Indes Templatea

The remarkable French harpsichordist Christophe Rousset tackles Rameau’s relatively unknown instrumental transcription of his popular opéra-ballet, Les Indes Galantes.
Christophe Rousset plays Rameau’s instrumental transcription of Les Indes Galantes on the stunning 18th century Jean-Henry Hemsch harpsichord. Public disapproval to the premiere of the opéra-ballet led to Rameau not only omitting the recitatives and its controversial passages, but to transcribing the whole work for instruments. He re-grouped the remaining pieces according to their keys into what he called ‘quatre grands concerts’ or concert suites.

With Les Indes galantes by Jean-Philippe Rameau, György Vashegyi – along with his Orfeo Orchestra and Purcell Choir – makes a further dazzling addition to their Glossa series of French dramatic masterpieces from the Baroque, and in the company of a luxurious line-up of vocal soloists.

The first recording of Rameau's sublime masterwork on CD for more than 20 years: Hugo Reyne and La Simphonie du Marais present this full and original version based on souces in the library of the Paris Opera. Hugo Reyne, Nicolas Sceaux and La Simphonie du Marais have made their own edition of this seminal work, recorded in concert and rehearsal in the Vienna Konzerthaus at the Rexonzanzen Festival in January 2013.

Lu par Daniel Anne, Véronique Bernard-Maugiron, Olivier Costa, Clarisse Buret.
Avec Les Indes noires, Jules Verne développe une histoire fantastique qui plonge ses racines dans l'histoire de la Révolution industrielle, en Ecosse, au XIXème siècle. Phénomènes mystérieux, apparitions, réouverture après la découverte d'un filon d'une extrême richesse, la mine d'Aberfoyle est décidemment bien étrange…

After a rather uninspired prologue as opening section according to Lully's five-part tradition, Rameau's ballet opera offers four different stories, each set in a different exotic locale. We get some idea of how Frenchmen conceived of the non-European world in the 1730s. The first story, "The Noble Turk," falls in line with Montesquieu's Persian Letters (1721) by suggesting that good character is more important than religious differences. This theme, alien to my own viewpoint and synonymous with the Enlightenment, led to an ideal of the Brotherhood of Man that dominated idealistic thinking for two centuries to come. The most remarkable of the four stories is the second, set in Peru at the time of the Spanish Conquest of the 1530s… By John D. Pilkey

Rameau had the somewhat dubious fortune (in his own time, at least) to be such a powerful creative personality in the field of orchestral music that the quality of his dances sometimes overwhelms the operatic context in which he places them. From our point of view today, this hardly seems a liability, especially when it permits the performance of marvelous orchestral suites such as this from his various theatrical productions. Les Indes galantes (1735) contains some wonderful dance music, scored with the composer's usual imaginative flair.

"Described as an Opera-Ballet in four Acts, Les Indes Galantes was Rameau's biggest stage success in his own lifetime, and one can understand why from this spectacular production, staged at the Paris Opéra in 2004. The director, Andrei Serban, presents the piece with the sort of lavish effects and movement that would have delighted 18th-century audiences…Outstanding among the soloists are Nathan Berg as Huascar…Anna Maria Panzarella as Emilie and Paul Agnew as Valere, with Joao Fernandez memorably in drag as Bellone. The final curtain brings an exuberant encore after the credits, with Christie hilariously joining in the dance.