Charles Gounod
Charles-François Gounod was a French composer, conductor and organist of the Romantic era. His operas include the enduringly popular Faust, and his sacred and salon pieces remain staples of the repertoire.
That Bach–Gounod Ave Maria has become a fixture of weddings, recitals and seasonal programmes. On Move it appears in many guises: soprano and piano on Looking to the Light (MCD 365) and Lotus Dreams (MCD 501), flute and harp on Christmas Variations (MCD 585), organ meditation on Just Married (MD 3149), and paired classical and improvised readings on Crossing Paths (MD 3473).
His gift for a singing line also surfaces in salon repertoire such as the Serenade preserved among the restored sides on Amy Castles: Court Singer (MCD 559). Beyond these familiar pages he wrote twelve operas—of which Faust and Roméo et Juliette still hold the stage—and a large body of sacred music that he himself ranked among his finest work.
Compositions by Charles Gounod appear on
Crossing Paths
Ensemble Liaison and the Tony Gould Trio take turns across the programme: each piece is heard first in a scored reading, then in an improvised jazz response that opens the same melodic and harmonic material to fresh colour.
Just Married: Organ Music for a Wedding
A compilation of history's most celebrated organ music, long popular at weddings. The insert notes usefully group the tracks as processionals, recessionals and music for the signing of the register.
Christmas Variations
Harpist Megan Reeve gathers Christmas music in theme and variation: familiar carols, a French Noël, Britten, Bach–Gounod, and an Australian lullaby, with flute on two tracks.
Amy Castles: Court Singer
Amy Castles, the Australian dramatic soprano once hailed as the “Australian nightingale”, left landmark gramophone sides from London and Australian sessions in the early twentieth century. This disc gathers eighteen restored arias, salon songs and ballads.
Lotus Dreams
Soprano Shu-Cheen Yu and pianist Katherine Day present eighteen favourite songs and ballads, from Brahms and Schubert to Chinese and Irish folk airs, a personal path through Lieder and art song.
Looking to the Light: Songs of Christmas
Looking to the Light is an easy-listening Christmas collection of favourites such as O Holy Night, The Little Drummer Boy, Ave Maria and Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, with Australian carols, lesser-known songs and children's numbers including All I Want for Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth and I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas.