The Harmonic Poem, Vincent Dumestre Piacere Dell'amore

Parmi les œuvres emblématiques de Versailles, les Symphonies pour les Soupers du Roi figurent au premier plan. Musiques d’un Palais convoquant un monde de passions, de caractères, d’intrigues, d’échos de batailles… ennobli par le faste des trompettes et des hautbois, elles résonnent jusqu’à nos jours comme les musiques du Plus Grand Roi du Monde. Certes, ce sont des « Musiques de Table » comme on en trouve ailleurs en Europe (le Banchetto Musicale de Schein en 1617, la Tafelmusik de Telemann en 1733), mais quel Prince peut aligner pour ce faire les 24 Violons du Roi, et les vents de sa royale Ecurie ? Avec le luxe d’un orchestre d’Opéra, voici Louis XIV mangeant en public chaque jour, un moment essentiel de la journée.

In 1643 in Venice, Cavalli's new opera caused a sensation among the audience of the Teatro SanCassiano. L'Egisto takes its name from the piece's main character, an Arcadian shepherd who is misled by an ambiguous inscription into believing his love is lost. A succession of misunderstandings ensues, along with spectacular pieces of music, a scene of madness and a descent into the Underworld for this would-be Orpheus searching for his Eurydice. The sumptuousness of the music, which masterfully illustrates the emotions involved in a love quadrangle, offers Vincent Dumestre and his cast the opportunity to paint with dazzling colours and virtuoso strokes for this first great labyrinth of Baroque sentiment.

Unlike most of the music in the fabulous "ut pictura musica" series from France's Alpha label, that presented here is something of a speculative reconstruction. As one section of the complex booklet (in French and English) explains, English ensemble instrumental music of the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries might be played by either a "whole" (homogeneous) or "broken" (diverse) consort.

Jean-Baptiste Lully - Phaéton - Vincent Dumestre (2019) {2CD Set Château de Versailles Spectacles CVS015}
XLD rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 771 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 359 Mb
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© 2019 Château de Versailles Spectacles | CVS015
Classical / Baroque / Opera / Period Instruments

This is the story of Phaeton, valiant driver of the Sun's chariot, led here by Vincent Dumestre and Benjamin Lazar, armed with a rich partnership of two decades of Lullyist cooperation. Just like at the time, they will make the Versailles Opera resonate with this production of this flamboyant tragedie lyrique which was first presented in Perm in Russia in 2018. Phaeton is a tragedie en musique in a prologue and five acts by Jean-Baptiste Lully. Philippe Quinault wrote the French libretto after a story from Ovid's Metamorphoses.

The large-scale sacred music of the French court remains among the most neglected repertories of the Baroque era. Here's an excellent place to start with it. The Te Deum, the quintessential Catholic hymn of praise, was a favored text for big moments at court, and the two examples here must be among the finest. Jean-Baptiste Lully's Te Deum, LWV 55, during whose premiere the composer fatally stabbed himself in the foot with a staff, was composed to celebrate the Sun King's recovery, via a pretty ghastly surgery, from what appears to have been a severe case of hemorrhoids. The more cheerful occasion of Charpentier's setting was a French military victory in the Low Countries. In both cases you get full-scale splendor, with chorus, brass, and orchestra in harmonically static settings.

Le Poème Harmonique, one of the most important early music ensembles in France, is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. For this occasion ALPHA CLASSICS has compiled twenty CDs from the catalogue in an attractively designed box. Award-winning recordings can be heard, some of them with an unusual repertoire from the Renaissance and Baroque periods. For loyal fans and those who want to become fans!