
In the old days–say, 10 or 15 years ago–in order for a label to offer a compilation for a performer, said performer had to have
This is a tasteful, polished, and well-sung Creation (in German). Its notable weakness is surely baritone Dietrich Henschel’s unappealing timbre as the archangel Raphael, but
Danielle de Niese, who had her own TV show in Los Angeles when she was still a teenager, has grown into a lovely, engaging, gifted
These performances feature some voices that have gone on to bigger things, most notably Sandrine Piau, whose contributions to five numbers, particularly “Presso un fiume
You’d think that Marc-Antoine Charpentier’s Midnight Mass, in which the composer ingeniously incorporates 11 carol melodies into the work’s liturgical context, would be far more
Serse is a great opera, filled with terrific arias and a followable plot. There’s plenty of room for in-love pain and anguish from Romilda and
This is one of the most beautiful SACDs that I have heard to date, and it was recorded way back in 1988. I suppose the
Though credited with inventing the “opera-ballet” and known primarily today for his numerous spirited stage productions, the remarkably prolific French Baroque composer André Campra was
What a strange work–strange even for Rameau, who within the strictures of the French Baroque tends to surprise more often than any of his contemporaries.
The Best of Lully probably isn’t quite right, but this CD certainly shows the quintessential French Baroque composer at his most affable, dramatic, short-winded, and