Search - Jean-Philippe Rameau, Hervé Niquet, Jean-Paul Fouchécourt :: Rameau - Pigmalion / Fouchécourt, de Reyghere, Founié, Piau, Le Concert Spirituel, Niquet

Clearer and less frenetic than Minkowski's Rameau

Leslie Richford | Selsingen, Lower Saxony | 01/27/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Hervé Niquet and his Concert Spirituel recorded Rameau?s Pigmalion in 1992 for the Centre de Musique Baroque de Versaille, and the disc was, if I am correctly informed, first published by the French label FNAC before being passed on to Virgin Veritas, who re-issued it in 1999.

?Pigmalion? is a short sung ballet for the theatre for four solo voices (one tenor and three sopranos), choir and orchestra. The eponymous character is seen at the beginning admiring a statue he has created and with which he has fallen in love (the background being that this was the punishment meted out to him by Venus for resisting the charms of love). His lover Céphise appears and scolds him for his attention to the statue instead of her. When she leaves the stage, the statue suddenly comes to life, watched by a delighted Amour, and Pigmalion expresses his wonderment. There follows the typical ?divertissement? of dances on stage, before the pieces closes with a beautiful air by Pigmalion. The whole work lasts exactly 43 minutes and is in many ways typical of Rameau?s later stage productions, thus providing a good introduction to anyone not having the leisure to listen to one of his longer works (such as ?Castor et Pollux? or ?Les Indes Galants?). Hervé Niquet and his team do an excellent job of making this expressive music ?live?; on the whole they take Rameau a little less frenetically than, say, Marc Minkowski on his Erato productions, which in this case means that details are finely chiselled and clearly audible. The quality of the recording is above all criticism.



There is an encore, too. Two instrumental pieces and a beautiful air from the close of ?Le Temple de la Gloire?, one of Rameau?s lesser known longer stage works. Here, as in ?Pigmalion?, Jean-Paul Fouchécourt is an excellent high tenor, capturing just the right mood for this music. (The three sopranos in ?Pigmalion? are also excellent, but their roles are limited.)



The sung texts are printed, as always in this series, in the original only, without an English translation.

"

Perfect

Leslie Richford | 08/16/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Don't miss this recording! There is a Christie version out there, but don't ever be tempted by anything without Jean-Paul Fouchecourt when you can buy something with him. Fouchecourt is one of the few people who REALLY can be described as hautes-contre; and as such he is vocally ideal for this type of role. This recording leaves nothing to be desired."