Les héroïnes romantiques Tragédiennes 3 (2011)

The French soprano Véronique Gens, joined once again by Christophe Rousset and Les Talens Lyriques, continues her exploration of the highways and byways of the French operatic repertoire. It covers the late 18th and 19th century and travels from Carthage and Palestine to the Pyrenees, Tudor England and 16th century Germany, and, alongside such names as Gluck, Berlioz, Meyerbeer, Verdi (Don Carlos, French for Paris), Saint-Saëns (his rarely heard Henri VIII rather than Samson et Dalila) and Massenet, features composers who no longer hold a place on the worlds operatic stages: Gossec, Méhul, Mermet and Kreutzer. Perhaps surprisingly, Gens main emphasis in this recital is on arias written for mezzo soprano, but there have always been darker shades in Gens timbre and French composers of opera created some of their most impressive roles and arias for the deeper-toned female voice. (bron: Virgin)