COMPLETE SYMPHONIC & ERATO RECORDINGS FOR WARNER

L'ALLEGRO IL PENSEROSO ED IL MODERATO

ETERNAL STORIES

VESPERAE SOLENNES DE CONFESSORE

PROKOFIEV: WAR & PEACE

MOZART: DIE ZAUBERFLOTE

Swiss-born Michel Corboz was a conductor whose joy in singing inspired his exploration of choral works and opera. A fine baritone with a background in church music, he strove for an orchestra that sings. In addition to the ancient repertoire which brought him fame, he devoted the same energy and profound continuity to the periods that followed: Austro-Germans Mozart, Haydn, Schubert, Schumann, Mendelssohn, Brahms and Beethoven; Italians Verdi, Puccini and Rossini; Swiss and Frenchmen Martin, Honegger, Saint-Sa�ns and Faur� - whose Requiem Corboz recorded in 1972, marking a true milestone in recorded music history! Beyond his vast flexibility of style, Corboz, the sculptor of voices, sought to draw the listener into an encompassing experience of expressiveness and joy.

Bizet: Les P�cheurs de perles - Les P�cheurs de perles is known above all for it's magnificent duet for tenor and baritone. Here, that celebrated number is set in the context of a complete performance that expresses the very essence of Gallic style. Pierre Dervaux leads the forces of the Op�ra-Comique and a cast of emblematic French singers of the post-War era. They are joined by Nicolai Gedda - Swedish-born, but characteristically and idiomatically elegant as the romantic hero Nadir.

Double vinyl LP pressing.

The music of Ravel is especially close to Alexandre Tharaud's heart. Now, in partnership with the Orchestre National de France and conductor Louis Langr�e, he has recorded both the composer's piano concertos, pairing them with Noches en los jardines de Espa�a (Nights in the Gardens of Spain), Manuel de Falla's sumptuous work for piano and orchestra. "Ravel's Concerto in G major is fresh and Mozartian in it's colours, while his Concerto for the Left Hand is haunted by dark shades and suppressed fears," says Tharaud. Both concertos were premiered in 1932. "Characteristically for Ravel, they are simultaneously unique and alike. They share meticulous craftsmanship and jazzy touches, and both evoke little automata and the ghosts of war." The cross-currents of French and Spanish culture, so evident in Ravel's aesthetic, flow though Falla's concerto-like piece too. The Andalusian composer lived for a time in Paris and became friendly with Ravel. "The solo piano in Noches en los jardines de Espa�a plays a different role from the piano in the Ravel concertos," continues Tharaud. "It blends in more closely with the orchestra, though the works share a Romantic spirit and a poignant sense of nostalgia."

A giant fresco, a kind of odyssey, is Bertrand Chamayou's description of Olivier Messiaen's piano masterwork, Vingt Regards sur L'Enfant-J�sus. Written in 1944, it is a monumental, mystical and iridescent sequence of 20 gazes or contemplations on the infant Jesus. Messiaen once wrote that "The drama of my life is that I have written religious music for an audience that has no faith." Bertrand Chamayou feels that the Vingt Regards "is a mystical rather than a religious experience... It arouses the same kind of awe as walking into a magnificent cathedral or seeing a glorious sunset. You feel that time stops." Chamayou first played the work in 2008, Messiaen's centenary year, but it has been part of his life since he was nine years old. "It was revelation... I think I can say that the Vingt Regards has played a role in shaping the way I play, the sound I produce and my approach as an interpreter." To complement this two-hour landmark of the repertoire, Chamayou has also recorded five short musical tributes to Messiaen, written in the years following his death in 1992. They are by Toru Takemitsu, Tristan Murail, Gy�rgy Kurt�g, Jonathan Harvey and Anthony Cheung.

LEYENDAS

Swiss-born Michel Corboz was a conductor whose joy in singing inspired his exploration of choral works and opera. A fine baritone with a background in church music, he said that he even wanted "an orchestra that sings". In 1964, opening up a new world of possibilities, producer Michel Garcin signed Corboz and the Ensemble Vocal de Lausanne - the group he had founded three years earlier - to the Erato label. Over the ensuing years, Corboz (who died in 2021) built an extensive discography, expanding the audience for composers like Monteverdi - sparsely represented at the time - Carissimi, Lalande and Marc-Antoine Charpentier, while reinforcing the presence of such figures as Bach, Handel and Purcell. Intent above all on doing justice to the composer, he readily collaborated with both period specialists and the modern instruments of the Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne and Lisbon's Gulbenkian Orchestra. A substantial number of the recordings in this 74-disc set are receiving their first CD release and have been specially remastered in high definition. Encompassing the Renaissance and the Baroque, this is the first and larger of two boxes to be devoted to Corboz's Erato discography; it's counterpart will range from the Classical era to the 20th century.

F�licien Brut has two loves: his accordion and the city of Paris. The title track of his first Erato album is a song made famous in the 1930s by the trailblazing American singer Josephine Baker, an adoptive Parisienne. J'ai deux amours places Brut's accordion in a variety of musical contexts as it's 17 tracks take the listener on a stroll around Paris. "I originally chose the accordion so that I could play popular music," says F�licien Brut. "It was only in my teens that I discovered a whole other world: the world of so-called classical or 'serious' music... My belief is that music, whether classical or popular, has the power to touch people, to make them smile, to revive memories." J'ai deux amours combines popular song, classical repertoire and new works by Fabien Waksman, Karol Beffa and Thibault Perrine. Exploring Paris with F�licien Brut are the Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine, conductor Pierre Dumoussaud, and six guest artists: soprano Julie Fuchs; cellist Edgar Moreau; guitarist Thibaut Garcia; double bassist Edouard Macarez; pianist Adam Laloum, and actor Vincent Dedienne.

Alexandre Tharaud's relationship with film music runs deep - it also ranges wide. On his double album CINEMA, the French pianist delves into 50 celebrated film scores by composers from France, Italy, the USA, Japan, Poland, Romania and Lebanon - 19 in all. Among them are Michel Legrand, John Williams, Ennio Morricone, Francis Lai, Marvin Hamlisch, Nino Rota and Philip Glass. As Tharaud says: "This album pays tribute to them with a selection of pieces for piano and orchestra and for piano solo, most in their original versions, creating a sound-world every bit as thrilling without the motion picture." The movie magic is reinforced by Tharaud's starry partners on the album: Antonio Pappano conducts the Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, and making guest appearances are singers Vanessa Paradis, Cam�lia Jordana and Sabine Devieilhe, clarinettist Michel Portal and vioinist Nemanja Radulovic.