FROMENTAL HALÊVY (1799-1862): La Reine de Chypre.

Description: This 1841 work gained the admiration of the young Wagner who was employed during his time in Paris arranging the vocal score. As the Grove Opera entry puts it, “Halévy’s word-setting is fallible but his craft in building big scenes and in engineering harmonic surprises is highly developed.” It was also the first in an odd little run of three operas on the same libretto: Franz Lachner’s German Caterina Cornaro at the end of the same year (appearing on cpo in another month or two!) and Donizetti’s Italian one which premired at the beginning of 1844. 2 CDs + Book. French-English libretto. Véronique Gens (soprano), Cyrille Dubois, Éric Huchet (tenors), Étienne Dupuis (baritone), Christophoros Stamboglis (bass), Flemish Radio Choir, Paris Chamber Orchestra; Hervé Niquet.