Halévy La reine de Chypre

[Alan Howe]

...forthcoming from Ediciones Singulares:
https://www.jpc.de/jpcng/classic/detail/-/art/jacques-fromental-halevy-la-reine-de-chypre/hnum/8194674

[Mark Thomas]

Hooray! Any Ediciones Singulares release is a must-buy for me, they're always high quality productions, often of fascinating music well worth preservation.

[BerlinExpat]

The appearance of Cyrill Dubois is interesting as I understand he took ill and was replaced by Sébastien Droy in at least one of the Paris performances.

[Alan Howe]

I think the situation might have been even worse than that...
https://bachtrack.com/review-halevy-reine-chypre-niquet-gens-dupuis-paris-june-2017

[BerlinExpat]

Thanks for that link, Alan. Good to know and I can now order without any reservations.

[Ebubu]

I was present at that concert, and it was not obvious to me that this was the "long lost masterpiece" that everyone was waiting for.... But as the review points out, it was not the best conditions to discover the piece, with a quasi-absent tenor....  A second hearing on a good CD might change my feelings about it. We'll see...

[Alan Howe]

We'll see. A must-buy for me whatever its status, I think.

[Mark Thomas]

Not only are this release's performances, recording and booklet fully up to the very highest of Palazzetto Bru Zane's standards, but Halévy's opera itself is absolutely first rate. It's five act French grand opera at it's Meyerbeerian best. I've always been slightly underwhelmed by Halévy's "masterpiece" La Juive , but La Reine de Chypre is a different matter: the action is taut and exciting, the music is wonderfully orchestrated and liberally melodic. It's a powerful and dramatic piece with no longeurs. My only (very, very slight) criticism is the omission a couple of dances, but overall I couldn't recommend this issue more strongly.

[Alan Howe]

It's fine stuff all right. More when I've digested more...

[Alan Howe]

What's interesting to me is that one can hear this leading in different directions - to early Wagner and, of course, to Verdi.