Christina Pluhar states: "Monteverdi's most admirable trait is the enormous diversity of compositional techniques that he masters and interweaves with supreme skill. Our aim in this recording is to bring out the variet� of his secular compositions. The modernity that runs like a constant thread through his pieces and makes his music seem timeless even in the twenty-first century is selfevident if one considers, for example, his use of ostinato basses. Jazz musicians are supposed to have 'invented' the walking bass in the 1940s, but already in Monteverdi we find ostinato basses which diverge from the standard ostinatos of the seventeenth century, that are unique of their kind and sound extremely modern." The BBC Magazine reviews the performance as "technical perfection". The easy informality with each other and the music, with which these pieces are performed, makes for a captivating listen. One of the most exciting Baroque performances to hit the record shelves this year. A Must Listen."

Conducted by Philippe Jordan, this recording of Ravel's complete score for Daphnis et Chlo� followed performances of the ballet at Op�ra Bastille in Paris. The staging evoked the heady days of Diaghilev's Ballets Russes as it brought together Jordan, the choreographer Benjamin Millepied and the designer Daniel Buren. Jordan had never conducted a ballet production before: "When I work on a symphony, it's different," he said, "Here, the sense of phrasing, the physicality that dancers bring, make it something else. "Completing the CD is another work by Ravel that was originally conceived for Diaghilev's Ballets Russe, the intoxicating and haunting La Valse. Famously, Diaghilev rejected the score after it was first played to him in a two-piano reduction; the performers were Ravel himself and the legendary Marcelle Meyer.

A new production by Opera de Lille

A new production by Opera de Lille

Gautier Capu�on's new album Sensations is a mix of popular music, classical (Smetana's Moldau), film (John Williams's Schindler's List), and well-known French songs ("La Vie en Rose", Jacques Brel's "Quand on n'a que l'amour").

3 LP clamshell. Mythologies is Thomas Bangalter's first composition for orchestra, conceived upon request of choreographer Angelin Preljocaj for the ballet of the same name. Performed by the Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine under the direction of Romain Dumas, it is a large and lyrical work in which Bangalter, co-founder of Daft Punk, reinvents his relationship to composition.

LES PECHEURS DE PERLES

Further to his two recitals (Italian Opera Arias and Gounod / Massenet Arias), Rolando Villazon's releases his 3rd recital on Virgin Classics, featuring opera arias in 4 languages: French, Italian, English & Russian. And sees Rolando Villazon's second collaboration with Michael Plasson, after their recording of Berlioz' choral works on EMI. Rolando Villazon in undoubtedly the revelation of the years 2004-2005, and has won wide acknowledgement world-wide, not to mention the 2005 Gramophone Award he has received this September for his Gounod / Massenet recital. Virgin Classic. 2006.

RECITAL

The innovative Baroque style that served as the primary livelihood in establishing Les Arts Florissants' impeccable reputation is portrayed again in this release of Handel's Acis and Galatea. Conducted by the ensemble's founder, William Christie, Gramophone notes that his new version is "a polished and strongly characterized performance, finely recorded", being the first recording anyone should try.

The other thing that listening to all these performances has reinforced for me is how endlessly inventive, how eloquent and how moving is the music of Bach. I suspect that Fritz Werner would regard that as the best possible testament to his work (MusicWeb, 2005).

ENTRE ELLE & LUI (BLURAY) - LI

Puccini Arias & Songs / Te Kanawa, Composer: Giacomo Puccini, Performer: Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, Roger Vignoles, Conductor: Kent Nagano, Orchestra/Ensemble: Lyon Opera Orchestra, Date of Recording: 05/1996, Venue: National Opera House, Lyon, France. Madame Butterfly, La Boh�me, Turandot, Tosca and more performed by Kiri Te Kanawa.

Mozart: Don Giovanni / Barenboim, Cuberli, Meier, Rodgers Composer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Performer: Lella Cuberli, Matti Salminen, John Tomlinson, Joan Rodgers, Conductor: Daniel Barenboim, Orchestra/Ensemble: Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Berlin RIAS Chamber Chorus. For some reason, Daniel Barenboim's recordings of the Mozart-Da Ponte masterpieces have been overlooked. All three have splendid casts and among them, this may be the least spectacular, but it is nonetheless a wonderful performance. Joan Rodgers has a gorgeous voice, and sings Zerlina with radiant and womanly warmth - no voce infantile here, thank the gods. It's a pity she hasn't recorded more. She is, fortunately, in Barenboim's two other Mozart-Da Ponte operas, singing her heart out as Susanna and Despina. Furlanetto has an interesting take on the role of the Don. He usually sings Leprello, but here he sings the part of Don Giovanni with a rather unique interpretation. He plays the Don as somewhat of a fool, with more of a comic slant than I have ever heard. But humor was part of Mozart's original intention, and the Don does have his roots in street theater, so in this case a buffo Don works. Tomlinson as Leporello is more of the Don's straight man, and there seems to be a bit of role reversal going on here between the clownish Don and his more dignified servant. Tomlinson's voice can be, I think, rather boring a kind of voice-in-a-box, like Samuel Ramey. Good, strong, accurate, but not much drama or artfulness. Ewe Heilmann's ravishingly beautiful Mozartian tenor voice adds a welcome dimension of eros to the role of the too-often bland and wimpy Don Ottavio. Waltraud Meier's Donna Elvira, though occassionally a bit on the shrill side, and Leila Cuberli's Donna Anna are both rich, full-bodied, exciting and very womanly. Barenboim seems to have a talent for drawing out highly passionate responses from women.

Puccini: La Boheme / Nagano, Te Kanawa, Leech, Ambrosian Singers, LSO. Composer: Giacomo Puccini, Performer: Alan Ewing, Richard Leech, Roberto Scandiuzzi, Carlos Chausson, Conductor: Kent Nagano Orchestra/Ensemble: London Symphony Orchestra, Ambrosian Singers, St. Clement Danes Nearly a century after it's premiere in Turin in February 1896 we have a fresh and vibrant new recording of this opera - one of the best known and probably most loved in Puccini's output. Nagano is well able to delineate Puccini's large musical canvas, sweeping the colors of the orchestral scoring and the glorious vocal lines onwards and upwards with an intoxicating, rumbustious swagger. If Te Kanawa had made a recording of this role around the time she sang it at Covent Garden in 1976 (with Pavarotti as Rodolfo) or in the subsequent revival in 1979, it would have made for a fascinating comparison. Amazingly, this is her first recording of Mim� and she has successfully managed to integrate her mature, lustrous sound with the poignant vulnerability and gradually ebbing strength of Mim� to remarkable effect. It is a hauntingly convincing performance. Leech provides an excellent shaping of Rodolfo with a rich, passionate tone. Titus (Marcello) and Gustafson (Musetta) are as finely characterized and vividly sung as one could hope and all the ensemble interplays, especially in Acts III and IV, have a fresh and dynamic intensity.