Soprano Sabine Devieilhe’s signature operatic role,Lakmé, forms the starting point for her enticing albumMirages. A collection of opera and song in French, its theme is the exotic allure of faraway – and imagined – places and people. In addition to three numbers from Delibes’ opera, it features music by Berlioz, Debussy and Stravinsky and some rarer names: Thomas, Messager, Koechlin and Delage. Devieilhe is joined by mezzo-soprano Marianne Crebassa, pianist Alexandre Tharaud and the period-instrument orchestra Les Siècles under its founder, François-Xavier Roth. ----- REVIEW: This adventurous program places familiar showpieces into the most fascinating of contexts, exploring the fantasy image of a different country that was such an obsession in fin-de-siecle France. She has a wonderfully instinctive and apparently effortless way with the music. – Gramophone
