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Through the years a number of composers have created music for Cirque du Soleil productions, they are: o) René Dupéré o) Benoît Jutras .) Le Grand Tour .) Le Cirque Réinventé .) Le Magie Continue .) Fascination .) Le Cirque Réinventé .) Mystère .) Nouvelle Expérience .) Quidam .) Fascination .) "O" .) Saltimbanco .) La Nouba .) Mystère .) Journey of Man .) Alegría .) Alegria: Le Film .) KÀ .) Tokyo 2008 o) Violaine Corradi o) Simon Carpenter .) Dralion .) Zumanity .) Varekai .) Wintuk .) Solstrom .) Macao I (2008) o) Jean-François Côté o) Philippe Leduc .) Corteo .) Solstrom .) Koozå .) Corteo o) Maria Bonzanigo o) Michel Cusson .) Corteo .) Macao II (2010) { Return to Top }
Originally, Cirque du Soleil released its own music on LP, Compact Discs and Cassette Tapes through their own in-house label - Nâga - which was part of Cirque's "Le Groupe du Soleil" Services division. Nâga released "Cirque du Soleil" in 1987 and "Nouvelle Expérience" in 1990. An earlier release sporting a Cirque du Soleil record was the 1985 release of the Fanfafonie 45, a vinyl record containing but two songs from the 1985 Tour. In 1992, Cirque du Soleil music interests were released through the RCA/Victor label in the United States and Canada. The agreement with RCA/Victor ended in 2002. In 2002, Cirque du Soleil created its own music imprint called Cirque du Soleil Records/Musique and re-released the majority of their music catalog in association with BMG Canada. In 2004, Cirque du Soleil launched its own music label called Cirque du Soleil Musique, which they dedicated to the creation, production and marketing of music associated with current and future Cirque du Soleil productions, and to the creation of a new musical repertoire through the support and development of emerging artists. Cirque du Soleil Musique products are distributed by Zing Distribution in Canada and by RED Distribution in the U.S. Both are owned or affiliated with the Sony BMG music group. It is interesting to note that RCA/Victor and BMG Classics are also now part of the Sony BMG music conglomeration. { Return to Top }
This is often tricky to determine at face value, as generally the album cover artwork, insert booklet contents and general packaging visuals did not change from label to label (although the recent incarnations by Cirque du Soleil Musique do sport changes in visual), but differences can be discerned by examining the album's catalog number, located on the spine of the album or on the album's back cover. This number will generally be displayed in a string of letters and numbers, hyphenated into three sections: a prefix, a selection code (often also denoting the product number) and a suffix. The album's prefix helps determine the lablel and the suffix helps determine in what medium the album was released. All RCA/Victor releases are denoted with a Catalog Number prefix of 09026. Example: Mystère Live (09026-68596-2) Also note that the suffix (-2) denotes a Compact Disc release. There are also (-1) Vinyl and (-4) Cassette notations where applicable. An RCA/Victor Logo is also promanently displayed on the album visual. All BMG/CDS Musique releases are denoted with a Catalog Number prefix of 40000 or 74321. The suffix here is omitted as all releases were in Compact Disc format. A Cirque du Soleil Musique logo is promenantly displayed on the album back cover. All Cirque du Soleil Musique releases are denoted with a Catalog Prefix combination explained as follows: Prefix: C Cirque D du S Soleil M Musique C Core Music (Show Music) N New Music J Jewel Case D Digipak P Promo L Limited Edition Selection: 10 Canadian Release (Zing) 20 US Release (RED) xxx Product ID Suffix: -1 Vinyl -2 CD -4 Cassette Therefore, as an example, the Saltimbanco (2005) album is denoted: CDSMCJ-10005-2 in Canada and CDSMCJ-20005-2 in the United States accordingly. { Return to Top }
In 2002, the BMG/Cirque du Soleil Musique alliance re-released three studio albums with two extra tracks apiece: Saltimbanco, Alegría and Quidam. All tracks were recorded live under the bigtop and tacked on to the original studio album masters without much fanfare. The extended editions were also released without the consent of the composers and have since been discontinued, but not necessarily due to any objections. { Return to Top }
In 1987, Cirque du Soleil released the music for Le Cirque Réinventé on their own in-house label - Nâga - and titled the CD/LP release "Cirque du Soleil", as the show had yet been titled. In 1989, Cirque du Soleil released a second version of the show's music and subtitled the release "Volume 2" so as to avoid confusion between the two different albums. In 1992, when Cirque du Soleil music interests were released through the RCA/Victor label in the United States and Canada, only Volume 2 was selected; therefore Volume 2 is the more widely known issue. But to confuse matters, the RCA/Victor release did not include the "Volume 2" notation. To answer the question outright; yes both Cirque du Soleil Volume 1 and 2 are different. Volume 1 has a few selected tracks that were not remixed for Volume 2 and Volume 2 features a few tracks from Volume 1 remixed as the show evolved. Neither album is currently available in the Cirque du Soleil Musique label catalog. { Return to Top }
Before the Cirque du Soleil Musique releases in 2005, little confusion existed between these two titles; however, after the CDS Musique releases, one title was dropped -- "Mystère" -- and the other renamed -- "Mystère Live" to "Mystère" -- but the latter is still the live recording. To help clarify: In 1994, RCA/Victor released the studio recording of the production Mystère, entitled "Mystère." Two years later (in 1996), RCA/Victor released a live compliation of the show it entitled "Mystère Live." While both albums were distributed under the RCA/Victor and BMG/Cirque du Soleil Musique alliances, the original studio (1994) album was not selected for distribution under the Cirque du Soleil Musique label (created in 2004). Instead, Cirque du Soleil chose to rename "Mystère Live" to simply "Mystère" and change the album artwork. The studio recording featuring musical compliations by René Dupéré from the original debut of Mystère is no longer in production or available in the Cirque du Soleil Musique catalog. { Return to Top }
Other than the original studio album (denoted "Saltimbanco (1994)") and the Extended edition album (denoted "Satlimbanco (Extended)"), only one other commercially available album exists under the Saltimbanco moniker. Its official title is simply "Saltimbanco" but denoted (2005) because the album's music was remixed and re-released that year making it different than the original studio and limited Extended edition albums that have been previously released by either RCA/Victor or BMG/Cirque du Soleil Musique alliances. The "Saltimbanco (2005)" album is the only one currently in production and available. Consequently, as a side note, there is one other album in the Cirque du Soleil repertoire bearing the name "Saltimbanco" and that is "Saltimbanco Live in Amsterdam." The album is an employee issue CD, recorded live under the big top in Amsterdam 1996 through the sound board. Since it was never commercially available, the title is not consiered a canon album in the Cirque du Soleil music catalog. { Return to Top } |
