Les Talens Lyriques / Christophe Rousset N. JOMMELLI Armida Abbandonata

ARMIDA ABBANDONATA

Les Talens Lyriques / Christophe Rousset PERGOLESI Stabat Mater

                                                                STABAT MATER

Les Talens Lyriques, Christophe Rousset ANTONIO SALIERI Tarare

After Les Danaïdes and Les Horaces, Les Talens Lyriques concludes the group’s cycle of Antonio Salieri’s French operas with the world premiere recording of Tarare.  Often unfairly overshadowed by his brilliant contemporary Mozart, Salieri here composed a genuine masterpiece on the only libretto ever written by Beaumarchais.

Salieri has a taste for exoticism and, like Mozart in Die Entführung aus dem Serail, he transports us into a fantasy Orient seen through the eyes of the pre-revolutionary philosophy of the Enlightenment.

The indefatigable Christophe Rousset, unswerving in his efforts to revive scores that are rarely performed or have mysteriously languished in the shadows, directs a five- star cast: the Captain of the Guard Tarare (Cyrille Dubois) enters the palace of the Sultan Atar (Jean-Sébastien Bou) in order to rescue his beloved, the slave Astasie (Karine Deshayes). Behind the love triangle, one senses Beaumarchais’s indictment of authority in his depiction (in 1787!) of the people’s revolt against the Sultan’s tyrannical power - so much so that it is astonishing that the plot escaped the royal censor’s net.

The music follows the story’s misunderstandings, plot twists and spectacular scenes to produce an opera that prefigures Romanticism, exhilaratingly performed by Les Talens Lyriques and Les Chantres of the Centre de Musique Baroque de Versailles. A release that should restore Salieri’s prestige once and for all.

Christophe Rousset FRESCOBALDI Toccate e partite d'intavolatura di cimbalo, libro primo

Frescobaldi brilliantly combines improvisation and architecture. These qualities resonate with the discography of harpsichordist Christophe Rousset, whose choice of repertoire and interpretation are adventurous and serious at the same time.

Frescobaldi’s counterpoint goes along with the finest art of singing, inherited from the Italian madrigal and the flexibility of his language highlights the virtuosity of his compositions.

Christophe Rousset recorded toccate and partite on a beautiful and original harpsichord of the late 16th Century. Its sound faithfully testifies for the significant place of this First Book of harpsichord pieces in the nascent modernity of Frescobaldi. If the modal harmonies are still old-fashioned, the free beat and subtle melodies make it an indisputable baroque master, admired from Italy to France and Germany: Bach is said to have had a copy of his Fiori musicali.

This new disc by Christophe Rousset reveals the first treasures composed specifically for the harpsichord. Its repertoire was served from the beginning by musicians whose expressive boldness recalls in a musical way Caravaggio’s chiaroscuro.

Les Talens Lyriques / Christophe Rousset FRANÇOIS COUPERIN Les Nations

The 350th anniversary of François Couperin's birth evoked less activity than other anniversaries in the year 2018, when this album appeared, but if you missed it you might find this a worthwhile acquisition as a state-of-the-art Couperin performance. Harpsichordist/director Christophe Rousset and his ensemble Les Talens Lyriques are lyrical indeed in the set of trio sonatas called Les Nations, "the nations." The set purports to evoke four nations: France, Spain, L'Imperiale (the Holy Roman Empire), and La piémontaise (the Piedmont kingdom, in Italy). Whatever features might have suggested these national styles are hard to hear now, and really Les Nations is above all one of the works in which Couperin cultivated what he called elsewhere les goûts réunis, the "reunited" tastes of Italy and France. In the four Nations, his solution was unique: each of the four parts consists of a little Corellian Italian sonade, or sonata, with its own four sections compacted into a single movement, followed by suite of French dances. You might wonder why trio sonatas would require the larger ensemble of Les Talens Lyriques, but this works: the set probably would not have been performed at a stretch in Couperin's time, and Rousset changes things up with varying forces. Best of all, the playing of Rousset's group is honed to a delightful languor, a smoothness and grace that have rarely been equaled in the historical-performance sphere. The sarabandes get flutes instead of violins, and you could sample the one from the Impériale suite for a taste. Browse the paintings of Lancret or Watteau while you do, and you may experience peak French. Just lovely. (James Manheim)

Les Talens Lyriques / Christophe Rousset FRANÇOIS COUPERIN Ariane consolée par Bacchus - Apothéoses de Lully & de Corelli

Here, for the first time, we can hear what appears to be a lost cantata by François Couperin. Numerous of his secular airs, chansons and canons survive in manuscript and print, but until now none of the cantatas known to have existed at the time of his death (1733) have been found. Rousset’s cogent argument for attributing this anonymous manuscript work, hitherto known only from a 1716 Amsterdam catalogue entry as ‘Ariane abandonée’, is, I believe, compelling.

This Ariane consolée par Bacchus, somewhat unusually, is for a baritone. Although best known as an opera singer and recitalist of later repertoire, Stéphane Degout adjusts his voice to the varied pace within the recitatives and expresses words such as ‘douceur’ in the first Air and the tongue-twisting text of the ritournelle in the final Air with the lightest touch. Moreover, the acoustic of the Eglise Saint-Pierre (Paris) allows us to enjoy both the warmth of his voice and the detail of his fluent ornamentation. The presence of Christophe Coin playing the concertante bass viol part in these tracks adds further to the pleasure to be had from listening to this modern premiere.

The remaining works on the disc were recorded in the exceptional acoustic of the former 14th-century monastery Les Dominicains de Haute-Alsace. Couperin’s entertaining pair of apotheoses accorded to Lully and Corelli is almost unique in the repertoire because of his ‘acerbic’ programmatic commentaries, elegantly delivered here by Rousset from the keyboard. These works have been recorded many times but rarely so well. Rousset’s vision for his ensemble of oboes, flutes, violins and viol is sublime, as too are his harpsichord realisations. This is a landmark recording to treasure. (Julie Anne Sadie / Gramophone)

Les Talens Lyriques / Christophe Rousset ANTONIO SALIERI Les Horaces

Les Talens Lyriques are a major french classical music ensemble, recognized on the international scale for both its musicological work and editorial choices. Created twenty years ago by french harpsichordist and conductor Christophe Rousset. The ensemble has a large lyrical and instrumental repertoire ranging from Baroque to Early Romanticism.

Following the release of Les Danaïdes in 2015, Les Talens Lyriques present the first world recording of Antonio Salieri’s Les Horaces, which they recreated at Versailles in 2016. To bring this score back to life, Christophe Rousset gathered a vocal cast in which tenor Cyrille Dubois, Judith van Wanroij, Julien Dran or Jean-Sebastien Bou embody the fate of the characters inspired by the fratricidal struggle of Horatius and Curiatius in Ancient Rome, dramatically revived by an already romantic Salieri in his musical boldness. Fights, vows and great crowd scenes, the tears of heroine Camilla, the Curiatius’ dilemma, or the implacable determination of old Horatius offer intense and original drama.

Christophe Rousset LOUIS COUPERIN Nouvelles Suites de Clavecin

The new Stradivari series from harmonia mundi allows listeners to explore the unique instruments lovingly preserved at the Philharmonie de Paris's Museum of Music. Thanks to the skill and commitment of the museum's conservators, these instruments are given a new life. On this release, the great Christophe Rousset plays a rare harpsichord crafted in 1652 by Ioannes Couchet. Through his virtuosity and the instruments sonority the sumptuousness and grace of Louis Couperin's Nouvelles Suites are clearly revealed.

Les Talens Lyriques / Christophe Rousset JEAN-PHILIPPE RAMEAU Pygmalion

Christophe Rousset and the Talens Lyriques bring us to the stage of the Royal Academy of Music where Pygmalion, an act of ballet by Jean-Philippe Rameau inspired by an episode of Ovid’s Metamorphoses, was created in 1748. Love, showing empathy for Pygmalion’s despair of loving a statue, invigorates the sculpted woman who immediately falls in love with her creator. Very suggestive, the music of this tender and mischievous ballet deploys the grace of 18^th century dances. Like Ovid’s Love, Christophe Rousset instils life in this score, one of Rameau’s greatest successes in his day, and offers us, thanks to his sense of drama and his impeccable leadership, a new and essential reading of this ballet.

Les Talens Lyriques / Christophe Rousset ANTONIO SACCHINI Renaud

 

 Renaud (1783) marked Sacchini's debut in Paris. Despite much criticism from the supporters of his rivals Gluck and Piccinni, Renaud was a success and Sacchini became the new favourite of Marie- Antoinette. Encouraged by the public who saw him as one of the finest composers of that time, he enriched the repertoire of the Paris Opéra with several masterpieces. Some of them were staged regularly for many years. Renaud was presented almost without interruption until 1799, and was revived in 1815. This recording has been made at the Arsenal of Metz in October 2012.

Rosemary Joshua / Les Talens Lyriques / Christophe Rousset HENRY PURCELL Harmonia Sacra

As Purcell song programmes go, this one is not easy listening. Perhaps only the Evening Hymn would count as a ‘favourite’. And, whereas most anthologies, mixing the sacred with the secular, could leaven the penitential tone of ‘With sick and famish’d eyes’ or the traumatic drama of ‘Tell me some pitying angel’ with lighter-hearted fare, the atmosphere in these 16 devotional songs from the Harmonia sacra volumes are predominantly gloomy, even self-lacerating. This is not to criticise but rather to warn that this is earnest stuff, even when the mood brightens briefly, as in, say, ‘We sing to him, whose wisdom form’d the ear’. On the other hand, when one of the great vocal magicians of the Baroque era writes for connoisseurs, one has to marvel at the sustained declamatory power of ‘In the black, dismal dungeon of despair’, the formal coherence of even such a sectionally conceived piece as ‘Lord, what is man?’ and the effortless sophistication of the word-setting at every turn. Two of the works here, by the way, are anonymous rather than by Purcell, though the booklet manages to make it seem as if only note-writer Bruce Wood is aware of the fact.

Rosemary Joshua brings vocal security and textual intelligence to these works and though a slightly flighty vibrato sometimes threatens the music’s intimacy, it does not get in the way of superbly realised greater dramatic truth. The continuo accompaniments are as sensitively accomplished as one would expect from such a line-up, and when Christophe Rousset steps forward in a handful of short harpsichord solos, he finds a grandeur in Purcell’s keyboard music not always apparent in other performances. If this is a sober disc, it is also one which reeks of Purcell’s genius. (Gramophone)

Véronique Gens / Les Talens Lyriques / Christophe Rousset TRAGÉDIENNES 2

This is the second instalment of Véronique Gens's Tragédiennes series, which examines how francophone composers from the 18th and early 19th centuries dealt with the heroines of classical tragedy. Classical, in this context, means Racine as well as Greek and Roman drama, though Gens contentiously widens the definition even further at one point to include a chunk of Sacchini's Renaud, based on Tasso's Renaissance epic Gerusalemme Liberata. The programme is variable, with giants such as Gluck and Berlioz placed alongside also-rans such as Piccinni and Grétry. All of it, however, requires the ability to sing words as well as phrases, and Gens's immaculate way with a text is often as mesmerising as her ability to sustain the long sculpted lines that are a common stylistic feature among her chosen composers. There are some surprises: she sings Cassandra's music from Berlioz's Les Troyens, where we might expect to hear her as Dido; when she turns to Cherubini's Medea, for what is probably the greatest track on the disc, it is to play the sorrowing maid Neris, rather than the pathological heroine. Her accompanists are Christophe Rousset and Les Talens Lyriques, a bit lightweight in Berlioz, but startling and effective elsewhere. (Tim Ashley / The Guardian)

Véronique Gens / Les Talens Lyriques / Christophe Rousset TRAGÉDIENNES

The tragic operas of the French Baroque can be rough going for the new listener, whose eyes may glaze over when hearing about rules of French prosody, classical models, and Lully's dominance of the scene. But this single-disc recital solves any problems you may have had in encountering operatic music from Lully to Gluck. Credit soprano Véronique Gens, who has often sung lighter material and now is turning to the serious works of Rameau and his era at just the right time. Her voice is impressively versatile, with a muscular medium-wave vibrato that can easily drop off into a stage whisper or rise into anger. Credit conductor Christophe Rousset and his group Les Talens Lyriques, with their on-the-ball, sensitive accompaniment and unique catgut-scraping string sound. Credit booklet writer Jean Duron for a quick, painless introduction to the 100-year history of how French opera composers, working in the centralized musical system of the French monarchy, responded to the musical world as it changed around them. Credit the engineers from Virgin Classics, who have made the Church of Notre Dame-du-Liban in Paris into something resembling a close-up, row-five theatrical experience, and caught the powerful sense of immediacy and communication in Gens' singing. And credit whoever devised the program, which offers good-sized chunks of music from various operas, complete with overtures and other instrumental interludes, instead of a sequence of disconnected arias and random sonatas linked to the main program only by chronology. This album will earn praise from those who follow Gens closely, and for the general listener looking to hear some French Baroque opera arias it's a godsend -- the tragic heroine is a central figure of the era, and Gens and company have brought her fully to life. (James Manheim)

Christophe Rousset J.S. BACH BWV 988 - BWV 971 - BWV 831 - BWV 903 - BWV 825-830

In the United States, Christophe Rousset's Decca recordings of Bach keyboard works have had a spotty history – here today, gone tomorrow. Fortunately, Decca has now repackaged these recordings into a four-disc set that sells for only $7.00 per disc. However, it's best not to assume that the set will indefinitely be on the U.S. market; in other words, snap it up before it's yanked.

Rousset's Decca/Bach recordings are essential for the Bach serious record collector and anyone else who prizes idiomatic interpretations of some of Bach's most compelling and glorious keyboard works. Rousset's style is generally informed by sharp contours, buoyant rhythms, brilliant phrasing, excellent detail of musical lines, poignant slow movements and very speedy and even wild fast movements. Overall, his interpretations crackle with energy. Another trait I love is that Rousset is often youthful and exuberant while at the same time expressing a full life's experience of regret and disappointment. In this regard, his performances remind me of excellent interpretations of Schumann's Kinderszenen where each note displays the maturity of adulthood as well the wonder of a child.

Disc 1 contains a very aggressive Goldberg Variations, and I love every minute of it. The performance is brash and never dawdles; it has great rhythmic bounce and a compelling musical flow. Although youthful exuberance is in abundance, there is a hardened element that creates a gripping aesthetic contrast. I think of this version as "Bach The Bounty Hunter". He busts through all obstacles and always quickly gets his man.

Rousset plays most of the variations with great rhythmic vitality and exhilaration, making this reviewer want to bounce off the walls. Although Rousset's tempos are significantly faster than the norm, he never allows them to diminish emotional content. In the Aria and those variations not conducive to an exhilarating presentation, Rousset is equally compelling. Listen to the pristine beauty and longing of the Aria, the strong contrast between remorse and salvation in Variation 9, the subtle negativity of Variation 11, the bitter/sweet nature of Variation 13, the pathos in Variation 15, the stunning rays of light in Variation 21, the spiritual side of Variation 24 and the bleak terrains of Variation 25 referred to as the "Black Pearl". Yes, Rousset connects on all cylinders, and I have no problem considering his Goldbergs one of the elite versions on the market.

Disc 2 covers four masterful Bach works, and Rousset applies the same magnificent qualities found in his Goldberg Variations. Each performance is in the top echelon with special notice going to the Italian Concerto's exquisite dialogue in the Andante and the visceral excitement of the Presto. Rousset delivers the most propulsive French Overture on record, his 1st Duet is the most austere and commanding I've ever heard, and his interpretation of the Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue revels in the work's macabre elements.

Discs 3 and 4 contain Bach's 6 Partitas for Keyboard, a rich vein of architectural and emotional variety. In these works I feel that Rousset places greater priority on structural clarity with some dampening of interest in visceral thrills (although there are still many instances of exhilaration). The advantages of clarity reveal that Rousset is both youthful/exuberant and experienced/melancholy in each note and chord he plays. I find the contrasts illuminating and riveting, the result being one of the most rewarding sets on either piano or harpsichord.

As for sound considerations, I am quite pleased that these Decca recordings are much less reverberant than Rousset's recent outings on the Ambroisie label. The Decca sound has plenty of body and depth, and it allows Rousset's sharp phrasing and pin-point articulation to grab hold of the listener.

Except for those allergic to the harpsichord, the Rousset set is an indispensable part of the Bach keyboard enthusiast's music library. These are tremendously vibrant interpretations full of contrast and enlightening detail, so sit yourself down and listen to five wonderful hours of Bach. (Copyright © 2007, Don Satz)