Katarina Jovanovic (soprano), Philippe Do (tenor), Mark Schnaible (bass), Orchestre National de Lille/Jean-Claude  Casadesus Naxos 8.572270***

The Prix de Rome was more about convention than inspiration. The candidates for the prize were locked away for 22 days to set a supplied text. It fell to the 18-year old Bizet to grapple with Amédée Burion's Clovis et Clotilde, dealing with the conversion to Christianityof the Frankish king Clovis. Gounod thought the text was splendid, but it's unlikely to excite much admiration in the 21st century. Bizet's cantata may have had a shaky progress through the voting stages, but it certainly demonstrated that he had the required competence. His Te Deumwas written during his actual time in Rome and, with lots of not particularly flavourful oom-cha writing, is not so much conventional as formulaic. Anyone curious about what went into the making of the composer of Carmenneed not hesitate. See url.ie/57c6