Rameau: Les Fêtes de Polymnie
Véronique Gens, Emöke Baráth, Aurélia Legay, Márta Stefanik, Mathias Vidal, Thomas Dolié, Domonkos Blazsó
Purcell Choir & Orfeo Orchestra, György Vashegyi
In a fine performance...many of the works' shortcomings may be forgotten. Emöke Barath is superb as Polyhymnie as she is in her other roles. Mathias Vidal is dramatic, lyrical and commanding...
Rameau: Les Fêtes de Polymnie
Véronique Gens, Emöke Baráth, Aurélia Legay, Márta Stefanik, Mathias Vidal, Thomas Dolié, Domonkos Blazsó
Purcell Choir & Orfeo Orchestra, György Vashegyi
Purchase product
In a fine performance...many of the works' shortcomings may be forgotten. Emöke Barath is superb as Polyhymnie as she is in her other roles. Mathias Vidal is dramatic, lyrical and commanding...
About
Glossa devotes it latest Rameau offering to a further ballet héroïque, 'Les Fêtes de Polymnie', directed by György Vashegyi, featuring Aurélia Legay, Emöke Barath and Mathias Vidal, led by the incomparable Véronique Gens in various vocal roles that appear in the Prologue and the three Entrées of this work.
Composed in 1745, an annus mirabilis for France, Rameau, aided by his reformist librettist Louis de Cahusac’s preferences for choruses and ballets, conjured up – in addition to sparkling arias and recitatives – a dazzling mosaic of intermèdes, passacailles, chaconnes and descriptive symphonies interspersed with vivid choral contributions, which the Purcell Choir and the Orfeo Orchestra deliver, with refinement and spirit, on this new recording of the festivities. As with the recent 'Les Fêtes de l’Hymen et de l’Amour' (conducted by Hervé Niquet), this modern-day revindication of 'Les Fêtes de Polymnie' is matched by an essay about the score (placed within its historical context) from Benoît Dratwicki of the supporting institution for this recording, the Centre de Musique Baroque de Versailles.
Contents and tracklist
- Véronique Gens (soprano), Aurélia Legay (soprano), Mathias Vidal (tenor), Márta Stefanik (soprano), Emőke Baráth (soprano), Thomas Dolié (baritone), Domonkos Blazsó (bass)
- Orfeo Zenekar, Purcell Choir
- György Vashegyi
- Recorded: 5-8 April 2014
- Recording Venue: Budapest, Palace of Arts, MUPA, Hungary
Awards and reviews
In a fine performance...many of the works' shortcomings may be forgotten. Emöke Barath is superb as Polyhymnie as she is in her other roles. Mathias Vidal is dramatic, lyrical and commanding as the 'Leader of the Arts' and most especially Alcide, while Aurélia Legay is compelling...György Vashegyi's direction...produces both stylish playing and...striking ensemble.
CD Review 31st January 2015
the playing and especially the singing is worth hearing here, especially soprano Veronique Gens in fine form, and Emoke Barath as Polymnie in Rameau’s prologue…another enjoyable addition to our Rameau rediscoveries.
Early Music Review February 2015
the music is marvellous.
May 2015
It is greatly to the credit of Gyorgy Vashegyi and his Hungarian Chorus and period-instrument orchestra that the performance fully bears comparison with those of the finest French specialists in this repertoire. The splendid orchestra in particular delights in Rameau’s richly colourful palette … overall a splendid recording that is essential listening for all Ramistes.
15th January 2015
This Hungarian-sourced performance, conducted by György Vashegyi, certainly emphasises the music’s colour, grandeur and rhythmic vitality, though the slightly boomy recording acoustic isn’t ideal. The cast is good, a well-balanced mix of Hungarian and French singers.
Early Music Today June/August 2015
first-class soloists … The Orfeo Orchestra and Purcell Choir are based in Budapest…yet they sound completely au fait with the etiquettes of French baroque music. Magnifique!
