Jean Baptiste Berger

Christophe Rousset and Talens Lyriques return to Lully and his seventh opera, Isis. Inspired both by Roman mythology and Ancient Egypt, Isis is a story of love and jealousy. This plot caused a scandal at the Royal Court when Madame de Montespan, who was the King's favorite, saw in it a reference to her own situation, the Sun King being at that time occupied with a new mistress. The work's dramatic intensity provides Lully with many occasions to show his remarkable talent for orchestration. Featuring the Chamber Choir of Namur and a brilliant cast of soloists, this recording revives a neglected gem of the French Baroque repertoire.

The musical world owes a debt of gratitude to French conductor Christophe Rousset not only for the vital, exquisite performances he delivers with the ensembles Les Talens Lyriques and Choeur de Chambre de Namur, but for his work in bringing to light neglected masterpieces of Baroque opera. Lully's Bellérophon, premiered in 1679, was a huge success in its time, with an initial run of nine months. Part of its popularity was doubtless due to the parallels that could be drawn between its plot and certain recent exploits of Louis XV, but even the earliest critics recognized the score's uniqueness and exceptional quality within Lully's oeuvre, so it's perhaps surprising that it has never been recorded before.

This manuscript, from Christophe Rousset's private collection, was discovered by him in 2004. Dedicated to a Madame de Théobon, it contains not only the essential French harpsichord pieces of the late seventeenth century, but also many transcriptions of compositions by Lully and several hitherto completely unknown preludes. Providing precious insight into the art of the harpsichordist and the musical practices of that time, these pieces are recorded here for the first time. With it's powerful but still austere sound, the Nicolas Dumont harpsichord of 1704 does them full justice.

This luxurious set containing 39 CDs, 3 DVDs, 1 CD-Rom and four detailed booklets will tell you the full story of Baroque opera in Italy, France, England, and Germany. No fewer than 17 complete operas (including two on DVD) and two supplementary CDs (the dawn of opera, Overtures for the Hamburg Opera) provide the most comprehensive overview of the genre ever attempted! The finest performers are assembled here under the direction of René Jacobs and William Christie to offer you 47 hours of music. An opportunity to discover or to hear again the masterpieces of Baroque opera, some of which have been unavailable on CD for many years.

Many Italian composers of the 17th century went abroad to look for a job. Most of them travelled to Austria or Germany, but some took another direction. The best-known of them was Giovanni Battista Lulli, who as Jean-Baptiste Lully dominated musical life in France in the second half of the 17th century. Another one was Pietro Antonio Fiocco, who stayed the largest part of his life in the Southern Netherlands.

This two-CD album brings together the two earliest recordings by La Petite Bande. They were made in 1973 and feature landmarks in two important French forms of entertainment—comedie-ballet and opera-ballet. Performed in 1670 at Chambord, one of Louis XIV's grandest country retreats, Le bourgeois gentilhomme was the high water mark of Lully's collaboration with Moliere and was to be the last work of its kind on which the two worked together. Moliere developed the comedie-ballet from the fashionable court ballets, working the dances and music into the body of the play with unparalleled skill. Lully, himself a dancer, proved a gifted partner as the music for Le bourgeois gentilhomme reveals.

The cantata, to some extent, is a development from the madrigal that appeared in Italy at the start of the seventeenth century. While the madrigal was refined and delicate, the cantata evolved because composers felt the need to introduce a dramatic narrative element into vocal chamber music and thusly the music took a lighter, wittier turn.
Scarlatti is considered as one if the initiators, and also one of the reformers of this genre, whose outlines he established. In his cantatas for a single solo voice and continuo, Scarlatti treats the latter as a true partner of the voice.