~ Baroque Opera ~

Started by Harry, June 23, 2007, 08:46:08 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 2 Guests are viewing this topic.

Que


Drasko

Quote from: Que on September 02, 2013, 09:59:20 AM
New issue:



Q

And an important one at that. Les Sourprises de l'Amour haven't been recorded complete before, just some sort of suite by Minkowski.

I see this is three act version/revision, where Anacreon serves as a third act. Anacreon, separately written one-acter, has been recorded by both Christie and Minkowski, but for original first two acts this is the premiere. On the wishlist it goes, though the cheapskate in me wishes they had gone for two act - 2 CDs.



Geo Dude

I visited this section in hopes of finding a thread like this....of course, Harry did not disappoint. :P  I'm just beginning to dig into this material, with arias, instrumental excerpts, and a few operas on the way.  (And a few sitting on my shelf. :))

I'm pretty sure that I'll give in and get that Opus Arte box set next month; I've heard a lot of good things about it and the price is certainly right.

king ubu

Quote from: Geo Dude on June 12, 2014, 11:41:28 AM
I visited this section in hopes of finding a thread like this....of course, Harry did not disappoint. :P  I'm just beginning to dig into this material, with arias, instrumental excerpts, and a few operas on the way.  (And a few sitting on my shelf. :))

I'm pretty sure that I'll give in and get that Opus Arte box set next month; I've heard a lot of good things about it and the price is certainly right.

I 've already recommended it elsewhere, but I think Sabine Devieilhe's disc of Rameau arias is wonderful and might make a good point of entrance (myself, I've listened to plenty but not yet to many complete recordings ... they're piling up for when the time is right):

[asin]B00FBLG822[/asin]

Here's a wonderful little promo-video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kNblZlxAN4
Es wollt ein meydlein grasen gan:
Fick mich, lieber Peter!
Und do die roten röslein stan:
Fick mich, lieber Peter!
Fick mich mehr, du hast dein ehr.
Kannstu nit, ich wills dich lern.
Fick mich, lieber Peter!

http://ubus-notizen.blogspot.ch/

knight66

Yes, you recommended it and I downloaded about half of it. A very enjoyable disc. I think I am beginning to get my ear in. For a long time I have felt that after half an hour it all sound the same. This singer brings the work to life.

Mike
DavidW: Yeah Mike doesn't get angry, he gets even.
I wasted time: and time wasted me.

Geo Dude

Quote from: king ubu on June 18, 2014, 12:25:35 AM
I 've already recommended it elsewhere, but I think Sabine Devieilhe's disc of Rameau arias is wonderful and might make a good point of entrance (myself, I've listened to plenty but not yet to many complete recordings ... they're piling up for when the time is right):

[asin]B00FBLG822[/asin]

That one is in the listening stack right now, actually. :)  I'd put together a few recordings in order form when I stumbled across that one, listened to the samples, and immediately knew that I had to have it.

king ubu

Quote from: knight66 on June 18, 2014, 07:22:57 AM
Yes, you recommended it and I downloaded about half of it. A very enjoyable disc. I think I am beginning to get my ear in. For a long time I have felt that after half an hour it all sound the same. This singer brings the work to life.

Mike

Yup, the disc is 81 minutes or so ... but it is paced very nicely I find, kind of delivers it's own storyline, with the "air de la folie" one of the highlights!
Es wollt ein meydlein grasen gan:
Fick mich, lieber Peter!
Und do die roten röslein stan:
Fick mich, lieber Peter!
Fick mich mehr, du hast dein ehr.
Kannstu nit, ich wills dich lern.
Fick mich, lieber Peter!

http://ubus-notizen.blogspot.ch/

Peter Power Pop

#128
Quote from: Elgarian on July 21, 2012, 07:19:02 AM
[snip] ... This [i.e., Emmanuelle Haïm's DVD of Hippolyte et Aricie] may be turn out to be the best thing since the wonderful Dumestre Cadmus & Hermione ...

Interesting review, though pretty useless to me as a guide to the production. The Dumestre Cadmus & Hermione is one of the finest opera productions I've ever seen on DVD, but I know people who found it utterly tedious. I suspect this is a similar case. At any rate, I'll be in the queue to buy one when the DVD comes out. ... [snip]

It's out:

Rameau: Hippolyte et Aricie - Le Concert d'Astrée / Emmanuelle Haïm (DVD)



I'm waiting for the Blu-ray.

Moonfish

So is everybody in this thread going crazy about the recent Rameau compilation? I know that the content has been posted elsewhere, but the French Baroque thread simply needs it as well!  :)

Peter PP - you stated (elsewhere) that you had mixed feelings about it? I guess the issue is the amount of overlap with recordings in one's collection. Certainly looks tempting.

[asin] B00KYMJ4H4[/asin]

"CD 1-3: Hippolyte et Aricie - William Christie
CD 4-6: Les Indes Galantes - Jean-François Paillard
CD 7-9: Castor et Pollux - Nikolaus Harnoncourt
CD 10-11: Les Fêtes d'Hébé - William Christie
CD 12-13: Dardanus - Raymond Leppard
CD 14-15: Platée - Marc Minkowski
CD 16: Pigmalion - Nicholas McGegan
CD 17: Les Surprises de l'Amour - Marc Minkowski
CD 18-19: Naïs - Nicholas McGegan
CD 20-22: Zoroastre - William Christie
CD 23: La Guirlande - William Christie
CD 24: Zéphyre - William Christie
CD 25-27: Les Boréades - John Eliot Gardiner"
"Every time you spend money you are casting a vote for the kind of world you want...."
Anna Lappé

Peter Power Pop

#130
Quote from: Moonfish on October 08, 2014, 03:47:54 AM
So is everybody in this thread going crazy about the recent Rameau compilation? ...

I hope so.

Quote... I know that the content has been posted elsewhere, but the French Baroque thread simply needs it as well!  :)

Peter PP - you stated (elsewhere) that you had mixed feelings about it? ...

Yep. I find the older recordings (by Leppard, Paillard, and Harnoncourt) in that box set eminently resistible.

Leppard's Dardanus is old-fashioned – and that's not a compliment. I find it fascinating from a historical perspective (it was recorded in 1979, before HIP-ness began infecting affecting recordings of pre-Romantic music), but interpretation-wise it sticks out, sore-thumb-style, from the other recordings in the set.

Harnoncourt's Castor et Pollux sounds sour. (It's from 1972, when period instruments tended to be recorded unflatteringly – as this one was.) I'm also not keen on the interpretation. It's stern and humourless. (I could imagine Maestro H having a furrowed brow throughout the entirety of the recording.)

As for Paillard's Les Indes Galantes...

I thought I had that recording, but I don't. Oops. I'm in no position to say anything about it. I do, however, have Paillard's album, Rameau à Versailles. If Paillard's Les Indes Galantes sounds anything like Rameau à Versailles, it's going to sound very old.

Incidentally, I don't know why Erato didn't license the William Christie / Les Arts Florissants recording of Les Indes Galantes from Harmonia Mundi. (Maybe they don't like Harmonia Mundi.)

Quote... I guess the issue is the amount of overlap with recordings in one's collection. Certainly looks tempting.

While I'm still in "Grrr" mode, I'm wondering why it's a 27-CD set. Why didn't Erato add Nicholas McGegan's recording of La Princesse de Navarre? That's an Erato (single) CD, and that could have easily been added, making it a 28-disc set. Easy. And find two CDs* or a double-CD in the vaults, and you've got yourself a 30-disc set. Even easier.

Overall, given that there are (to me) a few clunkers in the set, I'd recommend leaving the set alone and pestering eBay or Amazon (or whoever you prefer) for secondhand cheapies.

But if you're a completist, and you like the idea of some one-stop Rameau-shopping, start saving...

Oh, by the way:

Would you (or anyone else reading this) like me to put some excerpts of what I've been talking about on YouTube for you to hear? Just say the word, and I'll add a few tracks from those operas.

(*Erato have two Rameau compilations, Tragédiennes I and Tragédiennes II. They could have added those, rounding off the set quite nicely.)

Quote[asin] B00KYMJ4H4[/asin]

"CD 1-3: Hippolyte et Aricie - William Christie
CD 4-6: Les Indes Galantes - Jean-François Paillard
CD 7-9: Castor et Pollux - Nikolaus Harnoncourt
CD 10-11: Les Fêtes d'Hébé - William Christie
CD 12-13: Dardanus - Raymond Leppard
CD 14-15: Platée - Marc Minkowski
CD 16: Pigmalion - Nicholas McGegan
CD 17: Les Surprises de l'Amour - Marc Minkowski
CD 18-19: Naïs - Nicholas McGegan
CD 20-22: Zoroastre - William Christie
CD 23: La Guirlande - William Christie
CD 24: Zéphyre - William Christie
CD 25-27: Les Boréades - John Eliot Gardiner"


JCBuckley

Quote from: Peter Power Pop on October 09, 2014, 01:29:31 AM

Incidentally, I don't know why Erato didn't license the William Christie / Les Arts Florissants recording of Les Indes Galantes from Harmonia Mundi. (Maybe they don't like Harmonia Mundi.)


Or might it have something to do with Harmonia Mundi including the Christie set in their recent - and wonderful - Opéra Baroque box? Completely agree with you about the Harnoncourt and Leppard recordings. And the Paillard account of Indes Galantes is a very distant third to Christie's and the rambunctious new recording conducted by Hugo Reyne.

Drasko

Quote from: Moonfish on October 08, 2014, 03:47:54 AM
So is everybody in this thread going crazy about the recent Rameau compilation?

Not really, about third of it I already have, another third I'm not sure I want, and the rest I either have in other performances or would prefer to get as used singles with printed libretti.

Quote from: Peter Power Pop on October 09, 2014, 01:29:31 AM
Incidentally, I don't know why Erato didn't license the William Christie / Les Arts Florissants recording of Les Indes Galantes from Harmonia Mundi. (Maybe they don't like Harmonia Mundi.)

I'm not sure if Harmonia Mundi licenses their recordings to other labels at all. I can't think of single one off top of my head. Besides they have released their own Rameau box with said Les Indes Galantes.


Peter Power Pop

Quote from: Drasko on October 09, 2014, 05:44:39 AM
Not really, about third of it I already have, another third I'm not sure I want, and the rest I either have in other performances or would prefer to get as used singles with printed libretti.

I'm not sure if Harmonia Mundi licenses their recordings to other labels at all. I can't think of single one off top of my head. Besides they have released their own Rameau box with said Les Indes Galantes.

This'd be the one you mentioned:



http://store.harmoniamundi.com/jean-philippe-rameau.html

Boxset CD Jean-Philippe Rameau Les Arts Florissants
250 years after his death, Jean-Philippe Rameau continues to fascinate the musical scene the world over, as is shown by the number of new productions of his operas scheduled for 2014 and beyond. But the Dijon-born composer also owes some of his current popularity to the passionate advocacy of William Christie. This sumptuous box set collects all the Rameau recordings he made for harmonia mundi in the 1980s and 1990s. Its selection of opéra-ballet, tragédie lyrique and harpsichord pieces highlights the multiple facets of an eminently classical œuvre, masterfully interpreted by this American-born musician who has become the foremost interpreter of 17th- and 18th-century French music. A must!

Contents:

Les Indes galantes
Castor et Pollux
Pygmalion
Nélée et Myrthis
Anacréon

Pièces de clavecin (1724)
Nouvelles Suites de pièces de clavecin (1728)

Peter Power Pop

#134
Quote from: JCBuckley on October 09, 2014, 03:46:29 AM
Or might it have something to do with Harmonia Mundi including the Christie set in their recent - and wonderful - Opéra Baroque box?

This one?

Opéra Baroque - A Luxurious Limited Edition Box Set



The only Rameau in that box set is Les Indes galantes.



QuoteCompletely agree with you about the Harnoncourt and Leppard recordings. ...

Yeah, they're a little bit old in the tooth. (I have no problem with the age of recordings in general, but performance practice back then was a lot different.)

Quote... And the Paillard account of Indes Galantes is a very distant third to Christie's and the rambunctious new recording conducted by Hugo Reyne.

I wouldn't doubt that for a moment.

It looks like the new Indes Galantes recording is a mighty fine interpretation. The person who runs NewOlde.com's Rameau page raves about it.

I'm looking forward to getting it, but I can't find it cheap – or at least cheap-ish – anywhere. ($35 is a bit pricey for me. $18.98 for the MP3s at Amazon.com is not too bad, price-wise, but the sound quality would be gruesome. Qobuz is selling the CD-quality files for AUS$29, and the studio-quality files for AUS$43, but I ain't gonna pay that much for something that isn't a CD. Just call me Cheapskate Pete.)



http://www.simphonie-du-marais.org/disque_les-indes-galantes/?lang=en

Peter Power Pop

#135
Quote from: king ubu on June 18, 2014, 12:25:35 AM
I've already recommended it elsewhere, but I think Sabine Devieilhe's disc of Rameau arias is wonderful and might make a good point of entrance (myself, I've listened to plenty but not yet to many complete recordings ... they're piling up for when the time is right):

[asin]B00FBLG822[/asin]

Here's a wonderful little promo-video Here are some promo-videos:

http://www.youtube.com/v/H3nDALkNrfA

http://www.youtube.com/v/yqeE1I6R7Hw

http://www.youtube.com/v/pRYj4IyHac4


And a 13-minute making-of video:

http://www.youtube.com/v/FbL6VbQz8PA

JCBuckley

Quote from: Peter Power Pop on October 09, 2014, 04:45:48 PM

It looks like the new Indes Galantes recording is a mighty fine interpretation. The person who runs NewOlde.com's Rameau page raves about it.


I don't always find myself agreeing with NewOlde, but in this case I'm with him 100%. And for some reason it's not expensive in the UK - £20 at MDT, and less than £17 at Amazon.uk


Peter Power Pop

Quote from: Peter Power Pop on October 09, 2014, 04:45:48 PM
[snip]

It looks like the new Indes Galantes recording is a mighty fine interpretation. The person who runs NewOlde.com's Rameau page raves about it.

I'm looking forward to getting it, but I can't find it cheap – or at least cheap-ish – anywhere. ($35 is a bit pricey for me. $18.98 for the MP3s at Amazon.com is not too bad, price-wise, but the sound quality would be gruesome. Qobuz is selling the CD-quality files for AUS$29, and the studio-quality files for AUS$43, but I ain't gonna pay that much for something that isn't a CD. Just call me Cheapskate Pete.)



http://www.simphonie-du-marais.org/disque_les-indes-galantes/?lang=en
Quote from: JCBuckley on October 10, 2014, 12:20:26 AM
I don't always find myself agreeing with NewOlde, but in this case I'm with him 100%. And for some reason it's not expensive in the UK - £20 at MDT, and less than £17 at Amazon.uk

After moaning about how expensive it was, I finally gave in and bought the new Les Indes Galantes. I couldn't help myself. It kept looking at me, and wouldn't leave me alone as I tried to go about my daily business, and no amount of saying to myself "Nah, that's way too dear" prevented it from tempting me with its availability. Curse you, O Discs of Temptation!

Peter Power Pop

#138
It looks like there's another new Rameau disc that I'm going to have to try not to buy...

Rameau: Les Fêtes de l'Hymen et de l'Amour

Chantal Santon-Jeffery (soprano)
Carolyn Sampson (soprano)
Blandine Staskiewicz (soprano)
Jennifer Borghi (alto)
Reinoud Van Mechelen (countertenor)
Mathias Vidal (countertenors)
Tassis Christoyannis (bass)
Alain Buet (basses)

Le Concert Spirituel
Hervé Niquet, conductor

World Premiere Recording



About this CD:

The latest in Hervé Niquet and Le Concert Spirituel's "reinvigorations" of French operatic music from the Baroque and beyond for Glossa is Jean-Philippe Rameau's 1747 Les Fêtes de l'Hymen et de l'Amour, a ballet heroïque in a prologue and three entrées, the whole work designed, when first created, to comprise a complete theatrical spectacle. Music for dancing – as befits a ballet – is given a prominent role and Rameau is able to create new orchestral sonorities, especially in the ballets figurés which encouraged the author to compose especially expressive symphonies and to give the choruses – even a double-chorus – an integral role in the action. Added to this are supernatural effects, and plots for the entrées which explored the then uncommon world of Egyptian mythology (including a musical depiction of the flooding of the River Nile).

In his vocal music Rameau deftly switches between the Italianizing style and the French mode of expression current in the mid-18th century, all of which allows the team of vocal soloists – led by the three sopranos Chantal Santon-Jeffery, Carolyn Sampson and Blandine Staskiewicz – to demonstrate their accomplished talents. Overseen by the Centre de musique baroque de Versailles, and with a descriptive booklet from Thomas Soury, this new recording is an important addition to the Rameau catalogue – the more so in the 250th anniversary year of the composer's death. It brings to life one of Rameau's finer, if underrated, compositions, and a dramatic work written on the cusp of important reforms in opera.

Glossa Music: http://www.glossamusic.com/glossa/reference.aspx?id=337

Buy from:
Amazon.co.uk
Amazon.com
Amazon.fr
ArkivMusic
FNAC
Harmonia Mundi Store
iTunes
Premiereopera Italy
Presto Classical

The new erato

Quote from: Peter Power Pop on October 14, 2014, 08:26:49 PM
It looks like there's another new Rameau disc that I'm going to have to try not to buy...

Rameau: Les Fêtes de l'Hymen et de l'Amour
That ship has sailed for me I'm afraid.