Among modern recordings of the opera, this one is a safe bet, assuming you want a safe version of this opera. Unlike Herbert von Karajan's oppressively string-heavy reading with the Berlin Philharmonic on EMI, this is a balanced, idiomatic account of the score, given a special luster by the Montreal Symphony Orchestra's coloristic instincts and the warm recording acoustic at St. Eustache Church. Conductor Charles Dutoit has a fine instinctive feel for Debussy in general and this score in particular. The singers in the title roles–Didier Henry and Colette Alloit-Lugaz–have both come to terms with the opera's enigmatic dramaturgy. However, it's very much a symphonic rather than operatic performance, clearly a product of the recording studio rather than of the stage.

Noted for his exquisite, beautiful playing and a technical wizardry, Accardo is most associated with Paganini. DG are proud to present these legendary Paganini in a deluxe 6CD + Blu-ray Audio package remastered from the original sources. These incredible virtuoso solo violin works are heard in astounding detail in this new 96kHz/24-bit remastering. Accardo's instrument is a Stradivarius dating from 1717.

Hector Berlioz, France’s greatest Romantic composer, exemplifies the spirit of his age – yet his genius was also ahead of its time. Reflecting his colourful life, his music is astonishing for its originality and ambition, and for orchestration of groundbreaking brilliance. This, the first-ever complete Berlioz edition, comprises carefully selected recordings and even includes works completely new to the catalogue. The accompanying booklet, lavishly illustrated, contains a fascinating commentary from Berlioz biographer David Cairns, whose words bring the composer’s music still more vividly to life.

Another feather in the Dutoit/Montreal/Decca cap, not least for the sound engineers' achievement in so brilliantly capturing the mammoth sonorities of the Symphonie funebre et triomphale (whose first performance Berlioz conducted walking backwards at the head of his huge wind-and-percussion band, though—alas for the legend!—with a baton, not a sword). For concert hall, rather than open air performance he later added strings and a chorus, and it is this version that is adopted here (as it was in Colin Davis's 1969 Philips recording). Splendid as that issue was, this new one even surpasses it in clarity and impact, with its majestic brass chords and a chorus that adds incisively to the final climax.

A collection of the very best of Bartoli's treasured recordings of musical delights and discoveries of the 17th and 18th century. Featuring two previously unreleased world premiere recordings of forgotten jewels by Leonardo Vinci and Agostino Steffani. With guest appearances from Philippe Jaroussky, June Anderson, Franco Fagioli and Sol Gabetta.

These disc were recorded in 1995 during Charles Dutoit's long spell as artistic director of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra. During that time they made many outstanding recordings with a particular reputation for French and Russian music and a glorious sound recorded in Saint-Eustache church. Dutoit is an ideal conductor for Bizet's music, sufficiently romantic to bring out its drama without letting it become self-indulgent.

For listeners who prefer their Ravel lushly textured, luminously colored, and luxuriantly impressionistic, this four-disc set of his orchestral music performed by Charles Dutoit and the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal will be just the thing. Recorded between 1981 and 1995 in warmly opulent Decca sound and including all the canonical works plus the two piano concerts and the opera L'Enfant et les sortiléges, Dutoit's approach to Ravel is decidedly sensual, even tactile. One can feel the excitement in the closing "Dance générale" of Daphnis et Chloé, sense the energy in La Valse, smell the sea in Une barque sur l'océan, and touch the dancer's flushed skin in Boléro. This is not to say that details are lost in Dutoit's performances – with the superlative playing of the Montreal orchestra, one can assuredly hear everything in the scores. Nor is this to say that Dutoit neglects the music's clear shapes and lucid forms – with a decisive beat and a clean technique, Dutoit's interpretations are models of clarity. But it is assuredly to assert that, for sheer aural beauty, these recordings cannot be beat. With the very virtuosic and very French playing of Pascal Rogé in the two piano concertos plus very characterful singing in L'Enfant, this set will be mandatory listening for all those who love Ravel.

Honegger was an eclectic composer whose achievement is well reflected in this stimulating compilation. Dutoit’s recording of the oratorio King David is particularly compelling: on hearing it one understands why the composer frequently returned to the formula of narrator, soloists, chorus and orchestra.

Pergolesi's Stabat mater and his C minor Salve Regina were coupled earlier on the Hogwood (L'Oiseau-Lyre) recording, highly praised by NA. The addition of another Salve Regina, this one attributed not quite conclusively to Scarlatti as a late work, provides the new record with a further attraction both on the piece's own merit (irrespective of authorship) and in its affinity with the Stabat mater. Another attraction for many will lie in the identity of the two singers and the conductor.

Gathered here are two masterpieces of late 19th-century French orchestral music. Cesar Franck's Symphony in D minor (1888) is his only symphony. Drawing its lineage from later Beethoven and Schumann, it's very cohesive and its themes are quite distinct, remaining quite popular. Vincent d'Indy's Symphonie su un chant montagnard francais (1886) is a very efficient fusion of a symphony with a piano concerto. The themes are supple yet smoothly integrated into a three-movement tapestry that has also never seen its popularity fade. Many versions of these exist on disc, but Charles Dutoit seems to have a better feel than most.

A trim, at times, almost balletic Falstaff. If that seems a ludicrous contradiction, I should explain that it refers to Dutoit's spirited interpretation of the work, not the central character, though Falstaff himself has shed a few pounds in the process but is no less loveable. Indeed, Dutoit's swift tempo for the second section (at the Boar's Head) has the theme for Falstaff's 'cheerful look and pleasing eye' sounding less like Tovey's understandable misunderstanding of it as ''blown up like a bladder with sighing and grief''. The trimming down process is abetted by the Montreal sound, with lean, agile strings and incisive brass (the horns are magnificent). Some may feel a lack of warmth in the characterization. I certainly felt that the first presentation of Prince Harry's theme (0'40'') could have done with a richer string sonority. Doubtless, too, there will be collectors who, at moments, miss the generous humanity of Barbirolli, or the Straussian brilliance of Solti. And although Mackerras is wonderful in the dream interludes and Falstaff's death, the start of his fourth section, with Falstaff's rush to London only to be rejected by the new King, is short on teeming excitement and anticipation. (Gramophone)

Maestro Dutoit and his orchestra really make Berlioz' orchestral showpiece glow in all of its colorful splendour, but with enough tenderness and warm lyricism in the more reflective, dreamy parts. But 'Un bal' really sways and swaggers with appropriate grandiloquence. The 'Scene aux champs' is played wonderfully poised and concentrated, but with a lot of warmth as well, helped of course by the mellifluous, wonderfully blended tone of the orchestra.

French modern composer Henri. Henri Dutilleux (1916-2013), born in Angers, Maine-et-Loire, France, was active in the second half of the twentieth century. The work combines the styles of Ravel, Debussy and Albert Roussel, as well as the style of his own creation. In addition to being influenced by Impressionist music, he also used serialism and atonality to write.

Mendelssohn's concertos are often denigrated as unworthy of serious consideration compared to the major warhorse concertos of the 19th Century. While they certainly don't compare favorably to, say, the Beethoven concertos, they were never meant to. Mendelssohn wrote them as a young man to demonstrate his clearly remarkable musical talents as composer and pianist in public performance. And they made quite a splash indeed. They literally bubble over with youth, enthusiasm, delight, virtuosity and bravado. They tell me more about the young Mendelssohn than any dry biography could.

It may not contain everything written by French modernist composer Francis Poulenc – the solo works, the chamber works, the stage works, and the songs with piano accompaniment are naturally not included – but Charles Dutoit's five-disc set of the orchestral works, the concerted works, the sacred choral works, and the vocal works with orchestral accompaniment by Poulenc has everything else that matters and lots, lots more. It has the charming Piano Concerto and the delightful Two Piano Concerto, the impressive Organ Concerto and the beguiling harpsichord concerto called Concert champêtre, the four-movement Sinfonietta and the seven-movement Suite française, the ballet Les biches and the Concerto chorégraphique called Aubade, plus 11 other shorter orchestral works.