Lully, Charpentier, Desmarest, Lalande, Couperin La Nuit Louis Xiv de William Christie 2015 [hdtv 720p]

Called the Latin Lully"(whose worthy successor he was for 43 years under Louis XIV and Louis XV), Delalande took the "grand motet" practised at Versailles to the peak of its glory and its popularity. The Te Deum of 1684 is the epitome of his achievement in the genre, and it was organised, composed, and performed with the care reserved for true masterpieces. The listener will be equally astonished by the manner in which Delalande sets the words of Psalms 110 (111) and 137, whose emotional impact goes far beyond the conventions of the genre.

The 18th century was a time when deportment and noble behavior were essential for people of quality. Dance formed a major part of all social ceremonies and theatrical presentations. Nowhere was dancing more highly regarded than in France, where ballets de cour assumed great importance, and the Lullian tragedie en musique had its counterpart in the ballet en action of the opera-ballet. The Fantaisie (1729) and Plaisirs champetres (1734) of Jean-Fiery Rebel, reflecting the differing personalities of their prima ballerinas Camargo and Salle, have been called choreographic symphonies.

Lully's Atys was so dear to Louis XIV that it became known as the "the King's opera." With its unprecedented dramatic intensity, Atys was the first opera to feature a plot that revolved around love and the first French tragedy to kill off its lead character on stage. The opera was revived in 1985 when the Opéra de Paris called on William Christie and the director Jean-Marie Villégier to stage a celebration of the tercentenary of Lully's death. Resurrected from the ashes, Atys was a key factor in the revival of French baroque music. In 2011, the Opéra Comique once again presented Atys, and that production was filmed by FRA Musica for posterity.

Lully may have had a monopoly on the performance of actual opera in France, but David et Jonathas is effectively a sacred opera composed for performance at Jesuit colleges. The work is comprised mostly of arias and choruses; what recitative there is is unusually dramatic–especially in Saul's confrontation with David and his visit to the Witch of Endor to summon the ghost of Samuel. (Dominique Visse as the Witch deserves special mention for a convincing performance in a role that could easily descend into camp.) William Christie's choir and orchestra perform with all the expertise you'd expect; Monique Zanetti makes a rather feminine Jonathan but sings beautifully. In the role of David, the sensitive and heroic countertenor voice of Gérard Lesne is extraordinary.

The myth of Orpheus–the divine musician who went to Hades to rescue his bride Eurydice from the dead and whose song actually persuaded Pluto to release her–has been irresistible to operatic composers from Monteverdi to Offenbach. One of the happiest rediscoveries of the Baroque revival is this lovely one-act chamber opera by Marc-Antoine Charpentier, which combines the gentle lilt typical of French Baroque music with the beautiful melodies and delicious suspensions in which Charpentier excelled. Charpentier diverged from the myth in one important respect: he omitted the tragic ending in which Orpheus loses Eurydice a second time, instead allowing the couple to live happily ever after.

Pygmalion is, perhaps, Rameau's most consistently alluring ac/c de ballet whose overture, at least, was greatly admired in the composer's lifetime. There have been three earlier commercial recordings of which only the most recent, on Deutsche Harmonia Mundi, is currently available. Pygmalion was Rameau's second ac/c de ballet and it contains affecting and vigorous music in the composer's richest vein. The action takes place in Pygmalion's studio. Captivated by the appearance of the statue he has just completed, Pygmalion, legendary King of Cyprus, falls in love with it.

Earth, Wind & Fire (EWF) is an American band that has spanned the musical genres of R&B, soul, funk, jazz, disco, pop, rock, Latin, and African. They were one of the most successful bands of the 1970s.[ Rolling Stone called them "innovative, precise yet sensual, calculated yet galvanizing" and declared that the band "changed the sound of black pop"…[/quote]

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.

Due to legal complications engineered by Jean-Baptiste Lully and effected by Louis XIV, Marc-Antoine Charpentier's brilliant incidental music for Molière's final comedy, Le Malade imaginaire (1672-1674), was subjected to two drastic revisions. Despite the composer's usual precautions and careful maintenance of his manuscripts, the work's ordering became confused and scores of two important sections – the "Premier intermède" and the "Petit opéra impromptu" – lost. Thanks to the work of musicologists John S. Powell and H. Wiley Hitchcock, the full work has been reconstructed from surviving parts and restored for performance. The 1990 recording by William Christie and Les Arts Florissants is the most complete and authoritative version available; but if that makes it seem stuffy and dry, then hearing the performance will come as a glorious surprise.

Petits Motets were generally sung in the Royal Chapel during the Mass between a Grand Motet and the Domine salvum fac Regem. The most extended piece here is a Miserere for solo voice by the King's surintendant de la musique, Lalande. In fact the nine solo verses are sung in alternation with plainchant which would have been intoned by nuns. William Christie, who directs this intimate sequence, divides the solo spoils of this expressive piece between three of his sopranos, Veronique Gens, Sandrine Piau and Arlette Steyer. It would be hard to assemble three more persuasive sopranos than these to execute the music. Their almost faultless intonation, fresh-sounding voices and careful expression are both musically delightful and contextually apposite. Comparisons between the three are, perhaps invidious but Steyer sounds the least assured, technically and stylistically, among them.