Nathalie

Mystere' was my first Circque Du Soleil experience. One I will never forget. This companion CD is perfect for those who had no time to find a little program or something to bring home from the show. I was amazed and taken by the fact that the music was so beautiful. Here is is in it's LIVE form as beautiful as the day I saw the show.

From what I hear this live cd is better than the studio cd also available for purchase. I never heard the studio cd so I don't know. I can say that Live CDs normally are lesser quality but, this disc goes above and beyond to produce one of the best sounding live CDs that continues to enchant me each time I listen to it.

Thank you Cirque Du Soleil!

One of the best CD's I have ever owned. I play it all the time.

If you frequently find yourself wondering about mysteries of the universe & the dark side of human history, get a copy of this recording today! It supersedes the original studio recording by allowing you to hear the actual concert performed by a live band at live Las Vegas show in the same sequence--only the non-musical comedy routines, & redundant choruses have been eliminated. This is the second edition of this CD, originally released in 1996.

"Ouverture/Ramsani" opens with some annoying sounds of a baby crying (it's unfortunate they didn't edit this small section, which is the only low point of the production), but then kicks into a very powerful gear. During the performance, strange beings emerge from both sides of the stage, bathed in blinding light, while drummers pound out a Big Bang as they are lowered from the rafters above the gaping audience. Two celestial ladies sing in an other-worldly language that seems to praise the creation of this magical universe!

"Misha" is the most mystical & original-sounding track on the CD--it will totally entrance you! The first mystifying portion of it accompanies the performance of a man maneuvering within a giant steel cube, spiraling over the stage. During the final minute, the song rocks as he escapes the cube & twirls it miraculously like a baton!

"Egypte" provides a steady, Eastern-sounding march during which poles are set up on the stage for the next performance. Eerie, 2-faced creatures crawl headfirst down the 100-foot wall on either side of the stage like lizards from another galaxy!

"Rondo/Double Face" is a rocker with 2 crystal-crisp guitar solos that sound like Martin Barre of Jethro Tull at his finest! The Double-Faces perform amazing acrobatics leaping from pole to pole, grabbing the poles with only their legs!

"Ulysse" slows the pace down to a spooky level as 2 men manipulate each other into a series of unbelievable poses that defy gravity! The celestial ladies seem to cry, "Tristay mor!" Maybe this could translate: "Don't let go!"

"Dome" is a brief transitional piece; the previous act departs from the stage dome that lowers into a mist, & sets the mood for the following jungle sequence.

"Kalimando" & "Kunya Sobe" accompany a breathtaking bungee performance over the audience; the former is an uplifting ballad of epic proportion, while the latter provides a steady, groovy dance beat that'll make you wanna get up & get down! It's Tarzan on another planet!

"En Ville/Frisco" plays as the stage turns into an acrobatic madhouse! The sax on this song wails in harmony with the myriad of leaps & flips!

"Gambade" is another transitional piece for the extensive safety-net setup.

"High Bar" is the pinnacle of the show, both on the stage, & in the speaker system! This song truly captures the anticipation of watching trapeze artists. Even though the risk of injury is minimized by the safety net, it's still amazing to see these guys fling through the air on cue, & somehow manage to catch each other's hands. At times, the song delivers a powerful, unstoppable rhythm; then on cue with the performers, it suddenly halts as we hold our collective breath--then it allows us to breathe again while building up to the next stunt.

Approaching the show's end, an array of drums rises from the mist, & a battalion of drummers bang out "Taiko"!

"Finale", as you can imagine, summarizes the show, & recaps some of the melody presented during "Ouverture". After experiencing this thrilling musical spanning a range of human emotions, "Finale" closes the circle in a magnificent way!

There are some stunning tracks on this cd and even though this is a best of cd i would further recommend the purchace of each individual show, such as Varekai or Alegria as there are some beautifully rich songs that the best of doesnt include.
If you like Cirque du Soleil your going to love this music if you dont i expect you wont.
Its not headbanging i would put it more into the easy listening bracket and yet some tracks have a pretty rocking up there tempo and very alive beat to them. Go on treat yourself.

I saw Saltimbanco for my birthday- it was AMAZING! Even the music was wonderful! So, I bought the CD and love it. It takes me back to the show and is inspiring, uplifting, and beautiful.

If you have ever seen Cirque du Soleil in person this cd is a must have. The music is as wonderful as their performances.

You could listen to all the best songs from Cirque du Soleil! Even you never watch its shows, you will be attracted to buy the tickets once you listen it the songs!

Cirque always has the most magnificent musicians. Always outstanding! This cd takes some of the best from different programs and combines them into one experiance. It is a great compilation that has been done in the wonderfully unique Cirque way!

Musically, this selection of seven cantatas is exceptionally interesting for including compositions dating all the way from 1707/8 to 1732. Three each are for the fourth and fifth Sundays after Trinity, while one, (BWV 131), is for an unknown occasion. I learn from Gardiner's liner-note that BWV 71 is the only cantata that reached print in the composer's own lifetime, having been written for the inauguration of the Muehlhausen Town Council and having impressed two burgomasters with the financial resources to commission the work. More interesting from my own point of view is the question Gardiner raises regarding what he perceives as a narrowing in Bach's idiom and style after the early cantatas. This is something that Gardiner appears to regret, but if I may say so I take the opposite view. For me, it was a matter of the composer finding himself and settling on the form of expression that best suited his infinite musical gift. I think of Brahms's D minor concerto in this respect too - it is a mighty composition, but its composer did not follow up its style afterwards. I would even venture to say that I don't find Bach totally convincing when he attempts a `dramatic' mode. Tonal representation, changes of pace and mood - all that was Handel's forte, and I believe Bach recognised early that it was not his own vocation.

Another thing Gardiner tells us is that he and his colleagues had just been giving some Bach cantatas at the Albert Hall Proms, and that this had disturbed their equilibrium to some extent. I find that very easy to understand and to sympathise with, and it accounts entirely for what I would have found anyway to be a slight dip in the quality of the first of these two discs. The first two cantatas sound rather heavy-footed to me, lacking the crispness that has been such a notable feature of the dozen or so other issues from this series that I have so far collected. Whether it was a matter of them or of me, I started to find myself less satisfied than usually in other respects too. The recording seems a bit cavernous for one thing. That in turn does no favours to the very first number, a contralto aria prone to hootiness of tone that the recording unkindly exaggerates. Matters improve gradually, with a welcome `lift' coming at the 16th track, the tenor aria Lass mich kein Lust, but the real step-change has to await the second disc.

There is a complete change of all four vocal soloists for the second disc, and now at last we are back to the world of this great `pilgrimage' as I have been coming to know and love it. Everyone and everything sounds fresher; and in particular I took very favourably to the bright tone of the tenor Kobie van Rensburg. None of these seven cantatas features any of the knockout numbers that bloom like spectacular and unique blossoms (e.g. Wir eilen from BWV 78 or Schlummert ein from BWV 82) along the route of this pilgrimage, at least if like myself you are not swept off your feet by the more `dramatic' efforts. However the name of the game is beauty, artistry and consistency as always, and on the second disc I found myself back on familiar ground, deeply impressed as ever.

Gardiner's long `blog' consists of two separate essays this time, marking the visits to Tewkesbury Abbey and to the church of St Blaise at Muehlhausen. I still don't understand what was upsetting him at the start, indeed I'm not even very sure what he is talking about. However these essays deserve to be read with the closest attention for the insights they provide both into the music `as such' and into the maestro's own view of it. They are both deeply scholarly and deeply personal, a great musician's interpretation of a greater, and as a privilege conferred by this series they rank next only to the music itself.

Recommended with a few reservations just for once, but I for one would not want to be without this set.

The French expression means "nothing to say" and is commonly used when all superlatives are exhausted. This is the way I'm feeling about the Gardiner cantata series. Some have a few rough edges (understandably, given the rush to get to a new place, set up, rehearse and then perform), but the standard is amazingly high and the quality of performance is first-rate. And they look so great on the shelf. Gardiner has given us something wonderful, which we can enjoy for years and years to come.

This leg of the Bach cantata pilgrimage starts with a short trek across Suffolk from Long Melford to Blythburgh church for Whit Tuesday, and then a longer excursion for Trinity Sunday to the Orkneys, a trip of a kind familiar to air travellers in Britain and recently re-enacted on a grand scale at Heathrow's Terminal 5. The date was in the year 2000 of course, and the air traffic control computer had broken down. Whether at that date the entire congested air traffic over southern England was still controlled by a single small and antiquated PDP11 minicomputer I cannot now remember. I found out about this, of course, from Gardiner's 'blog' that accompanies every step of his and his colleagues' epic journey, and it reinforced my astonishment and awe at the sheer poise and professionalism that these artists display on every occasion, even when they have lost a day from their already short rehearsal time.

Interesting and enlightening as Gardiner unfailingly is, in this instance my attention was captured even more by the short essay from Paul Agnew, who takes the tenor solos on the Trinity Sunday disc. In brief, Agnew is a professional musician who thought he knew Bach because he knew the Passions, the 48 and the concertos. Not only did he not know the cantatas, which he now hears as the core of Bach's output, most professional musicians, he tells us, did not know them either so recently as 2000. This eases my own sense of guilt at being so late in becoming acquainted with them, but it further enhances my amazement at what this pilgrimage is achieving. The music that they present to us with not only such affection and understanding but with such command and aplomb even in difficult circumstances is not Beethoven symphonies: it seems to have been music that they were learning as they went along.

Only two cantatas for Whit Tuesday survive, so to fill out the first disc there is a performance of the third Brandenburg concerto, a choice that suggested itself naturally because a modified version of its first movement had been a 'sinfonia' in one of the cantatas the group had just been giving at Long Melford. Bach provides no central slow movement for this concerto, only a pair of cadential chords. Something has therefore to be supplied, and here we are offered the interesting and unusual choice of an unaccompanied violin solo taken from the prelude to Bach's first sonata for that instrument. Without having taken the trouble to verify the matter, I think this may be an abbreviated version, but its main interest is in its unexpectedness and originality, although I would have liked to be told who was actually playing. Starting as it does with an instrumental number, this set inclines me to focus the review more than I have done elsewhere on the instrumental side of the performances. Bach thought of music in instrumental much more than in vocal terms, I'm quite convinced. Even when he is setting a text for singing, Bach is inspired to turn out another of his infinitely varied and infinitely expressive musical patterns just as he might do for a purely instrumental composition, and the voices are integrated into an instrumentally-focused abstract design. One excellent point that Agnew makes is how vivid Bach's orchestral colouring is -- he can work wonders in the six cantatas here with a couple of oboes, or a pair of recorders, or a trio of trumpets. Add timpani to these last and we have a wonderful and exhilarating sound in the final cantata no 129, and I am as baffled as Gardiner apparently was that it failed to arouse the expected enthusiasm among the Orcadian audience. One detail in Gardiner's account left me unclear regarding the instrumentation, and it is whether they managed to obtain a 5-stringed violoncello piccolo for cantata 175 or whether a more normal kind of instrument had to do.

The names of the soloists are becoming familiar to me as I progressively follow in the steps of their pilgrimage, and they perform to the magnificent standard that continues to astonish me without surprising me, so confidently have I come to expect it by now. Not least impressive is Paul Agnew himself, whose exceptionally interesting comments I have already mentioned. He sings with the fervour of a lover with a new musical love. I am with him in his enthusiasm wholeheartedly, and although I fully join in the extravagance of his admiration for Bach I would only suggest that 'dramatic' is not one of the words to praise him with. Bach's wonderful musical patterns can be vivid, they can be overwhelmingly powerful, but it still seems to me that Bach's mind is contemplative even when his music is most overpowering. There is no paradox in this perception. All that the composer requires for it to be true is an infinite musical gift.

As I acquire more of this marvellous series I am coming to think of it as a unity more than as a series of separate productions, and although each disc has to be assessed separately from the others I am finding that the assessment tends to be much the same every time. Similarly with the cantatas themselves. I find them less a series of freestanding works like, say, Beethoven's sonatas than a great unified river of inspiration whose source is Bach's unshakable faith allied to his limitless talent.

The age I have lived through has brought this to me through the agency of not only the artists but the technicians, whose work has been of an undeviatingly high standard. A word of thanks also to the aviation industry for delivering the pilgrims safely, and perhaps a quiet reminder that modern propeller airliners are often much newer than they look and are technologically impressive, deserving a kinder name than 'crop-sprayers'.

I've long waited for this one. BWV129 is an old favourite - I love the old Rilling recording, with the three trumpeting Läubin brothers blowing up an absolute storm, soaring and trilling likes things possessed. Naturally one can't expect this with natural valveless trumpets. And Gardiner's forces pull it off magnificently, in a wonderful atmospheric acoustic (St. Magnus's Cathedral, Kirkwall in the Orkneys). And this in spite of the difficulties in getting there (Gardiner and Co. were stuck at the airport when a substantial chunk of the UK air traffic control system fell in a heap) and the consequent short rehearsal time.

A nice and unusual touch is a performance of Brandenburg Concerto No.3. Why? Because they were running out of Trinity cantatas to play, so they included the "trinity" concerto - 3 violins, 3 violas, 3 cellos, in one of Bach's most loved instrumental pieces.

This audio CD is the perfect vehicle to drive anyone crazy about Vivaldi operas. All arias seemed to have been carefully selected across many opera albums from Naive's Vivaldi Edition to entice the listener to hear those works. Magdalena Kozena astounds brilliantly with two arias from Juditha Triumphans "Veni, me sequere fidu" and "Agitata infido flatu". In "Agitata" Kozena perfects two long legatos and tops them with a climatic trill. In "Veni", she hypnotizes with a cadenza evocative of a dove's sinusoidal singing. The Naive label should do well in producing another similar CD now that it has recorded additional Vivaldi Operas to draw from.

This is as strong a sampler of Vivaldi's operas as one can get without purchasing entire opera recordings. Highlights from four have been selected here, each recorded in complete form on the Naïve label. They are "Orlando finto pazzo", "La verità in cimento", "Juditha triumphans" and "L'Olimpiade". What the producers have chosen here is the true cream of the crop, a roster of superb, top-of-the-class performances from nearly a dozen world-class singers.

Rising countertenor Philippe Jaroussky starts the program off with an almost religious-sounding lament as Zelim from "La verità in cimento", which he sings in a strikingly ethereal manner. But the women rule the roost in this recording. Mezzo-soprano Magdalena Kožena makes clear why she is moving quickly to the major leagues by singing two magnificent arias from "Juditha triumphans", "Veni, veni, me sequere fida", caressed by a clarinet-like instrument called a chalumeau, and "Agitata infio flatu", where she captures the sweeping fury of her character with stunning flourish. Contralto Sara Mingardo is another stand-out with her double-dip, full-throated voice dodging the aggressive strings on Licida's aria from "L'Olimpiade", "Gemo in un punto e fremo," and expertly riding the dramatic playing of Ensemble Matheus on Melindo's aria from "La verità in cimento", "Mivui trader, lo so". If not quite in the league of Kožena and Mingardo, soprano Roberta Invernizzi and contralto Sonia Prina acquit themselves admirably with an aria each and especially when they perform the striking duetto of Megacle and Aristea from "L'Olimpiade", "Ne'giorni tuoi felici". There is also an impressive quintetto from "La verità in cimento", "Anima mia, mio ben", which for maximum dramatic impact emphasizes the disparate voices of Jaroussky, Mingardo, tenor Anthony Rolfe Johnson, mezzo-soprano Guillemette Laurens and contralto Nathalie Stutzmann. The disc ends appropriately with a beautiful choral piece, "O quam vaga, venusta, o quam decora" from "Juditha triumphans" with the Coro Giovanile dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, led by soprano Marina Comparato.

Rarely has a compilation disc sounded so seamless and without the additional burden of carrying different story contexts. Aurally it sounds like one consolidated piece, and credit needs to go to music directors Alessandro De Marchi, Rinaldo Alessandrini and Jean-Christophe Spinosi, who conducted the originally presented operas. Strongly recommended especially for neophytes to Vivaldi's operas like myself.

The National Bibliotheque in Turin, Italy is the repository for uncounted manuscripts by Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741) and includes more than twenty opera scores, many of which have not seen productions since the 18th century. The Opus 111 record label is industriously releasing performances, about one a season, of these gems and their intention is to record all these scores, plus many arias and ensembles that have become separated from their complete works. This CD is a compilation of music from four of those works - 'La verità in cimento,' 'Juditha triumphans,' 'L'Olimpiade,' and 'Orlando finto pazzo,' all of which have already been recorded as complete operatic performances. The producers of this set have selected some of the choicest morsels for those music-lovers who would not otherwise obtain all four complete sets. The musicians involved - a different group for each opera - are among the most honored among singers and instrumentalists currently performing baroque works. The instrumental groups include the Academia Montis Regalis conducted by Alessandro de Marchi, Concerto Italiano conducted by Rinaldo Alessandrini, and Ensemble Matheus conducted by Jean-Christophe Spinosi. Singers include such standouts as sopranos Marina Comparato, Gemma Bertagnoli, and Roberta Invernizzi, mezzos Magdalena Kozena and Guillemette Laurens, contraltos Sara Mingardo, Nathalie Stutzmann and Sonia Prini, countertenor Philippe Jaroussky, tenor Anthony Rolfe Johnson, and basso Sergio Foresti--an outstanding collection of talented performers.

It would be impossible to comment about all sixteen selections here, but I would want to single out Magdalena Kozena's delectable performance of 'Veni, me sequere fida' from 'Juditha triumphans,' with the luscious solo contribution of an unnamed player of the chalumeau (an ancestor of the modern clarinet). [By the way, 'Juditha triumphans' is actually a dramatic oratorio, but it has sometimes been staged as an opera.] Also outstanding is the dramatic 'Gemo in un punto e fremo' from 'L'Olimpiade,' sung by one of today's stellar contraltos, Sara Mingardo.

Finally, I could not end this note without commenting on the fabulous quintet from 'La verità in cimento' entitled 'Anima mia, mio ben.' There is no question that Vivaldi must have been working with both musically and dramatically superb singers for whom he wrote this. This performance, featuring Rolfe Johnson, Laurens, Stutzmann, Jaroussky and Mingardo, is moving. And it is followed by a simply stunning performance, by Sara Mingardo, of Melindo's aria, 'Mi vuoi tradir, lo so' from the same opera. Mingardo's coloratura is absolutely spot on. (Think of Marilyn Horne and you'll have an idea of what this young Italian contralto sounds like.)

I strongly suspect this release will have value for those who want to dip their toes into the Vivaldian operatic waters. Every single selection is well-done, and it certainly gives an idea of Vivaldi's theatrical output, something that we've tended to neglect in favor of his sacred and instrumental music up to now.

Strongly recommended.

TT=63:20

Scott Morrison

This is the first recording of the genial yet neglected Hans Pfitzner "Eichendorff Cantata" since Martin Sieghart's (Arte Nova) in 1999, only the sixth ever made of this hour and a half-plus oratorio, and only the third made in the last 50 years. The neglect has political reasons, not musical ones, because Pfitzner's high-romantic blend of Schumann and Wagner (the results occasionally reminiscent of Humperdinck, Schoeck, Schreker, and Schmidt) is here, as in his magnum opus, the opera "Palestrina", as good as it gets. Unfortunately this friend of Bruno Walter's was a rabid (though inconsistent) anti-Semite, and, in Thomas Mann's words, an "anti-democratic nationalist". Stubborn, naïve and ignorant, he uttered unambiguously racist phrases, was apologetic of Hitler, and blamed everyone but Germany for World War II. Yet he went to great lengths to help and save "good Jews" (as he thought of them) like director Otto Ehrhardt, Felix Wolfes (a student of his), or his friend Paul Crossmann for whom he went all the way to Reinhard Heydrich to save. In vain, in that case, Crossmann died in Theresienstadt. He didn't make friends with the Nazis, despite agreeing with much of their philosophy, either: Hitler derisively spoke of him as a "Jewish rabbi" and Pfitzner was ignored, if not shunned, by the officialdom of the Third Reich. Perhaps Bruno Walter put it best, writing to his publisher after Pfitzner's death: "Have we not found in [Pfitzner's] personality the strangest mix of true greatness and intolerance that has ever made the life of a musician of such a rank so problematic?"

In any case, the obnoxious political undertones of Pfitzner have made his music less played than it should be on account of its musical merit (if we can listen to the murderer Gesualdo, can we listen to Pfitzner?). When Ingo Metzmacher, a stalwart supporter of music suppressed by the Third Reich, performed the cantata in October of 2007 (from which this recording was taken), protested were made, claiming that Metzmacher strengthened right-wing and nationalist activities by performing it on Germany's national holiday. (Apparently more skinheads listen to Pfitzner than I thought possible.) Yet there is not an objectionable line or thought in this cantata (which in German has the additionally unfortunate title "Of the German Soul"), written in 1921 and premiered in '22. Part one deals with "Man and Nature", part two with "Living and Singing", and Solveig Kringelborn (soprano), Nathalie Stutzmann (mezzo), Christopher Ventris (tenor) and Robert Holl (bass) do this as well and better (Stutzmann) than their predecessors from half a century ago. Phoenix Edition has superior sound to all previous releases, the finest mezzo along with Jochum (Christa Ludwig), a more engaged orchestra than all but Jochum (Orfeo, BRSO), and no intrusive audience noises. It's great that ArkivMusic has made available again the (stodgy but star-studded) Keilberth recording with the BRSO, Fritz Wunderlich, Hertha Töpper, Agnes Giebel, and Otto Wiener, but unless price is an overriding argument (in which case Arte Nova wins out), this is the Eichendorff Cantata recording of choice.

I don't normally write reviews for CD's. I usually stick to books, however, I have to make an exception for Cirque Du Soliel.

My dance teacher had first used the song Mystere for one of her performances and ever since then, I have been hooked on their music. I'm sad to see Rene Dupere leave Cirque. In my opinion, and in the opinion of many other musicians and composers, Rene is one of the best living composers. This album is perhaps a collection of his greatest peices. It does have one piece from Benoit Jutras but in my opinion, it doesn't match quite the level that Rene's are at.

If you are interested in Cirque's music, I think this CD would be the way to go.

This is a good way to start your Cirque Du Soleil music collection. Although it has some old music, it is still a good album.

Cirque de Soleil's colelction is in affect a best of CD, but it is hardly that. Certainly the pieces on this disc are the most memorable of each show, they seem to lack something. this is because Cirque de Soleil is an experience, each song on an album influences another, they must be listened to in order to truly experience them. The songs on this album aren't bad, in fact, they are excellent, but they aren't quite as good as if one were to purchase the albums tehy are taken from and listen to the whole album from start to finish.

I bought this CD just last night. When I was little, I remember seeing Le Cirque Reinvente on television. I loved it so - the music, the performances - but I didn't know it's name, what it was called. I forgot about it for a time, seeing snippets of it whenever I just barely caught the end credits while surfing the channels. Forgot about it again and then the yearning to hear that distant yet familiar music came back and I did some research, finally discovering what the show was after so many years: Cirque du Soleil! The rest is history - I got hooked instantly and this is my first CD of the music. I wanted to know what the music was like before I bought it so I listened to sound samples from Amazon of the CDs and then decided to buy Collection at my music store. I listened to it last night, am listening to it now as I write this and here are my detailed impressions... You put the CD in and relax... The first sounds are those of a solitary basoon over " Ouveture " from the excellent "Le Cirque Reinvente." The drums pick up and it turns into a majestic melody of strength, dignity, and lingering of what's to come; it gave me spine tingles the moment I heard it! " Egypte " begins, seducingly quiet and calm and working into the delvement of the Egyptian gods and goddesses that rule this mysterious ancient land. The main voice could be a goddess herself, her voice is sweet and clear as she sings the primary lyrics of the song coyly, sure of herself, gently.

"Kumbalawe" is very pretty, carefree and reminded me strangely of 'haps a family of lions relaxing in the grassy savannah awaiting sleep to overtake them underneath the midday sun. It was a very good piece but one though I didn't particularily care for though you might be a different case altogether. "Suite Chinoise" starts as if a theme for royalty and if that was Dupere's mark he DID hit it. Another spine-tingler that turns into a loving, warm melody. Falling rain, then, and a worn, wood flute resounds through the rain forest. All of it collides to form a lovely piece that envelopes so many grand emotions in but only 10 minutes of sheer joy. " Querer" is passionate and sounds to me as being a very nice love song though not in my tastes. "Entracte" I was doubtful at the beginning but it wouldn't let me not like it - it took my chin in it's hand and made me look at it long and clear, to listen to it just for a few seconds more And there it was. I heard the drums kick in and the amazing melody begin in full throttle, pulsing with fun and energy and good humour. You could almost see the act going on in the stage of your mind. "Pokinai" was undescribably gorgeous! It reminded me of a lady hanging on the trapeze with her legs in almost completely darkness as a curled up ball and then unfolding very beautifully, silver rain falling all around her. Slowly, she begins to move and discover hands and feet. That innocence and curiousity gives way slightly to her complete joy that she's ALIVE! Then a young man appears and she discovers young love, they doing various moves in the air.... These are the impressions I get when I listen to this song. "Alegria" was impressive music-wise as well as impressive in vocal. The main voice has a strong, sultry voice that seems to have every possible element in perfect feminity. Even though it probably wasn't meant as a love song, it comes across as such and I have no hesitation in saying it was a flawless piece that reminded me of tan-shaded shadows floating over two lovers... "Kalimando" starts camly with natural sounds taking the spotlight, birds singing, the light and gentle strains of water. It was a ground-centring piece after all the energy and fast-paced pieces before it. The lyrics almost seem to say in their foreign, mysterious tongue, " Time to rest." "Grosse Femme" was a lively melody that sounded a bit like a carousel-horse tune that if you play really loud *grin* it sounds as if you are truly on a merry-go-round at a circus during the night, the cool air swirling around you like mist...

So, in conclusion of my journey into Cirque du Soleil, I have gone into ectasy and back again. I have been happy, sad, nostalgic, dignified, mysterious, and a whole lot more in the expanse of this one CD. If that isn't magic, nothing is.

just wanted to fix a slip in my review- I said Kalandero is in Mystere- it is actually in Alegria. When I said Mystere I was thinking of the song Birimbau- both are track 3 on their respective CDs.

...And recycle arias he did. Though the music is extremely melodic, generally the material is not tutto fresco.

The booklet editorial notes concern themselves with the mystery surrounding the success or probable flop of Atenaide at the Teatro La Pergola in Florence back in December of 1728. Royal court complots notwithstanding and probably scheming against Vivalvi, audiences back then were no different if a little more critical than the opera going crowd today. They ultimately explain why this opera premiered to its best opening night and soon after went dormant for the next 280 years. Set in a time when operas were the entertainment equivalent to motion pictures, would the paying public return to see KONG KING when in the previous season had seen enough of KING KONG?

From Vivaldi's perspective, this opera was commissioned to him with less artistic autonomy than he was used to, and more strained situations than he would have liked. He did not care much for the poet Zeno imposed by his producers for Atenaide's libretto, and there seemed to have been an apparent rift between him and his empresarios over Ana Giro's role, his protegee and muse. Framing all this drama into the music, the result might not be surprising if Vivaldi gave Atenaide sloppy seconds borrowed from Orlando Furioso (1727) and Il Farnace(1727) to fulfill his contractual obligations and get it over with.

Putting the recycling issue to rest, the music is quite grand, the cast star-filled, and the orchestration creative. Sardelli's choice for fast and bright tempo is fascinating, and historically in tune with what baroque audiences and singers preferred and expected in the Italian settecento. After all, this was the time of the Masters, and the Castrati roamed and ruled the world. The standard was high. To meet this challenge, the Atenaide's cast here truly delivered. The aria Sorge L'irato Nembo is re-packaged beautifully and re-gifted in vibrant colors. It starts like the galloping of a horse that sounds stronger as the approching distance gets shorter, and then takes flight in the da capo like a unicorn dancing and prancing in the skies. Ferrari is again leading the role of primo amoroso and charming his way thru the aria Alma Perfida, my all time favorite from Atenaide...and by the way, Amazon, take note, Ferrari's name is Stefano not Franco. Granted, Franco Ferrari has certain je-ne-sais-quoi musical cacophony but request the baptismal rights to it first. It is great to hear more and more of Sandrine Piau. She has stamina and virtuosity, and together with Bartoli, Invernizzi, and Prina are the dueling divas of baroque singing today.

Based on a libretto by Apostolo Zeno, and first performed in Florence in 1728, Vivaldi's Atenaide is a remarkably satisfying piece. Many of the arias were originally written for Orlando furioso, the opera completed immediately before this one, but they work wonderfully in this context. There are, however, no ensembles or even duets in this work. As usual the score is full of opportunities for low-voiced women, so loved by Vivaldi.

The singers in this production all acquit themselves ably. Sandrine Piau is Atenaide, and is the only soprano in this production. The mezzo Vivica Genaux is billed in the liner notes as a soprano, but sings in the high mezzo-soprano range as the Emperor Teodosio. Genaux's singing is as thrilling as ever and her phrasing and control are exquisite. The low mezzo-soprano Romina Basso is also perfect as the dastardly Varane, rival for Atenaide. There are one or two moments where she lacks the bottom range for this part, but her rendition of her first-act aria Tanto lieto ho il core in petto, an aria taken from Orlando furioso, is much better than Marie Nicole Lemieux's performance of it in the recording of that opera. The tenors Paul Agnew and Steffano Ferrari also aquit themselves nicely, Agnew as the slightly ineffectual Leontino, father of Atenaide, and Ferrari as the emperor's attendant Probo.

The two stars of this recording are, for me, the French singers Nathalie Stutzmann and Guillemette Laurens. Laurens is the emperor's sister Pulcheria, a manipulative woman determined to scuttle her brother's pursuit of Atenaide. Vivaldi provided this character with arias that signal her unsettled and manipulative nature perfectly, and Laurens performs them wonderfully, fully committing to the role. Her aria, La sul margine del rio, has a lovely if somewhat inane melody, but the ornamentation that Vivaldi supplied (echoed in the strings) transforms it into a hugely difficult piece that Laurens performs with grace and charm. This aria is one of the highlights of the work for me, although all of Pulcheria's arias provide the singer with a challenge.

Nathalie Stutzmann plays the role of Marziano, a Byzantine general who is in love with Pulcheria but cannot hope to be her suitor because of his lower social standing. Marziano has only 4 arias--2 in the first act, and one in the second and the third act--but they are all amazing. The second aria in the first act is a recycled aria from Orlando furioso. In that work it was sung very nicely by the mezzo-soprano Blandine Staskiewicz, but Stutzmann brings a weight to the piece with her considerably lower alto, that makes the octave displacements and fast runs called for by Vivaldi even more spectacular. Her absolute control and ability to deliver the apparently impossible is part of Stutzmann's appeal here, although at times her vibrato is a little wide. Marziano's aria in the third act is devastating in its sadness--he finally admits to himself that his love for Pulcheria is hopeless--and here Stutzmann shines, fully committing to the drama of this piece in her almost sobbing delivery that is perfection.

All in all, this recording is a wonderful addition to the Naive series. I ordered my copy from France because I didn't want to wait for the U.S. release date, and it has been in constant rotation in my stereo in the last month. It is among my favorites in this series, as well as La Verita in Cimento and L'Olimpiade.

I could listen to Nathalie Stutzmann sing Schumann lieder all day (literally....she has released 6 volumes, 5 on RCA) but this collection of Faure melodies is the album where her voice first enchanted me. Her genuine contralto voice is every bit as beautiful and rich as a viola or cor anglais. This exquisite recording is an excellent introduction to Stutzmann's voice and Faure's works. Listener's will undoubtedly want more of both. Sadly, this was one of Stutzmann's last recordings with the late Catherine Collard, pianist.

Good recordings of great oratorios at a great price, I see the price has gone up considerably now, and I'd think twice before paying that much for these recordings. However trying to collect these separately is going to cost you a lot more than this box set, hope this helps.