4/5. Despite a natural talent for writing light opera, Emmanuel Chabrier 's obsession was grand opera. Brisefs was his last offering in the genre and was the work in which Chabrier saw himself as a modernist, raising the ideals of French opera above and beyond anything that had come before. Donald Macleod examines the history of this opera and the reasons why
Chabrier saw it as his crowning masterpiece. Duo de I'Ouvreuse de I'Opera Comique et de I'Employé du Bon Marche
Geraldine McGreevy (soprano), Toby Spence (tenor), Graham Johnson (piano)
Marche Joyeuse Orchestre National de France, conductor Armin Jordan
Briseis, Act 1 Scene 2 (excerpt) Joan Rodgers (soprano), Kathryn Harries (mezzo),
Mark Padmore (tenor), Chorus of Scottish Opera,
BBC Scottish SO, conductor Jean-Yves Ossonce Ballade des Gros Dindons Stephen Varcoe (baritone), Graham Johnson (piano)
Villanelle des Petits Canards; Pastorale des Cochons Roses; Les Cigales Felicity Lott (soprano), Graham Johnson (piano)
A la Musique Toulouse Midi-Pyrenees Choir
(women's voices), Toulouse Capitole Orchestra, conductor Michel Plasson
Repeated on Wednesday at 12 midnight