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rameau of vivalavoce

February 13, 8PM EST
Jean-Philippe Rameau: Les Indes Galantes
Claron McFadden [Hébé; Zima] | Jérôme Corréas [Bellone; Alidoro] | Isabelle Poulenard [L’Amour; Phani] | Nicolas Rivneq [Osman; Adario] | Miriam Ruggeri [Émilie] | Howard Crook [Valère; Damon] | Bernard Delétré [Huascar; Don Alvar] | Jean-Paul Fouchécourt [Don Carlos; Tacmas] | Sandrine Piau [Zaïre] | Noémi Rime [Fatime] | Les Arts Florissants Chœurs et Orchestre | William Christie (conductor)

link
libretto in French

I’ve never listened to the entire piece before (missed last season’s Boston Baroque’s performance, ack).  Looking forward.  here’s a glimpse

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thả diều

writing-challenged opera-addict

10 responses to “rameau of vivalavoce”

  1. stray Avatar
    stray

    audio of last season’s Boston Baroque performance is here:

    http://www.wgbh.org/articles/Boston-Baroques-Les-Indes-Galantes-4159

    Reply
    1. thả diều Avatar
      thả diều

      ah, thanks Stray! didn’t know they recorded it, yay. i regretted not having the chance to hear Amanda Forsythe live. can’t remember where i’ve heard her sang before, but i remember liking her voice a lot.

      Reply
      1. stray Avatar
        stray

        She’s usually at BEMF. I saw her last June in Niobe — she turned beautifully to stone, at which point the Bruins won the Stanley Cup and there was much rejoicing from the bars across the street.

        Reply
        1. thả diều Avatar
          thả diều

          haha. too bad i was out of town when the Bruins won coz i heard the town was crazily celebrating.
          what do you mean she “turned beautifully to stone”? just checked internet, Philippe Jaroussky was also in the show, how was he? and the performance?

          am listening now as well (same link you sent, which Charlotte sent thanks to below, i think). quite like her voice, and the conducting, AND the orchestra.

          Reply
          1. stray Avatar
            stray

            Niobe, a mortal, has x number of children, and she’s really proud of this fact, and boasts that this makes her better than the goddess Latona, who only has two. The problem is that Latona’s two children are Apollo and Artemis, so copping this attitude is not a brilliant idea. Apollo and Artemis, enraged at the insult to their mother, kill all of Niobe’s weasley little mortal children. Niobe, in her grief, takes to eternal weeping and eventually turns to stone, whereupon the Bruins win, the beer flows freely and the Boston Police Department dons their festive riot gear. Later there is a parade with confetti cannons, which there should be more of in baroque opera. I may be remembering the story of this opera wrong.

            Jaroussky was fabulous, though I think the Cutler Majestic ate some of his voice. Here’s a bit:

          2. thả diều Avatar
            thả diều

            ah, thanks for the recap, sounds definitely exciting!! (riot gears! reminds me of the time when the redsox won the first time)
            Jaroussky’s voice must have hit that low overhang in the Cutler majestic theater and bounced either right into the chairs or to the ceiling and right back to stage… it’s quite a small theater but i really dislike those low overhangs. Shubert theater next door has better sound i think.

            finally made it to the 3rd part of Rameau’s Les Indes galantes currently. It’s definitely the “small dosage per day” type of opera. thanks again for the link, love the orchestra’s sound.
            (ps- now that i have made it to 2nd round of this opera, i’d be happy to skip part 3 altogether. the tenor is better here than in the vivalavoce’s recording, but altogether, mostly recitative to that harpsichord, directly sends one to zzz…, sorry Rameau.)

    2. baltimoreandme Avatar
      baltimoreandme

      I’m listening to this right now – thank you for the link.

      Reply
  2. thả diều Avatar
    thả diều

    i confess, having quite a hard time paying attention to this for 2.5 hr (and counting…), no think i’d survive in theater with this piece…

    edit:
    back to wrap up, i quit at 11pm. think it has to do with the recording. if minkowski conducts it would probably sounds quite different… i would re-listen to Maria Stuarda from the other day again for sure, but not this recording, i done! (really tested my patience.)

    Reply
    1. stray Avatar
      stray

      lol No guarantees in this world, but you’re probably right about Minkowski.

      Reply
  3. thả diều Avatar
    thả diều

    in case you do make your way to that wgbh.org website, there’s also a very nice program recorded of the Handel and Haydn Society performance last Sept (which again i somehow missed…, blame it on paper…) . REALly like the pianist, Kristian Bezuidenhout is his name. We hear him here both playing Mozart’s piano concerto #22 as well as a recording from the previous year of Mozart’s piano sonata (not sure which one) at Boston Early Music Festival. love the phrasing.

    Reply

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scientist by day, opera fan by nights and weekends.

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