Jacques Offenbach
La Grande Duchesse de Gerolstein

VirginClassics 5457342

Recorded October 2004

 

 Felicity Lott - La Grande Duchesse
Yann Beuron - Fritz
Sandrine Piau - Wanda
Francois Le Roux - Le Général Boum
 

Les Musiciens du Louvre - Grenoble
Choeur des Musiciens du Louvre

Marc Minkowski

I had such a good time singing 'La Grande Duchesse' last year. She's a wonderfully ghastly character and I found it quite liberating to play her. I've heard the first edit of the CD and some of it made me laugh aloud; I could visualise all the funny things that were happening onstage. Marc Minkowski whips the music on at a great pace, very light and exciting, and the CD includes a lot of music that isn't usually performed. As with the CD of 'La Belle Hélène', I think the recording really catches the spirit of the performance: we had done about 10 shows before we recorded it, so it made it much livelier- especially for the dialogue, which can be difficult when you haven't done the piece onstage. Yann Beuron, François le Roux, Sandrine Piau and all the others are marvellous. I do hope people will enjoy it.  FL