Christie Peruso

These ‘petites’ compositions of sacred music for several soloists and a small instrumental ensemble are in a certain sense the pendants to the grands motets of Versailles: Lully's successor excelled in both forms. At the close of the ‘Grand Siècle’, De Lalande asserted himself as one of the truly great figures in French Baroque music.

This two-fer compiles Lou Christie's LPs for the Roulette label. His self-titled debut introduces a singer and songwriter of uncommon substance. Where other teen idols swooned over puppy love, Christie explored the ugly twists and turns of the male psyche with depth and honesty, unleashing the operatic intensity of his potent falsetto to articulate emotions long verboten in popular music. Compare the facile drama of covers like Maurice Williams' "Stay" and Little Anthony's "Tears on My Pillow" to Christie-penned hits like "The Gypsy Cried" and "Two Faces Have I." The latter songs travel into dark, disturbing terrain where no one else dared go, exploring romantic turmoil in explicitly adult terms.

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.