Bizet - Music from L’Arlesienne / Carmen | Naive V5130

Bizet - Music from L’Arlesienne / Carmen

Label: Naive

Cat No: V5130

Format: CD + Book

Number of Discs: 1

Genre: Orchestral

Release Date: 28th April 2008

Contents

Artists

Les Musiciens du Louvre
Chœur de l’Opera de Lyon

Conductor

Marc Minkowski

Works

Bizet, Georges

Carmen
» Entr'acte
» Entr'acte (Act 2)
» Entr'acte (Act 3)
» Prelude (Act 1)
L'Arlesienne: Incidental Music, op.23 (version by Marc Minkowski)
L'Arlesienne Suite no.1
L'Arlesienne Suite no.2

Artists

Les Musiciens du Louvre
Chœur de l’Opera de Lyon

Conductor

Marc Minkowski

About

Marc Minkowski, one of the most outstanding conductors of our time, has joined naïve for a long-term collaboration during which he will be surveying the music of Bach, Handel, Haydn and Mozart, among others. The first in this series of recordings features the works of Georges Bizet, performed on instruments of the period. It brings an original approach to the music from two of his masterpieces, L’Arlésienne and Carmen.

In 1872, Bizet composed the incidental music for Daudet’s theatre play L’Arlésienne. Following the huge success of this music, he composed a suite for orchestra based on the best pieces included in the original incidental music. In 1879, four years after Bizet’s death, his friend Ernest Guiraud arranged a new orchestral suite, mainly based on Bizet’s music, but also adding new quotes from the incidental music. In 2007 Marc Minkowski selected the best pieces from the original incidental music and conceived his own fascinating suite. The program is completed with the Prelude” and three “Entr’actes” from Carmen.

The CD is part of a package that includes a 120-page booklet with texts by Alphonse Daudet, Marc Minkowski, Gérard Condé, Lesley Wright and a wide selection of painting reproductions by Van Gogh, Gauguin, Francis Bacon and Joan Mitchell. This aims to offer a complete vision of the artistic inspiration that the aria of Provence gave to the composer of these wonderful pieces.

Reviews

Minkowski's new disc stands alone, and in front of its competitors, in including a considerable amount of extra music from L’Arlésienne. [...] The whole compilation is a delight, not least because of the refreshingly polished orchestral playing (with a really authentic French colouring). Minkowski's choice of tempi and crisp pointing of the woodwind are particualrly telling [...]
Penguin Guide

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Penguin Guide 4 stars Gramophone Editor's Choice Penguin Rosette Winner

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