Rameau Acante Cephise Cossenko

As Rameau wrote in his treatise on harmony, “A good musician should surrender himself to all the characters he wishes to portray, and like a skillful actor, put himself in the speaker’s shoes.” Regardless of the means used to achieve this, the composer uses music and the interplay of harmony to convey feeling. This album on the Analekta label features bass-baritone Philippe Sly and soprano Hélène Guimette accompanied by musicians from Clavecin en concert under the direction of Luc Beauséjour.

Rameau - Integrale Des Pieces De Clavecin - Michel Kiener (2003) [2CD] {Harmonia Mundi}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 1.04 Gb | MP3 @320 -> 353 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 34 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2003 Harmonia Mundi | HMI 987039.40
Classical / Baroque / Harpsichord

With the exception of a few of Bach's more famous compositions, Rameau's Pieces de Clavecin have received more attention over the years than any other Baroque keyboard works–and for good reason: they're extraordinarily diverse, imaginatively conceived, consummately stylish, and most importantly, they demand interpretive prowess on the part of the performer. For many harpsichordists a Rameau cycle represents what a Beethoven symphony cycle would for most conductors–the crowning achievement of the genre, since what a performer brings to Rameau reveals not only his level of technical virtuosity but even more so his ability to creatively exploit the infinite opportunities inherent in Rameau's innovative scores.

Jean-Philippe Rameau - Platee
Hans Rosbaud / Orchestre de la Société des Concerts du Conservatoire / Michel Sénéchal
EAC+LOG+CUE | 2xCD, APE: 438 MB | Partial Artwork | Mono | 5% Recovery Info
Label/Cat#: EMI France # 7243 5 73169 2 7 | Country/Year: France 1999, 1956
Genre: Classical | Style: Baroque, Opera

…Comic opera was relatively rare during the Baroque era in France and the musicologist Cuthbert Girdlestone expresses his surprise that none of Rameau's contemporaries seem to have remarked on the innovative nature of Platée. Rameau may have been inspired by a revival of an earlier comic opera, Les amours de Ragonde by Jean-Joseph Mouret, in 1742, or by Joseph Bodin de Boismortier's comic opera-ballet, Don Quichotte chez la Duchesse from 1743.

With Le Jardin de Monsieur Rameau, William Christie invites us to take a pleasant walk in the beautiful garden of French vocal music from the XVIIIth Century. Featured composers include Rameau and his contemporaries, and the repertoire ranges from opera highlights and profane cantatas to instrumental interludes. Christie's program presents a vivid overview of the music that was played in Versailles at the peak of its splendor. The album's vocal soloists are young singers who took part in Le Jardin des Voix (The Garden of Voices) - a biannual musical academy led by William Christie and Paul Agnew that is designed to unveil the most promising talents of the coming generation.

Fresh from his hugely acclaimed and multi -award-winning album Johann Sebastian Bach, Icelandic pianist Víkingur Ólafsson’s third Deutsche Grammophon recording pairs works by two revolutionary French composers separated by a century and a half: Jean-Philippe Rameau and Claude Debussy.

It is only a short while since I reviewed a suite of dances from Rameau's opera, Nais. Now, hard on the heels of that disc (also conducted by McGegan, Harmonia Mundi, 7/95) comes a reissue of the entire work, albeit with judicious cuts. Nais was commissioned to celebrate the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748, and first performed the following year. Thus it was a vocal counterpart to Handel's Music for the Royal Fireworks, both pieces marking the conclusion of the War of the Austrian Succession. The present recording was made in 1980 following performances at London's Old Vic Theatre and at Versailles under the auspices of Lina Lalandi's enterprising English Bach Festival.

These "concerts mis en simphonie" are Jean-Philippe Rameau's Pièces de clavecin en concert of 1741, orchestrated for strings and winds (but no harpsichord) by Hugo Reyne, flutist and director of the historical-instrument group La Simphonie du Marais. Rameau's originals are for violin, viola da gamba, and harpsichord, but unlike in an Italian trio sonata or accompanied sonata the harpsichord is at the center of the group. The violin and gamba are accompanimental and can optionally be replaced with other instruments.

There are two different short operas (from 1754 and 1757) by Rameau with the title Anacréon. Both are one-act actes de ballet; this one was actually used as the third entrée of Rameau's opéra-ballet Les surprises de l'Amour when it was revived the same year. Both works have as their subject the Greek poet, Anacreon. The 1757 one - which was first performed at the Paris Opéra in May of that year and has a libretto by Pierre-Joseph Justin Bernard - has an only marginally less slight ‘plot’ than the earlier Anacréon. It follows an argument as to the relative merits of love and wine. That’s resolved in Anacreon’s favour by L’Amour; in fact, he believes the two are not incompatible.