Bizet / Dessay / Mercier Masterworks Of The Late 19Th Century In France CD

The ever-more comprehensive Sony Classical Masters series is pleased to announce ten new releases. Ranging from symphony cycles to solo piano music, these budget-priced box sets celebrate some of the leading musicians of recent times. The Orchestre national d'?le-de-France amassed an impressive discography of late 19th-century French music under former music director Jacques Mercier, and this collection of ten CDs brings together many little-known or undervalued works. Several discs of sacred vocal music include compositions by the likes of Gounod and Saint-Sa?ns (including his Requiem) and vocal soloists include Nathalie Dessay, Fran?oise Pollet, V?ronique Gens and Fran?ois Le Roux. Other discs explore the music of Roussel, Schmitt (his Sallamb? suites, given a "splendid performance" - Gramophone) and Bruneau, and Bizet's rarity Djamileh is performed complete. Rounding out the collection is Debussy's Le Martyre de Saint S?bastien.