The Human Comedy: Balzacian Songs

Arnaud Marzorati and his singers, ‘Les Lunaisiens’, are unrivalled specialists in the popular French songs of the past centuries. Here they tackle The Human Comedy: Balzacian Songs, two great monuments of 19th-century France: the writer Honoré de Balzac, and songwriter Pierre-Jean de Béranger, a poet and composer highly famed in his day for his genius in depicting society in all its social diversity, from the poorest to the very richest. During this period Balzac was also making his sharply drawn portrayals of more than 5,000 characters in the course of his great opus of around 90 novels bearing the overall title of The Human Comedy. Here the ‘Lunaisiens’ have recorded musical settings of a wide selection of witty and often satirical verse, reflecting all the Parisian themes that obsessed Balzac: social climbing, money and greed, corruption, love and betrayal. With the participation of Lucile Richardot and Cyrille Dubois, Arnaud Marzorati and his ensemble give an enthusiastic account of Balzac’s extraordinary human menagerie. As Marzorati concludes: ‘The Human Comedy was greatly inspired by song.’

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Lucile Richardot – Mezzo-Soprano (tracks 1, 2, 4, 8, 13, 15, 16) Cyrille Dubois – Tenor (tracks 1-3, 6, 9, 11, 14, 16) Arnaud Marzorati – Baritone (tracks 1, 3, 6, 7, 11, 12, 16) Jérôme Varnier – Bass (tracks 1, 3, 5, 6, 10, 11, 16) Les Lunaisiens Arnaud Marzorati Christian Laborie – Clarinet (Joseph Baumann model from 1820, replica by Riccardo von Vittorelli) Christophe Tellart – Hurdy-Gurdy (Wolfgang Weichselbaumer model from 2009) Patrick Wibart – Serpent & Ophicleide (Serpent facsimile by Stephan Berger, original Ophicleide by Gautrot Marquet/Couesnon, circa 1860) Étienne Galletier – Guitar (René François Lacote model from circa 1825, kindly loaned by Vincent Dumestre) Daniel Isoir – Piano (Pleyel "Petit Patron" semi-grand, 1844)