Michel Legrand - Anthology (2013) {15CD Box Set EmArcy--Universal Music France 5345569}

Autumn 2013 marks Legrand's great return to the music scene: two concerts with Natalie Dessay at The Olympia in Paris (October 28th and 29th) followed by a tour through France and Europe, and also his first memoirs, Rien n'est grave dans les aigus, to be published by the Cherche-Midi Editeur. To tie in with these events, Universal Classics & Jazz France has undertaken the most ambitious, abundantly prolific and extravagant record-project ever devoted to Michel Legrand: a 15CD boxed-set which brings together every face and aspect of every domain on the Legrand continent; in other words, songs, jazz, original film-soundtracks, symphonic works, musicals…

Some of these CDs operate on the principle of pairing two original vinyl albums — c.f. the historic Legrand Jazz album together with his tribute to Richard Rodgers — while other discs are anthological and correspond to precise themes: international artists who have performed his work; arrangements and original songs; music for animated films… Here and there you can also find surprising guest-appearances, all by artists associated with the great Legrand: Sarah Vaughan, Stan Getz, Louis Armstrong, Yves Montand, Michael Jackson, Barbra Streisand, Jessye Norman… and also Alain Delon, singing his previously-unreleased French version of Windmills of your Mind. The classical side of Michel Legrand is also featured in this set through compositions carried by such wonderful soloists as Jean-Pierre Rampal, Maurice André or the divine harpist Catherine Michel, here on an original album — especially recorded for this set — of jazz standards re-orchestrated "classically" by Michel Legrand for a harp and symphony orchestra. The music here, steering a course between swing, lyricism and musical comedy, is an invitation on a journey through the universe of a musical giant, a creator who continues to vaporize frontiers in his love for music in the plural.

CONTENTS:
15 CDs, 320 titles, 17 hours of music
Booklet 72 pages, rare photos rares et inédites (previously-unpublished)

CD 01 : I Love Paris / Legrand in Rio
CD 02 : Legrand Jazz / Michel Legrand big band plays Richard Rodgers
CD 03 : Hommage à George Gershwin (Tribute to George Gershwin)
CD 04 : Stan Getz, Communications '72 / Bud Shank plays Michel Legrand
CD 05 : Arrangements and chansons originales / Arrangements and original songs
CD 06 : Vocal : Michel Legrand chante et s'accompagne / Sérénades du XXème siècle (Michel Legrand, singer & accompanist / 20th Century Serenades)
CD 07 : Michel Legrand & Jacques Demy
CD 08 : Jazzic in classic [album inédit, harpe et orchestre (new album, harp and orchestra)]
CD 09 : Ouvrages Symphoniques (Symphonic works)
CD 10 : Interprètes internationaux (International performers)
CD 11 : Comédies musicales (Stage musicals)
CD 12 : Dessins animés (Animated films)
CD 13 : Hommage à Alain Delon (Tribute to Alain Delon)
CD 14 : Michel Legrand & Joseph Losey
CD 15 : Films américains (American movies)