Félicien David was already famous through his 'ode-symphonie' Le Désert (1844) when his opera Herculanum was first staged at the Paris Opéra in 1859. This ambitious work, later to gain him entrance to the Opéra-Comique and the Institut de France, also played a part in earning him the Légion d'Honneur. Leaving behind the Middle Eastern inflections of his earlier scores, Herculanum is a remarkably strong composition (vast, intensely dramatic scenes), impressive in the diversity of its style (including Verdian influences) and its vocal variety (including the rare coloratura contralto voice often used by Rossini).

It was around 1825 that Louise Bertin, pupil of Reicha and friend of Berlioz, tackled the subject of Faust with all the energy and confidence of a young woman of twenty. She entirely exceeded the public's expectations and won over the critics with her daring. Colourful orchestration, charming cantabiles, vigorous choruses - everything seemed to promise the work would enter the repertory. But the closure of the Theatre-Italien after just three performances in 1831 decided otherwise, and the score languished in the vaults of the Bibliotheque Nationale de France for 190 years.

Prompted by the success of Ossian’s poetry during the First Empire, the Opéra-Comique commissioned from Méhul a short and gripping work inspired by James Macpherson’s Celtic reveries. The composer had the brilliant idea of conjuring up the mists of this Scottish fantasy world in his music by using the ‘grisaille’ sonority of an orchestra without violins. The Gothic coloration of wind instruments with divided violas, the melancholy poetry of the harp and solo horn that frequently emerge from the tutti, contrast with the choruses of warriors and the belligerent strains of Larmor and Uthal. The Hymn to Sleep, an eminently Romantic bardic song, came to be seen as one of Méhul’s finest pieces, and was sung over his grave by the Conservatoire students at his funeral in 1817.

Karine Deshayes, one of today's most remarkable interpreters of Mozart together with the vocal and instrumental ensemble Les Paladins, gives an outstanding performance in this program of his sacred and secular works, in which the motet Exsultate, jubilate! Forms the centrepiece. Her rich, full-bodied voice taps directly into the roots of this highly virtuosic piece, originally written for a powerful, resonant soprano castrato tessitura. Conducted by Jérôme Corréas, the musicians complete the program with a selection of early pieces by Mozart: several of his (unjustly underrated) Church Sonatas, his Symphony No. 17, a poetic Agnus Dei from the Vespers, and excerpts from the all too rarely heard Davide penintente and La Betulia liberata. Through his attention to contrast and his concern for expressivity, the conductor reveals the underlying theatricality of these works, unparalleled in their dramatic power.

Plunge into the depths of the most emblematic duos in the repertoire with two fantastic singers, Karine Deshayes and Delphine Haidan, accompanied by the pianist Johan Farjot. Winners of multiple awards at the Victoires de la Musique and presented on the most prestigious international stages, this release by Klarthe is not to be missed!

In contrast to his first two quartets, the third quartet, which Marteau composed towards the end of the First World War, is of a completely different nature and presents itself as a strongly biographical work, to which Marteau wrote in 1918: "My new String Quartet No. 3 was composed under the impression of the terrible events of which my wife was the innocent victim. There are sections of life, parts of the soul, which express themselves in this piece. The Scherzo is a Viennese mood piece, memories of the city in which we felt so comfortable and happy." But he also processed in this largely melancholy quartet that he was no longer in demand or wanted as a violinist. The CD is supplemented with the "Eight Songs with String Quartet Accompaniment," op. 10 speak, written in 1905. In these songs Marteau is far ahead of his time, because it is the first string quartet of its kind in which the human voice also has its say. Until then, the string quartet was considered the royal genre of pure, abstract and absolute music. Marteau is the first composer to establish completely new connections between the strings and the voice, which is quite fascinating and has not yet been properly appreciated by music history.

Works by Gabriel Fauré and Richard Wagner aren't usually mentioned in the same breath, though an astute listener will easily understand why they are brought together for this late Romantic program. The lush and atmospheric harmonies and languorous melodies of Fauré's Pelléas et Mélisande, the Élégie, and his songs sort well with the benign lyricism and yearning chromaticism of Wagner's Siegfried Idyll, a serenade based on themes from the music drama, Siegfried. Indeed, this album demonstrates how pervasive Wagner's influence was, that even the classically calm and composed Fauré could not resist its expressive possibilities.

Gabriel Fauré originally wrote his song cycle, La Bonne chanson, for voice and piano, but a few years after its 1894 premiere he created a version with string quintet and piano. He later questioned the wisdom of having made the arrangement, thinking perhaps he was gilding the lily by adding even more sumptuous timbral richness to a work that was already so melodically and harmonically sensuous. Few listeners are likely to complain about his arrangement, though, particularly when it is performed as well as it is here, with mezzo-soprano Karine Deshayes and members of Ensemble Contraste. Deshayes has a relatively light lyric voice that still has enough fullness to put across the romantic ardor of the music and the poetry.

Working in collaboration with the Centre de Musique Baroque de Versailles and the Palazzetto Bru Zane (Centre de Musique Romantique Française), Hervé Niquet and Le Concert Spirituel carry on with their journey of rediscovering forgotten operatic works, this time pitting themselves against music from the close of the Age of Enlightenment, in Andromaque (1778), the single tragédie lyrique written by André-Ernest-Modeste Grétry (1741- 1813). Known above all for his light opéras- comiques, at the end of his career the composer turned towards an increasingly heroic style in the vein of Méhul and Cherubini.

Although much acclaimed at the time of its premiere in 1890, César Franck’s quartet is rarely played or recorded; here it is at the centre of this third album by the Quatuor Zaïde, who have repeatedly pursued an original and ambitious discography off the beaten path.