no et me

Hippolyte et Aricie was Rameau's first surviving lyric tragedy and is perhaps his most durable, though you wouldn't know it from the decades we had to wait for a modern recording. Now there are two: this one, conducted by Marc Minkowski, and William Christie's version on Erato. Choosing between the two is tough. Minkowski uses a smaller and probably more authentic orchestra, and with the resulting leaner sound, the performance has more of a quicksilver quality accentuated by Minkowski's penchant for swift tempos. His cast is excellent. The central lovers in the title are beautifully sung by two truly French voices, soprano Véronique Gens and especially the light, slightly nasal tenor of Jean-Paul Fourchécourt. In the pivotal role of the jealous Phèdre, Bernarda Fink is perfectly good but not in the exalted league of Christie's Lorraine Hunt. So there's no clear front-runner, but anyone interested in French Baroque opera must have at least one.

This latest version of Gluck’s masterpiece is something of a double hybrid: its starting point is the Berlioz version, which combines what Berlioz regarded as the best of the Italian original and the French revision (and using a contralto Orpheus), and then it is modified further, with a number of reorderings and some music restored, as well as revised orchestration. It isn’t very ‘authentic’, in terms of Gluck No. 1, Gluck No. 2 or Berlioz, but that of course doesn’t much matter as long as it works.

Hippolyte et Aricie was Rameau's first surviving lyric tragedy and is perhaps his most durable, though you wouldn't know it from the decades we had to wait for a modern recording. Now there are two: this one, conducted by Marc Minkowski, and William Christie's version on Erato. Choosing between the two is tough. Minkowski uses a smaller and probably more authentic orchestra, and with the resulting leaner sound, the performance has more of a quicksilver quality accentuated by Minkowski's penchant for swift tempos. His cast is excellent. –David Patrick Stearns

Emma Kirkby, Paul Agnew, Andreas Scholl, les bambins de St John's College, les violes de Concordia et Carole Cerasi vous attendent pour ce grand frère de l'Indispensable Purcell. A retrouver dans les kiosques, avec votre numéro de mai.

John Eliot Gardiner is one of the leading conductors in the active authentic performances movement in England, performing Baroque music but also extending his range into later repertoire. He first conducted at the age of 15, and after finishing school he studied at King's College, Cambridge. While still an undergraduate, he conducted the combined Oxford and Cambridge Singers on a 1964 tour of the Middle East and founded the Monteverdi Choir, which has consistently performed on his recordings since.

Last year, Magma were able to celebrate their 35th anniversary. The band played 4 weeks at Triton in Paris, each week with a different setlist representing the different eras in the history of Magma, and a different notable guest musician from the band's past. "Mythes Et Legendes Vol. 1" is an excellent document of the band's first week at Triton…

Luminosity, clarity and depth of colour characterise the playing of Éric Heidsieck, born in Reims in 1936. A student of French masters Marcel Ciampi and Alfred Cortot, he went to Wilhelm Kempff to further his exploration of Beethoven. Heidsieck's career, encompassing more than 2000 concerts around the world and duo partnerships with his pianist wife Tania and cellist Paul Tortelier, has brought him particular fame in Japan. His distinguished interpretations of Beethoven’s complete piano sonatas, recorded in the years around 1970, are complemented here by a previously unreleased 1958 version of the ‘Hammerklavier’ Sonata.