Jacques Offenbach. La Vie parisienne

CD-Book. Bru Zane Label. French opera n. 41.

‘The rehearsals for La Vie parisienne are almost driving me insane’, wrote librettist Ludovic Halévy a few days before the work’s first performance. The artists of the Palais-Royal company were struggling with some of the musical numbers Offenbach had written for them. Under pressure, composer and librettists had to simplify, cut, rewrite and sometimes even abandon some of their most successful inspirations. The international success of the final score soon ensured the hundreds of pages reluctantly deleted by Offenbach were well and truly forgotten. Now the research of the Palazzetto Bru Zane team has uncovered all this musical material, making it possible to present the world premiere recording. Listeners can now enjoy a delightful Diplomatic Trio, a Seduction Quintet, a Roadsweeper’s Song, an air for Urbain, the Fabliau of the Baroness, and more. The team of fourteen soloists assembled under the baton of Romain Dumas benefits from the glittering sonorities of the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, which previously recorded Offenbach's ‘other’ Vie parisienne back in... 1976.

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