Rolando Villazón was keen to follow up his first recital CD, which was devoted to the Italian repertoire, with a programme of French opera arias, since, as he points out, this is music he has lived with since his studies at the National Conservatory in Mexico. 'Although we worked mostly on Italian opera, we did the Olympia act from "Tales of Hoffmann". some years later, on the young artists' course at Pittsburgh Opera, I sang Werther with piano accompaniment, and then made my major international debut in "Manon" at Genoa in 1999. "Romeo and Juliet" and "Faust" followed, in Lyons and Paris respectively.' So, French operas - but which ones? Rather than programming famous arias from Berlioz, Bizet, Delibes, Lalo, Offenbach and the rest, Rolando Villazónhas chosen to devote himself to just two composers. 'At first we thought of an all-Massenet programme,' he explains, 'before deciding to include Gounod, so as to avoid too much uniformity of style. As I see it, Gounod is a French exponent of "bel canto:, whereas Massenet tends more to the "verismo" approach. Gounod has more spirituality, Massenet more fire, sensuality and eroticism. The tension between these two extremes has always attracted me... From the outset we also wanted to include some rarities, interspersing them among the better-known pieces.' Soprano : Natalie Dessay (2) Choeur de Radio France (14, 15) Soundtrack list: 00:00 - Ah ! tout est bien fini... O souverain (Le Cid) 04:53 - Enfin, Manon... En fermant les yeux (Manon) 09:38 - Oui, ce qu'elle m'ordonne... Lorsque l'enfant revient (Werther) 13:47 - L'amour ! l'amour !... Inspirez-moi, race divine (Roméo et Juliette) 18:07 - Source délicieuse (Polyeucte) 22:43 - Faiblesse de la race humaine !... Inspirez-moi, race divine (La Reine de Saba) 27:54 - Voix qui me remplissez d'une ineffable ivresse (Le Roi de Lahore) 32:04 - Je suis l'oiseau (Grisélidis) 34:55 - Traduire... Pourquoi me réveiller (Werther) 38:33 - Anges du paradis (Mireille) 42:06 - Salut, tombeau (Roméo et Juliette) 48:08 - Salut, demeure chaste et pure (Faust) 54:12 - Je suis seul !... Ah ! fuyez, douce image (Manon) 58:57 - Je vais la voir ! (Roma) 1:03:30 - Ah ! parais ! (Le Mage)