who is caught up in the conflict. Horace is the fresh-voiced Julien Dran, and his implacable father […]
2018-06-27 23:00:00
Messager: Fortunio - Gardiner
André Messager (1853-1929)FORTUNIO (1907)Thierry Dran, Colette Alliot-Lugaz, Gille CachemailleFrancis Dudziak, Michel TrempontChoeurs de l'Opéra de LyonOrchestre de l'Opéra de Lyondir : John Eliot GardinerRecorded 1987Erato Libretto 2292-45983-2 stereo, 2 CDs [P] 1993FLAC images, cuesheets, scans, booklet When I reviewed the original release of this recording I suggested it was as well to get possible misconceptions out of the way right at the start. So let me stress that this is not another operetta by the composer of Véronique‚ but a genuine opera. Messager was‚ after all‚ a cultured musician‚ who was artistic director at the Paris Opéra and Covent Garden‚ as well as the original conductor of Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande.He composed Fortunio for the Paris OpéraComique in 1907‚ when the legal clerk Landry and the soldier Clavaroche were created by Jean Périer and Hector Dufranne‚ the creators of Pelléas and Golaud in Debussy’s opera. Fernand Francell sang the title […]
2015-11-20 03:30:00
Opera Favourites #1 - French and German
[…] Frank Bauer. Rundfunkchor Berlin & Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester BerlinVladimir JurowskiRCA 74321 58224-2 (1998) Jules MassenetWerther Jerry Hadley, Anne Sofie von Otter, Gérard Théruel, Dawn Upshaw, Jean-Marie Frémeau, Gilles Ragon, Frédéric Caton, Geneviève Marchand. Maîtrise et Orchestre de l'Opéra National de LyonKent Nagano Erato 0630-17790-2 (1995) Jacques Offenbach Les Contes d'Hoffmann Neil Shicoff, Ann Murray, Luciana Serra, Rosalind Plowright, Jessye Norman, José van Dam, Robert Tear, Jocelyne Taillon, Alexander Oliver, Marcel Vanaud, Dale Duesing, Thierry Dran, Kurt Rydl. Orchestre et Choeurs du Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie Sylvain Cambreling EMI 7 49641 2 (1986) Jacques Offenbach Les Contes d'Hoffmann Francisco Araiza, Anne Sofie von Otter, Eva Lind, Jessye Norman, Samuel Ramey, Georges Gautier, Felicity Palmer, Riccardo Cassinelli, Jürgen Hartfiel, Jean-Luc Chaignaud, Peter Menzel, Rolf Tomaszewski, Boris Martinovitch. Rundfunkchor Leipzig & Staatskapelle Dresden Jeffrey Tate Decca 478 2675 (1991) Camille Saint-Saëns Samson et Dalila Plácido Domingo, […]
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