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Rameau: In Convertendo
Nicolas Rivenq (Baritone); Sophie Daneman (Soprano); Jeffrey Thompson (Tenor); Olga Pitarch (Soprano)
Jean-Philippe Rameau was still a young musician when he moved to Lyon, where he probably composed his few surviving motets, including the Grand Motet In Convertendo, here performed by Les Arts Florissants under William Christie, which anticipates Rameau’s orchestration in his later operatic works. The wonderful fugue on Psalm 126 (verse 6) Euntes ibant et flebant (They went forth and wept) bears comparison with similar works by his contemporary, J. S. Bach.
In addition to a full performance of In Convertendo, this DVD presents some of Rameau’s key chamber music pieces and an insightful music documentary, The Real Rameau, which sheds light on the life of a composer who thought only of music, dreaming of a universal harmony and regarding music as an example to all the arts and, indeed, to all the sciences as well. Pictured by his contemporaries as a gaunt and taciturn man, ill-suited to courtly surroundings, his work was described by Berlioz as ‘one of the most sublime conceptions of dramatic music’.
DVD
Genre: Concert
Release Date: 01/07/2006
Sound Formats: DTS Surround; LPCM Stereo
Ratio: 16:9 Anamorphic
Subtitles: EN, FR, DE, ES, IT
Catalogue Number: OA0956D
Conductor(s):
William Christie
William Christie
Orchestra(s):
Les Arts Florissants
Les Arts Florissants
Artist(s):
Nicolas Rivenq; Sophie Daneman; Jeffrey Thompson; Olga Pitarch; Les Arts Florissants; William Christie
Nicolas Rivenq; Sophie Daneman; Jeffrey Thompson; Olga Pitarch; Les Arts Florissants; William Christie
"These motets contain gorgeous music: they are to some degree concert music as much as religious music, and indeed the version of In Convertendo that has survived is the revised one for the Concert Spirituel. Lengthy orchestral parts, ravishing solos accompanied by flutes, occasional interludes with oboes and bassoons, make a lot of the music lyrical, if not elegiac." (www.medieval.org)
"The tendency to divide top honours in the high Baroque between Bach and Handel seems most unfair when Rameau is on the menu. What an astonishing musical imagination! The performance of the early, breathtakingly inventive motet, In convertendo, is mostly excellent... The documentary on Rameau has much charm and offers some sound historical insights." (BBC Music Magazine ★★★★)
"The tendency to divide top honours in the high Baroque between Bach and Handel seems most unfair when Rameau is on the menu. What an astonishing musical imagination! The performance of the early, breathtakingly inventive motet, In convertendo, is mostly excellent... The documentary on Rameau has much charm and offers some sound historical insights." (BBC Music Magazine ★★★★)
Nicolas Rivenq (Baritone); Sophie Daneman (Soprano); Jeffrey Thompson (Tenor); Olga Pitarch (Soprano)
Jean-Philippe Rameau was still a young musician when he moved to Lyon, where he probably composed his few surviving motets, including the Grand Motet In Convertendo, here performed by Les Arts Florissants under William Christie, which anticipates Rameau’s orchestration in his later operatic works. The wonderful fugue on Psalm 126 (verse 6) Euntes ibant et flebant (They went forth and wept) bears comparison with similar works by his contemporary, J. S. Bach.
In addition to a full performance of In Convertendo, this DVD presents some of Rameau’s key chamber music pieces and an insightful music documentary, The Real Rameau, which sheds light on the life of a composer who thought only of music, dreaming of a universal harmony and regarding music as an example to all the arts and, indeed, to all the sciences as well. Pictured by his contemporaries as a gaunt and taciturn man, ill-suited to courtly surroundings, his work was described by Berlioz as ‘one of the most sublime conceptions of dramatic music’.
DVD
Genre: Concert
Release Date: 01/07/2006
Sound Formats: DTS Surround; LPCM Stereo
Ratio: 16:9 Anamorphic
Subtitles: EN, FR, DE, ES, IT
Catalogue Number: OA0956D
Conductor(s):
William Christie
William Christie
Orchestra(s):
Les Arts Florissants
Les Arts Florissants
Artist(s):
Nicolas Rivenq; Sophie Daneman; Jeffrey Thompson; Olga Pitarch; Les Arts Florissants; William Christie
Nicolas Rivenq; Sophie Daneman; Jeffrey Thompson; Olga Pitarch; Les Arts Florissants; William Christie
"These motets contain gorgeous music: they are to some degree concert music as much as religious music, and indeed the version of In Convertendo that has survived is the revised one for the Concert Spirituel. Lengthy orchestral parts, ravishing solos accompanied by flutes, occasional interludes with oboes and bassoons, make a lot of the music lyrical, if not elegiac." (www.medieval.org)
"The tendency to divide top honours in the high Baroque between Bach and Handel seems most unfair when Rameau is on the menu. What an astonishing musical imagination! The performance of the early, breathtakingly inventive motet, In convertendo, is mostly excellent... The documentary on Rameau has much charm and offers some sound historical insights." (BBC Music Magazine ★★★★)
"The tendency to divide top honours in the high Baroque between Bach and Handel seems most unfair when Rameau is on the menu. What an astonishing musical imagination! The performance of the early, breathtakingly inventive motet, In convertendo, is mostly excellent... The documentary on Rameau has much charm and offers some sound historical insights." (BBC Music Magazine ★★★★)
