Marc Minkowski returns with relish to Rameau: the rich colors of the orchestra, the irrepressible dynamics, an exceptional melodic sense make the extracts of his greatest lyrical tragedies shine, like so many anthological moments. These famous overtures, these masterful symphonies, paint a shimmering portrait of Rameau Master of orchestration: it is a veritable feast of oboes, flutes, clarinets, horns and bassoons... Pyrotechnics, storms and rockets leap, and adorned with splendor night or a dazzling light, Rameau's work dazzles us again. Florian Sempey deploys his masterful and truly royal voice when he appeals to the Sun, monstrous when he plays the ogre, but of unparalleled finesse in pain and love... Leaping and mysterious, Rameau's orchestra revived by Minkowski is sumptuous, dancing, jubilant!

Arcadian Dreams: the title conjures pastoral perfection, an idyllic vision rooted in Greek mythology. Equally, it references the Arcadian Academy established in Rome in 1690, a vibrant hub of intellectual and artistic creativity whose influence quickly spread across Europe. Arcadian Dreams assembles an exquisite group of composers-both esteemed and inspired-including the French luminaries Thomas-Louis Bourgeois, Louis Antoine Lefebvre, and Jean-Philippe Rameau; the Neapolitan maestro Domenico Scarlatti, who lived his last 35 years in Spain; and the German-born George Frideric Handel, whose early Italian career left an indelible mark on his masterpieces. The enchanting realm of Arcadian Dreams abounds with gods and goddesses, shepherds and nymphs, and bucolic dreamscapes, creating an aural tapestry of pictorial, secular cantatas intertwined with entrancing instrumental numbers. The fearless young soprano Hannah de Priest, making her recording debut, vividly captures the essence of these beguiling works, alongside the entrepreneurial early music ensemble Les Délices, whose members bring long-forgotten music alive for contemporary audiences. "[De Priest] sings with radiant tonal beauty ... always with compelling expressiveness. Her coloratura is both fluent and effortlessly produced... her colleagues in Les Délices ... help create vocal chamber music of the highest order. Together, their embrace of a variety of colors and subtle flexibility of phrasing add immeasurably to the quality of this recital... A most welcome release.” --Early Music America (Ken Meltzer) "I’m thrilled that more audiences will learn what we already know in Chicago: Hannah De Priest is a star... on an upward trajectory as a leading interpreter of 17th and 18th century repertoire, [she] caps a breakout season... with her debut solo album. Referencing both Greek mythology and the Arcadian Academy in 17th century Rome, Arcadian Dreams features secular Baroque cantatas by Rameau, Handel, Thomas Louis Bourgeois, and Louis Lefebvre with Les Délices, an early music ensemble founded by baroque oboist Debra Nagy. De Priest’s rise as a Baroque specialist is linked with Les Délices and their breakout debut at the 2023 Boston Early Music Festival... The album also includes Albinoni’s Oboe Sonata in C major and a keyboard sonata by Domenico Scarlatti, showcasing Nagy and harpsichordist Mark Edwards." --WFMT Classical (Oliver Camacho)

To celebrate Maurice Ravel's 150th anniversary in 2025, Kebyart sets out to explore his unique compositional legacy, despite the composer never having written for saxophone quartet. The album includes Kebyart's transcriptions of Ravel's Le Tombeau de Couperin and Pavane pour une infante defunte, alongside arrangements of French Baroque works by Rameau, highlighting both Ravel's admiration for ornamentation and his influence on today's composers. New pieces by Mikel Urquiza and Joan Perez-Villegas engage with Ravel's musical philosophy, delving into his radical simplicity, subtle rhythmic layers and inventive structures. Through these works, Kebyart aims to unravel Ravel's complex yet elegant style, blending the past with the future in a journey of musical discovery.

Castor et Pollux is Rameau's third opera and is packed with arias that show off the soloists to their best advantage: Tristes apprêts for Telaire, Nature, Amour for Pollux, Sejour de l'eternelle paix for Castor, and Soulevons tous les dieux for Phebe. In this new recording Judith van Wanroij, Reinoud Van Mechelen, Tassis Christoyannis and Veronique Gens are the outstanding performers, alongside the Purcell Choir and the Orfeo Orchestra conducted by Gyorgy Vashegyi, in a new edition of Rameau's work prepared under the aegis of the Centre de musique baroque de Versailles. Research that was begun several years ago on questions of performance practice has now been complemented by their intensive work on the score and the division of roles, respecting what we now know about performance practice at the Paris Opera in Rameau's day.

REVIEWS:
New York Times (Publisher) (4/7/00, p.E6) - "...this Hungarian period-instrument group produces a rounded timbre, closer to that of modern instruments. In addition...Terey-Smith also favors relaxed tempos, but this preference exacts no cost in vibrancy or...sheer rambunctiousness..."

REVIEWS:
New York Times (Publisher) (4/7/00, p.E6) - "...this Hungarian period-instrument group produces a rounded timbre, closer to that of modern instruments. In addition...Terey-Smith also favors relaxed tempos, but this preference exacts no cost in vibrancy or...sheer rambunctiousness..."

14 distinct titles introduce this exciting new series uniting the finest Alpha and ZZT Baroque recordings. Discover - or rediscover - universally known works as well as world premiere recordings of rarities. Newly conducted artist interviews allow for fresh perspectives on their recordings. All releases, digipak in format with trilingual booklets, feature photographs by great (Magnum Cooperative) contemporary artists adorning the covers and a strong 'queen of colors' scheme, bringing to mind gods, kings, warriors, the devil, life, violence and death... Themes omnipresent in Baroque art!

R E V I E W S:

"A highly visible figure as leader of the renowned English Consort for the past three decades and, in Canada, as the former music director of the National Arts Centre Orchestra, Trevor Pinnock has recently defected from the podium to resume his career as a keyboard virtuoso with these brilliant performances on the 18th-century Goermans-Taskin French harpsichord from the collection of the University of Edinburgh. The generous selection of 80 minutes includes two 1728 Suites in A minor and E minor flanked by six selections (L’Entretien des Muses, Les Tourbillons, Les Cyclopes, L’Enharmonique, L’Egyptienne and La Poule) from Rameau’s most beguiling character pieces. Avie’s recording of this remarkably well-voiced instrument is exemplary. Special recognition is due to the exquisite tuning of the instrument in French unequal temperament by John Raymond, which allows us to truly appreciate the boldness of Rameau’s tonal excursions."
- Daniel Foley, TheWholeNote.com

You’ve doubtless been wondering about it for some time. Now that the English Consort has folded, what will Trevor Pinnock do? Well, worry no longer. This album provides the answer, at least in part: he’ll record. In a real way, this Rameau is a return to Pinnock’s roots, as he’d performed the Pièces de Clavecin en Concerts with the Gailliard Harpsichord Trio while in his teens, and recorded Rameau’s harpsichord works in the 1970s.

This latest release shows him in excellent form. “La poule” is attentive to rhythmic values, without pushing the poor fowl’s tempo immoderately. The subtle hesitancy at the beginning of each clucking phrase works well, in a piece that is more difficult to play correctly than it seems at first glance. Both the “Musette en Rondeau” and the famed “Tambourin” from the same suite have a folklike insistence on their respective drones that never gets in the way of the relentless but judicious momentum.

While the “Fanfarinette” is faster than that recorded so well by Sophie Yates (Chandos CHAN 0708) and less inclined to maintain the piece’s skipping rhythm, Pinnock still applies notes inégales extensively and to great effect at phrase starts and conclusions. “La triomphante” is moderate and brash, with the strumming effect subtly emphasized: occasionally in the bass chords, or in the figuration, or in the rhythm accorded the right-hand melody. Ornamentation is always sensibly selected.

Pinnock isn’t afraid to bring his own interpretations to the mix on occasion, which is a nice way of saying that at times he moves into areas that turn their back on tradition as it’s currently understood. Is this necessarily wrong? I think you risk the hazard of the die when you enter the game, but Pinnock’s perceptions are interesting, usually convincing, and never made me think for once that I had a party recording on my hands. The A-Minor Sarabande is one good example in the “interesting” camp. Taken at a relatively slow, steady tempo, the ornamentation is paced for a much faster piece. This focuses attention on the stately, gliding theme, though in some instances only the final note of the ornament registers. I don’t consider the results successful, but I can understand the reasoning behind the approach. More persuasive is Pinnock’s unusual handling of “La rappel des oiseaux.” The opening section and close are handled much quicker than usual, emphasizing the repetitive nature of the bird calls, while the middle section is taken slowly and freely, the better to emphasize the shifts in harmony. The harpsichordist makes use as well of his instrument’s 4? set of strings at the start to bring the music up an octave, then switches down to the 8? set for the central section, but only moves up an octave once more midway through the final section. It’s an imaginative effect, and one that again chips away at the prevailing myths that all harpsichords sound alike, and possess no variety of touch...

Pinnock’s harpsichord is a double-manual instrument by Goermans from 1764, significantly modified 20 years later by Taskin. It is a richly beautiful instrument, robust yet capable of delicacy, and caught to perfection with little action noise and just enough resonance to capture the bloom... This is a fine album, and one well worth your purchase.

Barry Brenesal, FANFARE

Rameau's career was coming to an end when in 1763 rehearsals began for his last work, Les Boréades, intended for the Fêtes Royales de Choisy in June, celebrating the end of the Seven Years' War. On 27 April the rehearsals took place in Versailles, then… nothing more. Les Boreades was not part of the royal festivities, and the composer’s death in 1764 plunged his last tragedie-lyrique into oblivion, and it was not to see the light of day for another two centuries! Yet, what a splendid opera it is, Rameau’s most accomplished, for he was in full possession of his creative means at eighty years of age. The writing for orchestra and choir is wildly virtuosic, the melodic invention is exceptional, the drama is powerful: it is a veritable musical testament, a succession of violent elements, passionate duets and heartrending lamentations. Taking on this monument of French music, Vaclav Luks brings together magnificent soloists and his choral and orchestral forces, which regularly resound in the Royal Opera: their determination is admirable and Versailles really does owe it to Rameau, since the unfinished rehearsals of 1763, to make a second recording of his masterpiece!