This CD is reissued by ArkivMusic.
Notes and Editorial Reviews
This new Roberto Alagna disc offers a welcome and enjoyable collection of popular and less-well-known French opera arias. Along with the more or less standard fare of Saint-Saëns' Samson et Dalila, Bizet's Pearl Fishers, Halévy's La Juive, Meyerbeer's L'Africaine, Thomas' Mignon, Berlioz's Faust, Gluck's Iphigénie, and Lalo's Le Roi d'Ys, there are arias (and some recitatives) from Méhul's Joseph, Gounod's Mireille, Grétry's L'Amant jaloux, Bazin's Maître Pathelin, Cherubini's Les Abencérages, and Bruneau's L'Attaque du Moulin. All are expertly performed by Alagna, with an accomplished technique that allows him to produce full-bodied sound in the loud passages and maintain tonal solidity even in
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the softest pianissimos (no easy feat!). This lends dynamic excitement to the dramatic passages in "Rachel, quand du Seigneur" and "Vois ma misère, hélas". In these and others, Alagna's emotional and dramatic identification with the protagonists makes for highly involving mini-portrayals.
That said, about half-way into this album I started to feel a bit of ear-fatigue. Alagna's voice doesn't have the kind of ringing resonance characteristic of Pavarotti or the shining warmth of Björling--qualities that make you ever eager for the next selection and sorry when the program is over. So, as with most collections of this type, I rarely play the whole thing (72 minutes) at one sitting. Still, it's great to have this delightful repertoire beautifully sung by one of today's leading tenors, persuasively accompanied by Betrand de Billy and the Covent Garden orchestra. EMI's recording is well balanced, though the hard reverberation relays the sound of an empty hall.
--Victor Carr Jr., ClassicsToday.com Read less
Works on This Recording
1.
Maître Pathelin: Je pense a vous by François Bazin
Performer:
Roberto Alagna (Tenor)
Conductor:
Bertrand De Billy
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Royal Opera House Covent Garden Orchestra
Period: Romantic
Written: 1856; France
Date of Recording: 1999-2000
Venue: Lyndhurst Hall, Air Studios, London
Length: 2 Minutes 49 Secs.
Language: French
2.
Les abencérages: Suspendez à ces murs by Luigi Cherubini
Performer:
Roberto Alagna (Tenor)
Conductor:
Bertrand De Billy
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Royal Opera House Covent Garden Orchestra
Period: Romantic
Written: by 1813; France
Date of Recording: 1999-2000
Venue: Lyndhurst Hall, Air Studios, London
Length: 4 Minutes 36 Secs.
Language: French
3.
La juive: Rachel, quand du Seigneur by Jacques Halévy
Performer:
Roberto Alagna (Tenor)
Conductor:
Bertrand De Billy
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Royal Opera House Covent Garden Orchestra
Period: Romantic
Written: 1835; Paris, France
Date of Recording: 1999-2000
Venue: Lyndhurst Hall, Air Studios, London
Length: 6 Minutes 35 Secs.
Language: French
4.
Mignon: Elle ne croyait pas by Ambroise Thomas
Performer:
Roberto Alagna (Tenor)
Conductor:
Bertrand De Billy
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Royal Opera House Covent Garden Orchestra
Period: Romantic
Written: 1866; France
Date of Recording: 1999-2000
Venue: Lyndhurst Hall, Air Studios, London
Length: 4 Minutes 34 Secs.
Language: French
5.
L'Africaine: O paradis sorti de l'onde by Giacomo Meyerbeer
Performer:
Roberto Alagna (Tenor)
Conductor:
Bertrand De Billy
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Royal Opera House Covent Garden Orchestra
Period: Romantic
Written: 1865; Germany
Date of Recording: 1999-2000
Venue: Lyndhurst Hall, Air Studios, London
Length: 3 Minutes 33 Secs.
Language: French
Notes: This selection begins with "Pays merveilleux..."
6.
La damnation de Faust, Op. 24: Nature immense by Hector Berlioz
Performer:
Roberto Alagna (Tenor)
Conductor:
Bertrand De Billy
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Royal Opera House Covent Garden Orchestra
Period: Romantic
Written: France
Date of Recording: 1999-2000
Venue: Lyndhurst Hall, Air Studios, London
Length: 3 Minutes 53 Secs.
Language: French
Notes: Composition written: France (1845 - 1846).
7.
Iphigénie en Tauride: Unis de la plus tendre enfance by Christoph W. Gluck
Performer:
Roberto Alagna (Tenor)
Conductor:
Bertrand De Billy
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Royal Opera House Covent Garden Orchestra
Period: Classical
Written: 1778-1779; Vienna, Austria
Date of Recording: 1999-2000
Venue: Lyndhurst Hall, Air Studios, London
Length: 5 Minutes 33 Secs.
Language: French
Notes: This selection begins with "Quel langage accablant..."
8.
Les pêcheurs de perles: Je crois entendre encore by Georges Bizet
Performer:
Roberto Alagna (Tenor)
Conductor:
Bertrand De Billy
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Royal Opera House Covent Garden Orchestra
Period: Romantic
Written: 1863; France
Date of Recording: 1999-2000
Venue: Lyndhurst Hall, Air Studios, London
Length: 5 Minutes 24 Secs.
Language: French
Notes: This selection begins with "A cette voix quel trouble agitait tout mon être..."
9.
Le Roi d'Ys: Vainement, ma bien-aimée [Aubade] by Edouard Lalo
Performer:
Roberto Alagna (Tenor)
Conductor:
Bertrand De Billy
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Royal Opera House Covent Garden Orchestra
Period: Romantic
Written: 1875-1888; France
Date of Recording: 1999-2000
Venue: Lyndhurst Hall, Air Studios, London
Length: 3 Minutes 40 Secs.
Language: French
Notes: This selection begins with "Puisqu'on ne peut fléchir..."
10.
Joseph: Vainement, Pharaon...Champs paternals by Etienne-Nicolas Méhul
Performer:
Roberto Alagna (Tenor)
Conductor:
Bertrand De Billy
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Royal Opera House Covent Garden Orchestra
Period: Classical
Written: 1807; France
Date of Recording: 1999-2000
Venue: Lyndhurst Hall, Air Studios, London
Length: 5 Minutes 49 Secs.
Language: French
11.
Samson et Dalila, Op. 47: Vois ma misère by Camille Saint-Saëns
Performer:
Roberto Alagna (Tenor)
Conductor:
Bertrand De Billy
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Royal Opera House Covent Garden Orchestra,
London Voices
Period: Romantic
Written: 1877; France
Date of Recording: 1999-2000
Venue: Lyndhurst Hall, Air Studios, London
Length: 8 Minutes 55 Secs.
Language: French
12.
Le Cid: Ah! tout est bien fini...O Souverain, ô juge, ô père by Jules Massenet
Performer:
Roberto Alagna (Tenor)
Conductor:
Bertrand De Billy
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Royal Opera House Covent Garden Orchestra
Period: Romantic
Written: 1885; France
Date of Recording: 1999-2000
Venue: Lyndhurst Hall, Air Studios, London
Length: 5 Minutes 2 Secs.
Language: French
13.
Mireille: Mon coeur ne peut changer by Charles Gounod
Performer:
Roberto Alagna (Tenor)
Conductor:
Bertrand De Billy
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Royal Opera House Covent Garden Orchestra
Period: Romantic
Written: 1864; France
Date of Recording: 1999-2000
Venue: Lyndhurst Hall, Air Studios, London
Length: 3 Minutes 31 Secs.
Language: French
14.
L'amant jaloux: Sérénade by André Modeste Grétry
Performer:
Roberto Alagna (Tenor)
Conductor:
Bertrand De Billy
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Royal Opera House Covent Garden Orchestra
Period: Classical
Written: by 1778; France
Date of Recording: 1999-2000
Venue: Lyndhurst Hall, Air Studios, London
Length: 2 Minutes 49 Secs.
Language: French
15.
L'attaque du moulin: Le jour tombe by Alfred Bruneau
Performer:
Roberto Alagna (Tenor)
Conductor:
Bertrand De Billy
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Royal Opera House Covent Garden Orchestra
Period: Romantic
Written: 1892-1893; France
Date of Recording: 1999-2000
Venue: Lyndhurst Hall, Air Studios, London
Length: 5 Minutes 35 Secs.
Language: French
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