The French Reverie Collection
Over 600 titles celebrating the elegance, drama, and imagination of French music are on sale now at ArkivMusic!
Discover music by Debussy, Bizet, Berlioz, Gounod, Meyerbeer, Poulenc, and more. From grand opera and orchestral masterworks to impressionist soundscapes and Parisian charm, discover a curated collection inspired by the romance and grandeur of French music.
Shop the sale now before it ends at 9:00am ET, Tuesday, July 14, 2026.
636 products
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SaleRavel: Orchestral Works, Vol. 4 - Daphnis et Chloe / Slatkin, Spirito, Lyon National Orchestra
Naxos · Jan 2017CD$19.99$9.99 -
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Berlioz: Symphonie fantastique - Transformed / Lavandier, Pascal, Le Balcon
Alpha · Nov 2016CD$20.99 -
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Verdi Operas: The Royal Opera House Box Set / Rizzi, Pappano, Orchestra of the Royal Opera House [Blu-ray]
Opus Arte · Oct 2016Blu-Ray$52.99 -
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Fantasies, Rhapsodies & Daydreams / Steinbacher, Foster, Monte-Carlo Philharmonic
PENTATONE · Sep 2016SACD$21.99 -
Offenbach: La grande duchesse de Gerolstein / Valentini-Terrani, Villaume
Dynamic · Aug 2016CD$18.99 -
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Ravel: Orchestral Works, Vol. 4 - Daphnis et Chloe / Slatkin, Spirito, Lyon National Orchestra
Composed for Sergey Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes, Ravel’s ‘symphonie chorégraphique’ Daphnis et Chloé is based on a classical Greco-Roman love story set on the island of Lesbos. He described the work as ‘a vast musical fresco’, and with its extraordinarily passionate music, lush harmonies and orchestration, is considered both his masterpiece and the epitome of Impressionism in music. Orchestrated from the third of his Miroirs for piano, Ravel’s Une barque sur l’océan is an evocative portrayal of the ever-changing moods of the sea.
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REVIEWS:
This performance and recording comes close to fulfilling all of Ravel’s requirements. Slatkin paces the score admirably, even when he sets a spanking pace for the opening of the pirates’ dance. The orchestra find no difficulties in coping with the articulation of the notes here or in the final dance. I would put this Daphnis high on the list of currently available recordings.
– MusicWeb International
The shimmering orchestration and lush harmonies that epitomize impressionism are lovingly rendered by Slatkin and the French orchestra. While Daphnis et Chloé is most often presented as two suites for orchestra, this performance also includes the atmospheric choral parts, sung by Spirito, a body consisting of the Choruses and Soloists of Lyon and the Britten Chorus. Naxos provides remarkably clear and deep sound, so the finer points of Ravel’s scores are easily heard.
– All Music Guide
Verdi: La Traviata
Berlioz: Symphonie fantastique - Transformed / Lavandier, Pascal, Le Balcon
Le Balcon, founded in 2008, is an artistic collective that has made a name for itself with highly original creations (Eötvös, Boulez, Stockhausen, etc.) combining sonic and visual innovations. In this, the very first disc made by Le Balcon and its conductor Maxime Pascal, who recently won the Nestlé and Salzburg Festival Young Conductors Award, the masterpiece of Berlioz is recomposed – or decomposed – by the young composer Arthur Lavandier and recorded in 3D sound!
Le Balcon takes a keen interest in technological issues related to sound reproduction, and here offers an original approach by superimposing three recording processes (transaural, binaural, 5.1), each dedicated to a specific medium: physical disc, web, video. The recording was made at the Conservatoire d’Art Dramatique in Paris, in the very hall where the Symphonie fantastique was premiered in 1830. For the ‘March to the Scaffold’, Le Balcon, which has a very open-minded attitude to amateur music making, collaborated with a street band from Carcassonne, ‘Tonton à faim’! A final point worth noting: the bronze bells used in the "Dream of a Witches’ Sabbath" (300 and 600 kg) were cast specially for the recording by the Festival Berlioz at La Côte Saint-André.
This is the first release in a series that inaugurates a new type of partnership initiated by Alpha, which presents highly creative musical ensembles like Le Balcon while leaving them in total control of their project from A to Z, from production through to communication.
Celebrated Distin Family / Prince Regent's Band
The Prince Regent's band, featuring noted brass players, make their recording debut on Resonous Classics with a celebration of the legendary Distin Family. During the mid-nineteenth century the Distin Family blazed a traila cross Europe and North America performing countless concerts and promoting new and exciting designs of brass instruments. The Distins originally performed on a mixture of natural and keyed brass instruments but halfway through their career, thanks to a chance meeting with Adolphe Sax in Paris in 1844, they adopted the new valved brass instruments, and in particular the new "saxhorn", with which their names became synonymous. In "The Celebrated Distin Family", period brass specialists The Prince Regent's Band have recreated the lost Distin Family repertoire, performing on their unique collection of original saxhorns and other fascinating brass instruments of the period.
PIANO TRIOS
Eric Le Sage plays Poulenc
The enchanting piano music of Francis Poulenc deserves to be better known. Perhaps the finest exponent it has enjoyed on record is the French artist Eric Le Sage. ClassicsToday.com called his recording of the concertos the finest single disc available, “better even than the composer’s recordings, and that’s saying a lot. They have everything: style, spirit, a vivid sense of fun, a touch of sentiment that never turns maudlin, and that ability to change moods every few bars that Poulenc always requires. Beautifully clean, well-balanced sonics round out this enticing picture.” BBC Music Magazine declared: “Eric Le Sage is an outstanding Poulenc pianist.” All his recordings of the composer are now brought together in this 6-CD box.
REVIEW:
As well as the piano music 0 which he plays with an ideal balance of insouciance and intensity - there are the two piano concertos and the Aubade, and all the sonatas, with a superb lineup of soloists. Buckets of charm here, in very good sound.
– Gramophone (12/2016)
Verdi Operas: The Royal Opera House Box Set / Rizzi, Pappano, Orchestra of the Royal Opera House [Blu-ray]
This trio of unforgettable Royal Opera productions feature some of the most cherished and admired examples of Verdi’s operatic genius. The composer returned to his early masterpiece Macbeth after the great successes Il trovatore and La traviata had propelled him to universal fame, and his 1865 revision – today the most popular version of the work – shares the marks of dramatic and musical innovation that enshrine all three operas as undying classics. Phyllida Lloyd stages Verdi’s setting of the Scottish play, featuring Simon Keenlyside’s athletic, brooding Thane opposite Liudmyla Monastyrska’s imperious Lady. Rivalry blazes between José Cura’s troubadour and Dmitri Hvorostovsky’s Count in an Elijah Moshinsky production with sets by noted film designer Dante Ferretti. Starring as the illfated courtesan Violetta in Richard Eyre’s classic production is Renée Fleming, loved by Joseph Calleja as Alfredo against the wishes of his unyielding father, played by Thomas Hampson. Verdi’s best-loved works brought vividly to life.
Berlioz: Romeo et Juliette / Ticciati, Swedish Radio Symphony
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REVIEW:
The sound pictures are precise and subtle. Katija Dragojevic is a gorgeously warm mezzo, and Alastair Miles a stentorian bass in the final Serment de réconciliation.
– Guardian (UK)
Il etait une fois / Devos, Meng, Quatuor Giardini
With the rise of Romanticism, the topics of opera changed from the mythological fantasy of Baroque operas to the fairytale fantasy which graced the French stage long before Romanticism reached other European nations. Initiated by the Palazzetto Bru Zane, this project is built like a universal fairytale, inspired by Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Bluebeard, and others, as set to music by French composers of the Romantic period, alternating between famous composers such as Offenbach and Rossini and little known masters like Viardot, Silver, and Isouard. This imaginary opera was conceived and transcribed by Alexandre Dratwicki for piano quartet and two singers- a soprano and a mezzo, the roles of which are performed here by Jodie Devos and Caroline Meng.
Fantasies, Rhapsodies & Daydreams / Steinbacher, Foster, Monte-Carlo Philharmonic
Thrilling flights of fancy abound from violinist Arabella Steinbacher in Fantasies, Rhapsodies and Daydreams Spectacular virtuoso playing, bravura passagework and show-stopping melodies are balanced with wistful lyricism and sublime tone painting in this irresistible programme of perennial favourites, played with elan by the violinist Arabella Steinbacher with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo, conducted by Lawrence Foster in this new release from Pentatone.
From the high jinks and outrageous showmanship of Franz Waxman's Carmen Fantasie and Pablo de Sarasate's Zigeunerweisen, to the fearsome technical demands of Ravel's Tzigane and the exquisite refinement of Saint-Saens' Havanaise and Introduction et Rondo capriccioso, this album harks back to an earlier era of violin playing.
REVIEW:
Were someone to ask me to suggest a disc to introduce them to the violin, I might well steer them in the direction of this one. I rather like the way she pushes on in the central section of The Lark Ascending, and it cleverly elides into the beginning of Saint-Saens's Havanaise. This, the Introduction and Rondo capriccio, and Ravel's Tzigane are given excellent performances. The standout performance comes with the Meditation from Massanet's Thais, done with breathtaking beauty, a turn-on for any newcomer to the violin.
– Gramophone
Offenbach: La grande duchesse de Gerolstein / Valentini-Terrani, Villaume
Jacques Offenbach's masterpiece La Grande-Duchesse de Gérosltein should be performed much more often. This re-edition has an excellent cast lead by Lucia Valentini-Terrani and Carlo Allemanno. Offenbach composed the music to La Grande-Duchesse during the height of his compositional career and premiered the opera in Paris in 1867.
Deo Gratias: Music for Brass with Organ & Handbells
Saint-Saens: Music for Piano Duo & Duet, Vol. 1 / Jones, Farmer
Martin Jones and Adrian Farmer are widely acclaimed musicians, both performing on several Nimbus Records albums. Martin's is a prolific recording artist and has recorded most of the standard works for piano. This new release is the first of two volumes of original compositions and arrangements for piano duo and duet by Camille Saint-Saëns. His music was often described as "having wit and charm".
Und seine Zeit
SATIE
Bessy: Pas de Dieux - Staats: Soir de Fête
A Sunday in Paris / Verdin, Kennedy, Christ Church Schola Cantorum
This album shows the listener what a Parisian would have heard on a Sunday in the 19th century, with these recordings of harmonium works. It was common practice for the harmonium toaccompany the choir during morning Mass, then Benediction of the Blessed Sacraments in the afternoon. This two disc set includes a disc of music from the church, and a disc of a salon concert. Joris Verdin is the harmonium performer on this recording. For the sacred works he is joined by the Christ Church Schola Cantorum.
The Royal Opera: A Collection
This outstanding collection contains 6 discs and features some of the most memorable performances by The Royal Opera. The works included in this set include Verdi’s Aida, Otello, and Stiffelio, Strauss’s Salome, Gounod’s Romeo Et Juliette, and Mozart’s Mitridate, re di Ponto. These discs bring together incredible conductors Paul Daniel, Edward Downes, Charles Mackerras, and Georg Solti with world-class stage directors Elijah Moshinsky, Nicholas Joel, Peter Hall, and Graham Vick. These recordings, all taken between 1992 and 1994, are preserved here in Standard Definition and 4/3 picture format.