Jean Philippe RAMEAU (1683-1764)
Ouvertures
Les Talens Lyriques/Christophe Rousset
rec. 28-30 October 1996, Église luthérienne de Bon Secours, Paris
Presto CD
DECCA 476 2596 [69:48]
This disc deservedly won the clumsily-phrased “Gramophone Baroque Non-Vocal Award 1998” and consists of an anthology of the diverse overtures to Rameau’s operas. These are all short pieces of between two-and-a-half to just over five minutes each, so have to make their mark quickly, establishing the character of the ensuing entertainment in a brief span. They display a remarkable range of variety and ingenuity for their era and genre; nonetheless, they often follow an established structural format and therefore evince a certain inevitable stylistic homogeneity – at least to modern ears – which leads me to suggest that the listener should not try to digest these all at one sitting; at least, that is the case with me.
As Graham Sadler’s detailed and helpful notes explain, Rameau did not turn to opera until he was fifty years old and he thus brought to the form a freshness of invention born of mature, experienced, creative artistry. Rameau gradually moved towards establishing a stronger, clearer link between the music of the overture and the ensuing drama until they became essentially programmatic. He gradually incorporated increasingly original orchestral colours and complexity, whereby different instrumental groups operated independently, giving the music a symphonic, “tone poem” guise.
Narrating the progress of each overture would be otiose; I will merely indicate a few of the novelties they contain. Certainly the very first notes one hears establish a mood of noble expectancy as Rameau layers dissonant harmonies culminating in a burst of triumphal trumpets – very different in feeling from the tripping, melodious dance of Les Indes galantes and the muffled drum and swirling high woodwind of the Prologue from Zaïs depicting “the distillation of the Elements”- a forerunner to Haydn’s depiction of Chaos opening his Creation. The violent battle music of Naïs with its abrupt syncopations portrays yet another world and the album continues in this vein, each number surprising and delighting the listener with the novelties springing from Rameau’s musical imagination and the virtuosity of Rousset’s band. We hear how the grand, yet conventional style of the overture to his first opera, Hippolyte et Aricie, evolves into something more daring, through the appropriately grand and glorious Le Temple de la Gloire – we may admire the facility of the horns here – through to the startlingly modern tripartite overture to Acante et Céphise, one of the latest operas which incorporates cannon fire in the central section and instrumental simulation of the cry “Vi-ve le roi”, demonstrating how freely Rameau exercised his creative licence.
The programme and execution of this disc have not aged a day since its issue over a quarter of a century ago; it remains a peerless collection of fascinating and original music.
Ralph Moore
Contents
1, Les Fêtes de Polymnie [2:41]
2. Les Indes galantes [4:05]
3. Zaïs [5:16]
4. Castor et Pollux [4:17]
5. Naïs [3:50]
6. Platée [3:40]
7. Les Talens lyriques (Les Fêtes d'Hébé) [4:21]
8. Zoroastre [4:05]
9. Dardanus [4:07]
10. Les Paladins [3:59]
11. Hippolyte et Aricie [2:53]
12. Le Temple de la Gloire [3:53]
13. Pigmalion [4:36]
14. Les Surprises de l'Amour - Prologue (le Retour d'Astrée) [2:28]
15. Les Fêtes de l'Hymen et de l'Amour, ou Les Dieux d'Égypte [4:05]
16. Les surprises de l'Amour / Act 1 (Enlèvement d'Adonis) [5:20]
17. Acante et Céphise, ou La Sympathie [5:08]
Note
It doesn’t much matter, but timings for individual and tracks and the total duration of the CD have gone somewhat awry; those in the booklet are slightly different from those on the back cover and are different again from those on my various CD players – if only by a few seconds here or there. Essentially, there is something around 69 minutes of music - 68:44 according to the list above, rather than the 69:48 as per the reverse case insert.
