After five triumphs at the Paris Opéra, Chevalier Gluck, reformer of French opera and protégé of Marie-Antoinette, created his last work in 1779: Echo et Narcisse, based on Ovid's Metamorphoses. Adopting the style of a pastoral, it was spurned by the public at its premiere, but is a tribute to the splendour of the French tradition. With the support of the Fondation Etrillard, Hervé Niquet has resurrected Gluck's last opus, in which the fates of the nymph Echo, who repeats the last word she hears ad infinitum, and the proud Narcissus, condemned to love only his own reflection, intertwine: two perfectly Baroque myths!

Two treasures are finally revealed to the public: the Berkeley manuscript and that of Caumont contain many anonymous pieces for organ, jewels revived at last for this world premiere recording. Five Great Hymns are presented that were composed around 1700, when the French organ school reached its peak, and many pieces organised in suites, which make the sound of the Great Organs of The Royal Chapel of Versailles (1710) resonate gloriously, in Jean-Baptiste Robin’s majestic interpretation.

This is a baroque dream: a performance of the sacred drama David and Jonathas, a masterpiece by Charpentier and one of the miracles of French opera, in the Royal Chapel of Versailles! In 1688, the Louis-le-Grand Jesuit school performed this vibrant version of the fateful, fusional love between David and Jonathas… and the inevitable confrontation between their armies. Their deep friendship – biblical love – leads to the death of Jonathas in the arms of the victorious David. The intense emotion exuded by this piece is amplified by the staging, sets and costumes, under the stirring direction of Gaétan Jarry: a sumptuous, dazzling baroque vision.

Jordi Savall is painting Monteverdi in the colours of the Mediterranean. The Catalan maestro has entrusted the title role of this foundational work of Western music to a remarkable baritone: the magnificent Marc Mauillon embodies Orfeo, his resonant and ductile voice in perfect unison with the conductor’s musical vision. Here, a warm performance and rich sound reign supreme!

French harpsichordists from the time of Louis XV extolled the exhilaration and nonchalance of their harpsichord, which crackled and grumbled, but also sang of sentiment like an opera orchestra. They broke away from dance suites through pièces de caractère (character pieces), a French specificity that draws on portraits of the salons held by ladies of the upper classes. Sentimens and Tendres plaintes respond with an ornamentalist’s talent to the bellicose progression of Cyclopes and Marche des Scythes! Clément Geoffroy performs a collection of this French harpsichord music that attains an exceptional level of subtlety and impetuosity, in the true “rocaille” style that marked its swansong.

“Percé jusques au fond du coeur” (“Pierced to my heart’s depths”) is a tragic proclamation of Le Cid’s voice, at last put to music by “Mr Charpentier, famed for a thousand works that charmed all of France”. This collection of courtly arias, serious songs and drinking songs, played both at the Court of Louis XV and in the inner circles of the French bourgeoisie, is a marvellous maze on the Map of Tendre developed by Charpentier, a poet-musician whose sophistication vies with an irresistible sense of theatricality! Under the direction of Stéphane Fuget, the cream of French vocalists restores the original aura of these gems, with glittering ornamentation.

With Armide, Clorinda, Procris, Lucretia and more, heroines abound in the lyrical tragedies and cantatas of French baroque music, from Lully to Monteclair, and even in popular songs. Be they warriors or sorceresses, lovers or victims, their stories fascinated composers and audiences alike. Camille Delaforge has assembled a collection of exhilarating music, in which these extraordinary women are festooned with glory and love.

To mark the Coronation of King Charles III, we have brought together the most famous pieces of music from the coronations of James II in 1685 and George II in 1727. The masterpieces by Purcell and Handel display an extraordinarily evocative force: their “Grand Style” put a magnificent stamp on the Ceremonial of the Crown of England. Drum rolls and glorious trumpet fanfares herald the acclamations of Westminster: God Save the King!

Armenia, the first Christian kingdom, is nowadays a country fighting for its survival. This disc, recorded both at the Château de Versailles and the Geghard Holy Spear Monastery in Armenia, rekindles the fraternal sentiment between the French and Armenian peoples and invokes past souls and present ones, such as the virtuoso qanun player Narek Kazazyan, and the beating heart of this programme, in duet with the great cellist Astrig Siranossian and the flautist Helbert Asatryan. By alternating the sacred hymns of the Yerevan Holy Cross Choir with orchestral pieces from the traditional repertoire, it pays the most dazzling tribute to the whole of Armenia, in defence of something that no weapon can ever suppress: its ancestral soul.

When the Messe à l’usage des Paroisses pour les Fêtes Solennelles [Solemn Mass for the Parishes] was published in 1690, François Couperin was just 21 years old, yet he had created a masterpiece of French organ music. Enhancing the tradition of alternating organ music with liturgical singing during the service, he created opulent pieces, each more inventive than the next, and on a truly royal scale. Accompanied by the Chant sur le Livre [Singing upon the Book] technique, magnificently improvised as was customary, and recreated here in all its splendour, this legendary mass is performed by the charismatic Olivier Latry on the Great Organ of the Royal Chapel of Versailles, which was inaugurated by Couperin the elder in 1710.

The Leçons de Ténèbres (Tenebrae Lessons) fall within the tradition of French sacred music under the reigns of Louis XIV and Louis XV. These late-night services during Holy Week, which set the lamentations of the prophet Jeremiah to music, find three successive visions in Lalande (Versailles), Fiocco (Brussels) and Pollio (Northern France), in which an increasing theatricality and Italianness emerge. With her Ensemble Léviathan, Lucile Tessier crafts a showcase worthy of the King’s Chamber for the melismas of the Soprano Eugénie Lefebvre: the shadows come alive, a long lamentation rings out from the abysses, in the flickering flame of candlelight …

Desmarest was something of a frustrated genius. A precocious musician, he had a great career on opera from 1693 to 1698. His destiny was broken when he kidnapped the love of his life and fled to Brussels to escape a death sentence. Kapellmeister to the King of Spain, Philippe V in 1701, then to the Duke of Lorraine, Paris remained off-limits to him until 1720 … Circé (1694) was his apotheosis, meeting of Ulysses and the sorcerers, a superb and supernatural heroine. The dramatic force of the work stimulates the flamboyant Véronique Gens who plays the evil lover!

In 1643 in Venice, Cavalli’s new opera caused a sensation among the audience of the Teatro San Cassiano. 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.

Behold Orpheus, the singing shepherd who braved the Underworld to bring back Eurydice. The only human to conquer death, this famous Thracian bard is the hero of the French cantatas that flourished between 1710 and 1730. They paint a picture of the faithful husband’s burning ardour and pleas, his hypnotic song that won over the King of Darkness, his furtive glance that would forever rob him of his beloved; these are miniature operas, their intense poignancy rendered by the chamber choir that magnificently envelops the singer. This fine team masterfully weaves a tapestry of emotions, the early gems of the Rocaille period, offering a sequel to the Coucher du Roi with which they gifted us two years ago. This truly is the spirit of Versailles.

Venus, irritated by the young mortal Psyché whose beauty radiates all across the world, dispatches Cupid to impose a thousand trials upon her, which the young victim triumphs over to the point of becoming immortal. In this mythological fable, which is his sixth tragédie lyrique (1678), Lully shows off his immense talent and takes revenge on Molière, for whom he had written the music of a monumental Psyché in 1671, and which had been the cause of their falling out. A connoisseur of Lully, Christophe Rousset conducts a sumptuous cast that gives his Psyché all the luster of the great French operas!