Massenet Edition from Decca

[albion]

Out in June, a great way to acquire some of the lesser-known operas -



Decca 23cds 4783963

CD 1 & 2
Don Quichotte
Ghiaurov · Bacquier · Crespin
OSR / Kord
+ Arias from Hérodiade & Le Cid
Fantasy for cello and orchestra
Silberstein / OSR / Bonynge

CD 3-5
Esclarmonde
Sutherland · Tourangeau · Aragall
NPO / Bonynge

CD 6 & 7
Le Jongleur de Notre-Dame
Alagna · Ellero d'Artegna
ONM / Diemecke

CD 8-10
Manon
Sills · Souzay · Gedda Bacquier
New PO / Rudel

CD 11 & 12
Le Roi de Lahore
Lima · Sutherland · Milnes · Tourangeau
NPO / Bonynge

CD 13 & 14
Thaïs
Fleming · Hampson · Sabbatini
Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine / Abel

CD 15
Thérèse
Tourangeau
New PO / Bonynge

CD 16 & 17
Werther
Carreras · Von Stade · Buchanan
Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden
Davis

CD 18
Songs
Tourangeau · Sutherland
Richard Bonynge piano

CD19 & 20
Manon - ballet
Based on extracts from works by Jules Massenet,
arranged and orchestrated by Leighton Lucas,
with the assistance of Hilda Gaunt
Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden
Bonynge


CD 21
Le Cid - ballet music
Scènes alsaciennes
Scènes dramatiques
Orchestral music from
Le roi de Lahore, Thaïs, Cendrillon
NPO / LSO / Bonynge

CD 22
Le Carillon
Cigale
NPO / Bonynge

CD 23
Rarities and historic recordings
Orchestral music from La Navarraise, Chérubin,
Lamento d'Ariane
various orchestras / Bonynge

Scènes pittoresques
Scènes alsaciennes
Paris Conservatoire Orchestra / Albert Woolf

CD-ROM
Opera libretti, Song texts & translations

[Mark Thomas]

As a huge Massenet fan, what I'd really love to see recorded is his opera Le Mage. Of course, it may prove to be an utter dud, but coming straight after the Wagnerian splendour of Esclarmonde and immediately before the restrained lyricism of Werther and the perfumed abandon of Thaïs I suspect that it wouldn't be. Massenet seems to have been "in the zone" in those few years. Maybe one of the French opera festivals will revive it, as they have so many other works of his?

[TerraEpon]

I'm not a huge opera fan, but I love incidental music, and he wrote a bunch of it -- 13 works by the De Capo catalog's count.
His other ballets are Les Rosati and Espada.
Other orchestral music that I don't have is Overture de Concert, Pompeia Suite, Concert Tzigane, Sarabade of the 16th Century, Lamento, Marche Heroique de Szabady, Parade Militaire, Marche Argienne, Visions, Devant la Madonne (piano version recorded though), Marche Solonelle, Overture de Brumaire, and Two Pieces, and a Fantaisie for Cello and Orchestra

None of these are listed at Arkivmusic (except the last one as part of a boxset).

Would love to hear some though!

[JimL]

The Fantasie for Cello and Orchestra is a nice piece.  It was on the first CD in the set.  Is the PC also in the set?

[Revilod]

Yes, the "Fantaisie" is a very enjoyable piece.

It's good to see Decca observing the Massenet centenary. I won't be buying the discs, though, because I've got most of the recordings already. What I've been waiting for is a DVD of "Ariane". It was revived at the Saint-Etienne Massenet Festival in 2007. Here's an enthusiastic review:

http://www.musicweb-international.com/SandH/2007/Jul-Dec07/ariane0911.htm

The review says that the production was filmed and that a DVD could be on its way. Does anybody know anything about this?