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Les Baxter – African Jazz (1959/2020)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 29:48 minutes | 262 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © RevOla
Les Baxter’s African Jazz is an album by Les Baxter and His Orchestra. It was released in 1959 on the Capitol label (catalog no. T-1117). The album consists of original music composed by Baxter.[1][2] Upon its release, the album received a four-star rating from Billboard magazine. Billboard called it an “imaginative package” with “inventive treatments”, excellent sound, and “lush, rich approaches.”
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Les Arts Florissants and Paul Agnew – Gesualdo: Madrigali, Libri primo & secondo (2019)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 01:21:39 minutes | 802 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © harmonia mundi
Much gossip has surrounded the double murder committed by Carlo Gesualdo, who killed his young wife and her lover when he caught them in flagrante delicto. The remorse he felt for this atrocious crime is said to have inspired the Neapolitan composer to write new harmonies, using and abusing scraping and characterful chromatisms. Paul Agnew takes aim at this widespread belief, contending that “this aristocratic double murder only indirectly influenced the musician’s life.” In a very interesting introductory text, the “Associate Musical Director” of the Arts Florissants sets the figure of Gesualdo back into his historical context, explaining just how his tormented psychological state would have fed into his own musical evolution, alongside the musical journeys of his peers. The same line of argument is also made by musicologist Denis Morrier in his analysis of the two first Books of Madrigals, which are presented here: “At once visionary and conservative, eccentric in language and conventional in form, these works have fascinated musicians and commentators across the ages”, he writes.
Following the recording of 17 madrigals from Book IV to Book VI, conducted by William Christie in 1988, this new album marks the first stage of a complete recording of Gesualdo’s Madrigals, which are to be performed across three seasons at the Philharmonie de Paris. Passionate, violent, dark and burning with meaning, Gesualdo’s music touches the heart and speaks to us of the doubts and contradictions of the human soul.
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Les Arts Florissants & William Christie – Si vous vouliez un jour…airs serieux et à boire, Vol. 2 (2019)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:13:40 minutes | 1,29 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © harmonia mundi
As the first of a series of publications that aim to celebrate forty years of the “Arts Flo” founded by William Christie in 1979, this new album, recorded at the Philharmonie de Paris in 2016, is made up of “serious songs and “drinking songs” from France in the 17th century. Following the filming of Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea, performed at the Salzburg Festival 2018, and the ambitious complete recording of Carlo Gesualdo’s Madrigaux conducted by Paul Agnew, who is little by little taking over as the ensemble’s conductor, new editions are returning towards harmonia mundi, the “historic” publisher of the Arts Florissants and their founder.
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Les Arts Florissants & William Christie – Rameau: Platée (2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 02:14:05 minutes | 2,73 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © harmonia mundi
A marsh nymph thinks she is so irresistible that Jupiter himself will take an interest in her… Brimming with exceptional dramatic and musical verve, this strangely under-recorded ‘ballet bouffon’ offers us Rameau’s art in a nutshell: glittering orchestration, harmonies and rhythms of unprecedented modernity. William Christie and his comrades plunge with delight into what is one of its composer’s most fascinating works.
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Les Arts Florissants & William Christie – Monteverdi: L’incoronazione di Poppea (2019)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 03:06:32 minutes | 3,27 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © harmonia mundi
An echo of the luxuriant performance at the 2018 Salzburg Festival, where this recording was made, this new version of the Coronation of Poppea by Claudio Monteverdi, conducted by William Christie (who had already recorded the piece once before, at a concert in Madrid, with production by Pier-Luigi Pizzi, in 2010) met with unanimous acclaim thanks to its exceptional musical execution. A distribution to die for, dominated by Sonja Yoncheva’s voluptuous interpretation of the titular role, and fabulous instrumentation from the Arts Florissants, led by Christie, with no fancy tricks, from the vantage point of his harpsichord. These ingredients all add up to a very high quality production to mark the fortieth anniversary of the ensemble, which was founded in 1979.
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Les Arts Florissants & William Christie – Le Jardin De Monsieur Rameau (2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:21:01 minutes | 1,57 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © harmonia mundi
“Le Jardin de Monsieur Rameau,” the second recording by Les Editions Arts Florissants, was released in April 2014 as part of the commemorations of the 250th anniversary of the composer’s death.
These recordings reprise the program of French music given for the 2013 Jardin des Voix, performed by William Christie and six soloists from the sixth edition of the Arts Florissants Academy for young singers.
From Rameau to Dauvergne via Campra, the musicians invite us on a promenade through the vocal art of the French Enlightenment.
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Xavier de Maistre, Les Arts Florissants, William Christie – La Harpe Reine: Concertos for Harp at the Court of Marie-Antoinette (Live) (2016)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 01:10:08 minutes | 731 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © harmonia mundi
Mention Marie Antoinette, and inevitably the guillotine springs to mind – one is less likely to think of the harp, which, according to courtiers’ accounts from the end of the Ancien Régime, she played admirably.
Thanks to Louis XVI’s queen and to her Austrian origins, a whole new and deliciously refined repertoire saw the light of day in Versailles, a repertoire that subsequently became known throughout Europe. To celebrate their first musical partnership, William Christie and Xavier de Maîstre have undertaken to revive these splendid works in a program full of charm and surprises. Audiences will discover Les Arts Florissants playing an unexpected collection of concertante pieces by Jean-Baptiste Krumpholz, Johann David Hermann and Joseph Haydn on authentic late 18th-century instruments.
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Les Arts Florissants, William Christie – J.S. Bach: Mass in B Minor, BWV 232 (Live) (2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 01:45:00 minutes | 1,01 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © harmonia mundi
The Monteverdi Choir and English Baroque Soloists are renowned of their spectacular performances of Bach’s epic masterpiece, which they have toured extensively.
During their last tour (in Munich, Frankfurt, Lucerne, Aix-en-Provence and Paris) there was a stampede for tickets and they performed every night in full houses, to spellbound audiences.
This album is the culmination of the tour: it was recorded in an open session in London, and captures the special atmosphere of the concerts
It is presented in a 2-CD casebook and contains a booklet featuring original notes by John Eliot Gardiner translated in English, German and French.
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Les Arts Florissants & William Christie – Handel: Music for Queen Caroline (2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:12:15 minutes | 1,37 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © harmonia mundi
Queen Caroline was an emblematic female figure of the eighteenth century. The wife of King George II of England, Caroline of Ansbach was a woman of great beauty, a supporter of the arts and sciences, and also a friend and protector of Handel.
It was Handel who was commissioned to compose the ceremonial music that accompanied her reign—“The King Shall Rejoice” played at her and George’s coronation, the “Queen Caroline” Te Deum, written for her arrival in England, and also “The Ways of Zion do Mourn,” composed for her funeral.
In this recording which, for the first time, brings together these three works illustrating the very strong link between the queen and her chosen artist, the choir and orchestra of Les Arts Florissants, whose ranks were enlarged for the occasion, bring back to life music that is at once flamboyant and poignantly human.
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Les Arts Florissants & William Christie – Bien que l’amour…airs sérieux et à boire (2016)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:20:03 minutes | 1,43 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © harmonia mundi
With this anthology of airs sérieux and airs à boire of the Grand Siècle, Les Arts Florissants launches a new series on harmonia mundi. We may listen to the tracks on this disc as contemporaries turned the pages of successful collections of songs alternating between invocations to Bacchus and invitations to love. Around William Christie at the harpsichord and his musicians, five singers offer multiple combinations of close-knit voices. From the intimacy of the salons to the liveliness of court banquets, these airs, models of refined skill, make light of the paradoxes of our hearts – for as an air by Lambert tells us: ‘Though Love creates all my grief, / I wish to love and to die loving.’
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Les Arts Florissants, Paul Agnew – Monteverdi: Madrigali Vol. 3, Venezia (Live) (2017)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 01:14:42 minutes | 700 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © harmonia mundi
Recorded at the Cité de la Musique during the complete cycle of Monteverdi madrigals mounted in partnership with the Philharmonie de Paris and the Théâtre de Caen, the last volume in our trilogy probably contains the best-loved gems of a composer who had become maestro di cappella at St Mark’s in Venice, and finally entered the priesthood. Alongside the great operas that have survived from this period, the final madrigals methodically explore the multiple possibilities offered by the rapidly developing practice of basso continuo and by an unprecedented exploitation of solo voices. And, in that respect, the celebrated Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda forms a spectacular finale to our Monteverdian adventure!
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Les Arts Florissants & Paul Agnew – Les Maîtres du Motet (2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:07:03 minutes | 1,09 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © harmonia mundi
It’s thanks to a complete stroke of luck that several of Pierre Bouteiller’s rare works have been preserved for posterity, including this Messe à cinq voix. During a long journey from Paris to Strasbourg, Sébastien de Brossard – who was relying on the collegial hospitality of chapel masters at various churches along the route – found himself lodging with Bouteiller, who was working at Châlons-sur-Marne. The two musicians exchanged manuscripts, including thirteen motets and the Messe pour les défunts by Bouteiller, which have been found in Brossard’s private library. In order to bring these works by Brossard and Bouteiller to life, and to perform them in the manner that they were sung in their day, during funerals, Paul Agnew, leader of the Arts Florissants has chosen to insert plain-chant sections to mark different points along the cortège and the funeral rites. In the reconstruction offered in this recording, Brossard’s Miserere comes sandwiched between two organ pieces – the instrumental Kyrieby André Raison – which figures in the procession towards the tomb, and then the return to the church. The time of the Sun King is reconstructed with care, right down to the choice of acoustics (the Abbey of the Holy Trinity in Lessaye, Manche) and the selection of vocalists.
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Les Arts Florissants & William Christie – N’espérez plus, mes yeux… Airs sérieux et à boire, Vol. 3 (2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:21:38 minutes | 1,40 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © harmonia mundi
With this third volume of “Airs sérieux et à boire”, the ensemble Les Arts Florissants return to this genre whose refinement had marked the French musical landscape for over a hundred years. By turns gallant, earthy, or spiritual, these vocal miniatures, prized at the French court, ushered in a ground-breaking style which opened the door to an endless variety of interpretations. “One can hardly find enough praise for the individuality of these inspired performers, for their skill to make the music animate the words ( . . . ) as they display a joyful unity of purpose. A unique event!” (Opéra Magazine).
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Les Arts Florissants – Monteverdi: L’Orfeo, SV 318 (Live) (2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 01:46:35 minutes | 1,13 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Dynamic
Les Arts Florissants was founded by William Christie in 1979, and takes its name from an opera by Marc-Antoine Charpentier which the group recorded in 1982. They specialise primarily in French baroque repertoire, and their advocacy of operas by Lully, Rameau and Charpentier was a driving force in the revival of interest in this area from the late 1980s onwards; key recordings include Rameau’s Hippolyte et Aricie and Les Fêtes d’Hébé, Handel’s Acis and Galatea, and Purcell’s King Arthur (which all won Gramophone Awards in the 1990s), Mozart’s Die Entführung aus de Serail (a Building a Library First Choice in 2014), and a series of Monteverdi’s Madrigals on the ensemble’s own label.
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Les Arts Florissants – Gesualdo: Madrigali, Libri terzo & quarto (2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 01:37:36 minutes | 985 MB | Genre:
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © harmonia mundi
Following the acclaim which met their double-album set devoted to the first two books of Gesualdo’s madrigals (2020 Gramophone Award), Paul Agnew and Les Arts Florissants now focus on the composer’s Ferrara period. ‘The sheer inquisitive delight that these singers bring to Gesualdo’s extraordinary world indicates a very exciting series ahead.’ Gramophone
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