The concept behind this recording is to recreate the musical equivalent
of a tour of the gardens of Versailles with their magnificent
fountains. Insofar as any two art forms can be said to be analogous,
the music created for Louis XIV and his court does offer an aural
parallel to the visual splendours of the gardens. Whilst the real
thing would be ‘an ephemeral masterpiece’, as the subtitle of
this CD reminds us, the recording preserves the aural aspect for
repeated playing.
A recreation of the smells of the court of the
Sun King would be another matter – with totally inadequate facilities,
the courtiers had to relieve themselves in the corridors of
the palace. Nor am I sure that the concept of walking through
the gardens with piped muzack, however discrete and however
appropriate, is totally appealing.
If some of the contents of this CD seem familiar,
the small print on the back of the packaging will explain why
– tracks 2-4, the three Rameau Overtures, are taken from a 1997
Decca recording, which remains available at mid price (475 9107
or 476 2596), and the excerpts from several of the operas are
taken from various highly regarded Naïve and Ambroisie recordings
advertised in the booklet, some of them very recent. Such re-jigging
is not unusual, but it is annoying if, for example, like me,
you are duplicating the Rameau overtures, amounting to 20% of
the new CD. Those who already have the 2-CD Naïve set of Lully’s
Persée, fine though these performances are, have duplicated
12 of the 28 tracks.
The very brief Gluck extract (one minute – was
it worth it?) comes from a 2CD set, AM9995, which GPu recommended
– see review.
Composed a century after the Lully, Rameau and Desmarest items,
neither this Gluck extract nor the final item, from Porpora’s
Polifemo, has any connection with Versailles: both were composed for
festivities at Parma.
All the items on this CD are very short – the chaconne
from Roland lasts nearly 12 minutes, otherwise there’s
nothing much longer than 5 minutes – but that is the nature
of this music. Teachers justifiably complain that TV has reduced
the attention span of modern children, but the Sun King and
his courtiers were probably similarly afflicted. In any event,
this makes for variety and entertainment – there are plenty
of these qualities to be had on this recording.
Performances throughout are excellent – there is
not one weak contribution. The soloists in the vocal excerpts
are as accomplished as the orchestral players and the direction
is superb. All concerned enter into the fun – including the
prominent drum part in the Overture to Acante et Céphise
(track 4).
The recording is ideal; though taken from a range
of sources and involving different producers and, presumably,
different sound engineers and venues – the booklet does not
specify – it is remarkably consistent in ambience and quality.
The notes are informative and the (slightly abridged)
English version is idiomatic. The presentation, in a laminated
gatefold sleeve, the booklet housed in a pouch, is attractive.
The English translation wisely does not attempt to render the
French title – the Magnificent Musical Fountains of Versailles would be my inadequate
best shot. A careless piece of editing in the booklet makes
Rameau 101 at his death.
You could do much worse in terms of an introduction
to the very enjoyable music of Lully, Rameau and Desmarest,
but the re-use of existing material detracts somewhat from its
value. An equally serious reservation concerns the lack of texts
for the vocal items – there aren’t that many, so they could
easily have been fitted in. The ‘thumbs-up’ which I would otherwise
have awarded is withheld for these reasons – and also because
listening to this CD will probably tempt you to further duplication
by investigating one of the complete recordings advertised in
the booklet.
Two super-budget-price recommendations of music
by Lully will serve equally well as introductions to this music
or as further listening for those who buy the Naïve recording
and wish to explore further:
Naxos 8.554003: Ballet Music for the Sun King
(Aradia Ensemble/Kevin Mallon), 73 minutes of music from Molière’s
Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme and several of the comédies-ballets,
excellently performed on original instruments, plus less authentic
kazoos and comb-and-paper! A real fun CD – and the words and
translations of the vocal items are included in the booklet.
Warner Apex 2564 62184-2: a 2-CD set of music from
the comédies-ballets plus 74 minutes of excerpts from Phaëton
(Les Musiciens du Louvre/Marc Minkowski). Another excellent
bargain; there are about 11 minutes overlap with the Naxos CD
on this well-filled set but, at the very low price, around £8
in the UK, that’s a small matter. No texts for the vocal excerpts,
though.
For a more substantial chunk of the French baroque,
the super-budget 4-CD reissue of recordings of Charpentier, including
Les Plaisirs de Versailles and La Descente d’Orphée,
by Les Arts Florissants/William Christie takes some beating (Warner
Classics 2564 61758-2, £20 or less in the UK). For some other
recommendations, see my review
of Musique à Versailles performed by the Trio
Marie-Antoinette on Campanella Musica C130090.
Brian
Wilson
Marie-Hélène Essade; Delphine Gillot; Salomé Haller ; Ditte
Andersen; Ewa Mallas-Godlewska (sopranos); Marie Lenormand (mezzo);
Cyril Auvity ; Anders J Dahlin ; Derek Lee Ragin (counter-tenors);
Emiliano Gonzalez-Toro; Magnus Staveland (tenor); Bruno Rostand;
Evgueniy Alexiev (bass); Chœur de l’Opéra de Lausanne; Les Talens
Lyriques/Christophe Rousset
