Desmarest: Circe

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Gens's dark hues, femme fatale swagger and willingness to take risks all hit their mark, musically and dramatically; Cécile Achille’s charming transparency and bright execution as Éolie are their... — BBC Music Magazine, May 2023, 4 out of 5 stars More…

Release Date: 24th Mar 2023
Catalogue No: CVS085
Label: Château de Versailles Spectacles
Length: 2 hours 34 minutes

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Desmarest: Circé

Work length2:48

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Véronique Gens (Circé), Caroline Mutel (Astérie), Cécile Achille (Eolie), Romain Bockler (Phaebetor), Mathias Vidal (Ulysse), Nicolas Courjal (Elphénor), Les Nouveaux Caractères, Sébastien d’Hérin

Circé, Prologue: Ouverture

Track length2:48

$1.00

$1.50

$2.05

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Desmarest was something of a frustrated genius. A precocious musician, he had a great career in opera from 1693 to 1698. His destiny was broken when he kidnapped the love of his life and fled to Brussels to escape a death sentence. Kapellmeister to the King of Spain, Philippe V in 1701, then to the Duke of Lorraine, Paris remained off-limits to him until 1720... Circe (1694) was his apotheosis, the meeting of Ulysses and the sorceress, a superb and supernatural heroine. The dramatic force of the work is a stimulus for the flamboyant Veronique Gens who plays the evil lover!

Reviews

May 2023

Gens's dark hues, femme fatale swagger and willingness to take risks all hit their mark, musically and dramatically; Cécile Achille’s charming transparency and bright execution as Éolie are their perfect foil...Conductor Sébastien d’Hérin and the band brilliantly paint the scenes. Especially for the Baroque-curious, Desmarets and this recording have much to offer.

Jan/Feb 2024

...the performance of this work is outstanding. The tempos are maintained throughout so that there is little demarcation between the various scenes, and all flow together in a sort of fluid stream in each act...both orchestra and the singers are at the top of their game, welding this fluid opera into a continuous whole, which is exactly as it should be.

May 2023

[Gens's] imperiously compelling Circé demonstrates from the outset that the role might have been written for her. But there is tenderness, too...All in all, this is yet another highly welcome addition to the ever-expanding renaissance of French Baroque opera.

Offer,Desmarest: Circe

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