Massenet / Popp / Vanzo Navarraise CD

Sony Classical announces a further batch of complete recordings from the CBS/Sony and RCA Victor catalogues. The newest installment of this popular series features some unusual repertoire as well as documents of the New York Metropolitan Opera in it's postwar heyday. French opera is represented by a rarity, the first recording of Massenet's La Navarraise, which has been described as a cross between Carmen and Cavalleria rusticana. Written as a response to the success of Mascagni's opera, it actually surpasses it's model in musical quality. In the title role of this 1975 performance, with the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Antonio de Almeida, the beloved soprano Lucia Popp gives "a remarkable performance... urgent and intense (Gramophone). "At the very end, when in the face of the hero's death, her mind snaps and demented laughter begins, she is spine-chilling.... In it's way the result is as powerful as the close of Tosca, which musically it resembles in the final bars.... Alain Vanzo, one of the most satisfying of French tenors... does very well by the hero.... The orchestra plainly relishes every detail of the score, and the recording does full justice to the finesse of Massenet's brilliant orchestration."

1. La Navarraise / Pr?lude 2. La Navarraise / Act I / L'assaut a Co?t? Cher, Messieurs! 3. La Navarraise / Act I / Capitaine, Je Vois Que Vous Appartenez Au R?giment de la Biscaye 4. La Navarraise / Act I / Je Ne Pensais Qu'? Toi 5. La Navarraise / Act I / Araquil! Mon P?re 6. La Navarraise / Act I / Depuis Deux Ans Je L'aime! 7. La Navarraise / Act I / Ah! Mariez Donc Son Coeur Avec Mon Coeur! 8. La Navarraise / Act I / ?tes-Vous de la Compagnie 9. La Navarraise / Act I / Morts! Les Vieux Compagnons 10. La Navarraise / Act I / Cr?nelons Les Maisons Donnant Sur la Campagne 11. La Navarraise / Act I / ? Bien Aim?e, Pourquoi N'es-Tu Pas La? 12. La Navarraise / Act I / Anita, la Navarraise? 13. La Navarraise / Act I / J'ai Trois Maisons Dans Madrid 14. La Navarraise / Nocturne 15. La Navarraise / Act II / Alerte! Alerte! 16. La Navarraise / Act II / Mon Argent, Mes Deux Mille Douros! 17. La Navarraise / Act II / Voici Ma Dot! Qu'on Me Le Donne! 18. La Navarraise / Act II / Bless?, Mourant, J'esp?re! Car Je Mourrai Par Toi! 19. La Navarraise / Act II / Mourir! Mourir Par Moi! 20. La Navarraise / Act II / Mon Fils! P?re!... Le Prix Du Sang! Horreur! 21. La Navarraise / Act II / Merci, la Bonne Vierge, Elle Nous a B?nis