Hector Berlioz, France’s greatest Romantic composer, exemplifies the spirit of his age – yet his genius was also ahead of its time. Reflecting his colourful life, his music is astonishing for its originality and ambition, and for orchestration of groundbreaking brilliance. This, the first-ever complete Berlioz edition, comprises carefully selected recordings and even includes works completely new to the catalogue. The accompanying booklet, lavishly illustrated, contains a fascinating commentary from Berlioz biographer David Cairns, whose words bring the composer’s music still more vividly to life.

In the first three symphonies, Honegger's seriousness is communicated through rhythmically propelled melodies, biting dissonances, and vigorous counterpoint, and his block-like orchestration is calculated more for impact than for nuance. Honegger alternates between muscular developments and searching meditations, and the combative Symphony No. 1 and the uneasy Symphony No. 2 effectively play off these contrasts. A reverent tone dominates the Symphony No. 3, for orchestra, "Liturgique," but its religious feeling is born of doubt and conflict, as conveyed in the work's brutal episodes. This disc restores to the catalog the fine recordings made by Michel Plasson and the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse from 1977 to 1979, digitally mastered in 1992.

After three decades of Carmen in opéra comique-style, each one offering its own brand of authenticity, here we are back in the 19th century with the old grand opera version, with the Guiraud recitatives, tacked on after Bizet’s death. This was the way Carmen was usually performed until the 1950s, when producers and scholars started to reconsider the original.

On-going discography of French recordings by maestro Michel Plasson, who will turn ninety on October 2nd (expect a digital surprise to celebrate his birthday). Here is his complete Debussy legacy with the Orchestre du Capitole de Toulouse, including the most popular pieces from the composer’s catalogue (La mer, Nocturnes, Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune…) and featuring François-René Duchâble at the piano in the Fantaisie.

Somewhat overlooked in the late 20th-century for being labelled as academic, the music of Vincent d’Indy has been revived by the untiring trailblazer of Romantic French music Michel Plasson. Far less renowned than his first symphony “On a French Mountain Air”, the second has been rarely recorded but has plenty of charm and will please the César Franck lovers, whose much of its inspiration draws from.

Second and last volume of our Albéric Magnard cycle (the first ever to be put on record) by French romantic trailblazer Michel Plasson. Very German in tone, his symphonies hide treasures of beauty despite their seeming austerity. The fascinating Hymn to Justice is a powerful work inspired by the Dreyfus affair that shook France at the end of the 19th-century.

Albéric Magnard, "mort pour la France" at the beginning of the World War I, was an important figure of French music in the early 20th century, notably for his massive symphonies inspired by the late German romanticism. After he had rapidly fallen into neglect, his orchestral music was revived thanks to the relentless trailblazer Michel Plasson, who was the first to record the complete cycle of four symphonies to which he added some tone poems like the Chant funèbre. Second batch to come soon!

For all its exotically tinged, trademark Orientalism, so fashionable in late-19th-century France, Delibe's opera Lakmé is at heart a simple story of tragically misplaced love. This marvelous and sensitively wrought interpretation renders the intensity of that love story with a surprising emotional credibility. Conductor Michel Plasson allows the music's arching melodies to breathe and unfold leisurely, like a lovingly cultivated floral display; he even discovers hidden nuances within the formulaic fluff that pads Delibe's score. And his vision is shared by the outstanding principals here. As the titular Hindu princess, Natalie Dessay gives a jewel-like performance, full of stunningly shaped phrases and tapered notes that sound like spun silk (and one that can favorably compare with Joan Sutherland's account on London).

Accompagné par l'orchestre du Capitole de Toulouse, le pianiste français renouvelle l'approche de ces deux concertos. Bon nombre d'interprètes en avaient en effet donné une interprétation de plus en plus épaisse et romantique, ce qui est en contradiction avec l'écriture de ces oeuvres, davantage inspirées par la légèreté et le modernisme de "l'esprit français" des années 20-30. Le jazz, si présent dans le Concerto pour la main gauche, par exemple, est révélateur de la pensée de Ravel. Le piano de Duchâble est plus que brillant : il est incendiaire, volatile, merveilleusement aérien. La qualité de la tenue rythmique, le sens des contrastes, l'humour, si souvent présent chez Ravel, sont magnifiquement restitués.

After a series of performances at the Théâtre de la Monnaie in Brussels in 1892, Jérusalem does not appear to have been shown for another 70 years on any other stage. It was not until 1963 that the conductor Gianandrea Gavazzeni committed himself to rediscovering the opera and produced it in Italian at the Teatro La Fenice in Venice. In 1975 the RAI Turin presented the still rarely performed work in concert-form with a distinguished cast (Katia Ricciarelli and José Carreras) – this time in its original French. All later theatre and record productions are based on the material used for the RAI performance, although this in no way combined the Paris Escudier score score-critically with the Italian arrangements.

Milhaud was so prolific and also so uneven that few of us stray far beyond the handful of works which have stayed in the repertoire. The last work of his that I heard, Le train bleu, a ballet for Diaghilev which I had long wanted to hear, was typical: it was pleasant, competent and forgettable. So when it comes to his twelve numbered symphonies I wonder whether to take the plunge. Here we have an opportunity to sample his work in the most demanding of genres. This disc of the first two symphonies was a product of Plasson’s short-lived contract with DG.