Lea Desandre, Nathalie Pérez, Chantal Santon Jeffery, Opera Fuocom and David Stern – Berenice, che fai ? (2017)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:08:41 minutes | 1,33 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Aparté
Around the Franco-Italian mezzo soprano Lea Desandre – who made her big début with William Christie in the Jardins des voix, then won the “Lyrical Revelation” prize in the Victoires de la musique in 2017 – the sopranos Nathalie Pérez and Chantal Santon-Jeffery have concocted a programme that takes in many different lyrical incarnations of Berenice of Egypt and her misadventures with the King, Antigono Gonatas, through the prism of Metastasio’s Antigone, which has been set to music by well over thirty composers, some focusing more on Antigone, others on Berenice. We will hear little-known airs like those of Haydn, Mozart, Johann Christian Bach and Hasse: the principle virtue of this album is that it allows us to discover these rarities, which often call for virtuoso vocal talents, and so are perfect for the voices of the three singers presented here. A rarity among rarities, we will also find a stunning air from Marianna von Martinez who held a musical salon in Vienna which received visits from… Haydn and Mozart.
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Karine Deshayes, Opera Fuoco, David Stern – French Romantic Cantatas: Cherubini, Boisselot, Herold, Catel (2014)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/88,2 kHz | Time – 01:17:13 minutes | 1,25 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Zig-Zag Territoires
Produced by the Bru-Zane Foundation, whose mission is to aid in the rediscovery of unjustly neglected French music, 1780 to 1920. An album of Romantic French cantatas by Cherubini, Heand Boisselot in the company of an exceptional guide, mezzo-soprano Karine Deshayes, Opera Fuoco and its conductor, David Stern. The French Cantata, a Baroque-era presence, was restored to favor in the 19th century as an alternative to the Italian stage, then generally perceived in France as being overly exuberant.
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Opera Fuoco & David Stern – Mayr: L’amor conjugale (2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:43:03 minutes | 1,84 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Aparté
A daring wife disguises herself in order to be hired as a prison guard and thus rescue her unjustly detained husband: the story of Leonora, taken from the French novel by Jean-Nicolas Bouilly, is familiar to us through Beethoven’s only opera.
The same story also inspired Giovanni Simone Mayr, a German composer who lived and taught in Bergamo. An adept of Italian bel canto, he counted Gaetano Donizetti as one of his pupils.
L’Amor Coniugale brought Mayr great success following its 1805 premiere in Padua and was revived many times. Love is not only at the centre of the plot, but also of the score, which cleverly combines orchestral writing inherited from Mozart and Haydn with the Italian vocal tradition. This ‘sacred union’ makes Mayr’s music highly appealing.
Revisited by David Stern and his Opera Fuoco in a complete, critical version, this is an essential recording of Nineteenth Century opera repertoire.
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