Castor et Pollux is Rameau's third opera and is packed with arias that show off the soloists to their best advantage: Tristes appr�ts 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.

LES FÊTES D'HÉBÉ

In this dazzling comedy by Rameau, the ugly, frog-like, nymph Platee believes she is Jupiter's chosen one. The latter, in a succession of disguises, mocks her in a game of seduction that is as cruel as it is entertaining, while the gods, complicit in the farce, feast on her illusions. Rameau's music is both rich and virtuosic, transporting us into a whirlwind of laughter and beauty, while offering a fine reflection on pride and vanity. With it's bewitching arias and numerous burlesque scenes, Platee is a theatrical delight, a veritable jewel of the Baroque repertoire to which Valentin Tournet and his Chapelle Harmonique return all it's spice!

Cries of 'Vive KI'empereur' rang out in the Kroll Opera House after Kemplerer's first appointment as it's director, conducting a concert of Bach and Mozart. This collection provides a wealth of the celebrated conductor's Baroque and Classical repertoire, showcasing - at the forefront of the selection - Kemplerer's characteristically 'unadorned' Bach as well as his fiery interpretations of Haydn's late symphonies. The set also includes Rameau's Gavotte with Six Variations, Handel's A minor Concerto grosso and Gluck's Overture to Iphigenie en Aulide.

Classical Music

Classical Music

“I know of no Rameau work more colourful, more melodious, more replete with inventive vitality,” wrote Gramophone in reviewing this 1973 premiere recording of the French Baroque master’s 1735 “heroic ballet” Les Indes galantes. “There is immense enthusiasm and spirit in this performance … [and] some excellent singing … Among the array of sopranos I was specially impressed by the full, bright ring of Rachel Yakar … Anne-Marie Rodde: a good stylist and a clean, accurate voice, coping well with Rameau’s florid detail … The tenor Bruce Brewer is a real find for the lyrical French roles: his voice is very smooth and graceful … In all, a set which no Rameau admirer should miss.” Conducted by Rameau specialist Jean-Claude Malgoire, it is now being issued for the first time on CD.

RAMEAU: PLATÉE & DARDANUS SUIT

Starring Paul Agnew, Laurent Naouri, Barbara Bonney.

In an incredible illustration of virtuosic performance, Sono Luminus brings you The Complete Harpsichord Works of Rameau, with world reknowned harpsichordist Jory Vinikour. Rameau’s compositional penchant for combining technical prowess with musical artistry is brilliantly showcased on this two disc set of solo harpsichord music.

Rameau’s output as a composer for solo harpsichord must be considered among the most important in French 18th century keyboard repertoire, along with that of François Couperin. The musical and harmonic ingenuity demonstrated throughout these works, as well as Rameau’s uniquely idiomatic approach to the harpsichord, ensure these works a permanent place in the repertoire of all harpsichordists.

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REVIEW:

Vinikour’s performances are so buoyant, glistening or noble that you’ll likely find yourself glued to your speakers (or headphones). And if you’re accustomed to hearing the harpsichord at some distance in a concert hall, be prepared to listen as if you’re standing next to the keyboard or hovering over the strings. As played by Vinikour on a 2005 Wolf harpsichord based on a 1707 Nicholas Dumont, Rameau’s creations are narratives of robust and urgent vibrancy.

– Gramophone

Classical Music

Florence Malgoire’s ensemble Les Dominos pays tribute to Jean-Philippe Rameau in the 250th year since his death with very rarely played repertoire. + These Concerts de Monsieur Rameau are, in fact, transcriptions in six parts of the Pièces de Clavecin en Concert that Rameau had conceived at the outset from his harpsichord pieces with accompaniment by violin or flute and bass viol. + The original adaptations by M. Decroix (1768) are quite enigmatic, and Les Dominos’ reading of it combines the strings with two emblematic instruments of Rameau’s orchestra: flutes and bassoon.

Such was the significance of the music of Jean- Philippe Rameau for Frans Brüggen that the Dutch conductor’s first concert with the Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century featured a suite by the French composer, and his final directing appearance, shortly before his death in 2014, did likewise. Between times this inspirational musician and his orchestra recorded a series of orchestral suites drawn from the opéras-ballets, tragédies en musique and pastorales-héroïques, first for Philips and then for the orchestra’s own imprint on Glossa. These eight suites have now been united by Glossa for the first time in a magisterial and richly-enjoyable demonstration of Frans Brüggen’s empathy with the output of the Baroque composer from Dijon. From Les Boréades to Les Indes galantes, from Acante et Céphise to Zoroastre via Castor et Pollux, these suites – originating in scrupulous scholarship by orchestra member Wim ten Have – together represent a pillar in the modern revival and appreciation of the music of Rameau, which was dear to the heart of Brüggen and so many of the other early music pioneers of his generation.

RAMEAU: Harpsichord Suites / Nouvelles suites

Many devoted music fans have been anticipating the new GENUIN CD release by concert accordionist Viviane Chassot. Chassot interprets the pieces of the Pièces de Clavecinas well as two complete suites with airy fleetness, power and verve. The rustling and fluty tones, the hissing and crashing sounds – the courtiers around Louis XV would have been thrilled by the panoply of color in this performance of unbelievably modern music.