Issu d'une thèse de doctorat en histoire soutenue à Lorient en 2013, cet ouvrage aborde le circuit du vin d'Aquitaine, des vignobles bordelais aux ports bretons, de la production au déchargement et à la redistribution de la marchandise auprès des particuliers et des tavernes. Les réseaux de transport et de commerce sont étudiés à un niveau régional, mais également européen et ultramarin. …
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.
Platée was one of the most highly regarded of Rameau's operas during his lifetime. It even pleased critics who had expressed hostility to his musical style during the Querelle des Bouffons (an argument over the relative merits of French and Italian opera). Melchior Grimm called it a "sublime work" and even Rameau's bitter enemy Jean-Jacques Rousseau referred to it as "divine". The reason for this praise may be because these critics saw Platée, a comic opera, paving the way for the lighter form of opera buffa they favoured.
Marin Marais (1656-1728)est ajourd'hui célèbre grâce au fabuleux corpus de pièces pour violes de gambe qu'il nous a laissé et qui ont été remises à l'honneur avec le célèbre film "Tous les matins du monde" et les disques de Jordi Savall Mais Marais a aussi écrit 4 opéras dont Alcione, le meilleur d'entre eux.
Avant son enregistrement, celui-ci avait la réputation d'être digne des chefs-d'oeuvre de Lully et annonciateur des splendeurs ramistes, mais pour certains figé dans les règles passéistes du grand style français et refusant malencontreusement les harmonies italianisantes chères à Campra et Charpentier.