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| |  | Tragédie en musique, Libretto: Père François de Paule Bretonneau
Scenography: Paul Zoller Costumes: Gideon Davey Lighting: Franck Evin The rare biblical opera 'David and Jonathas' is like 'Médée', one of the major works of the French Baroque composer Marc-Antoine Charpentier. The opera has been in the repertoire of Les Arts Florissants since 1988 and was first presented in a stage production by William Christie at the Aix-en-Provence Festival 2012. This DVD release is a special event for all Baroque music lovers. Written a year after the death of Lully, this lyric tragedy allows Charpentier to develop beyond the religious dimension, a story of male friendship and forbidden love between David and Jonathas. An excellent cast gathered around William Christie and Les Arts Florissants brings young singers to the title roles: Pascal Charbonneau, a tenor and a former student of the European Academy of Music, sings David. The role of Jonathas is given to a woman: soprano Ana Quintans. The staging by Andreas Homoki (Director of the Zurich Opera since summer 2012) focuses on the psychological aspect of this forbidden love story, giving a moving reading of the drama. |
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| |  | Recorded live at the Théâtre de Caen, October 2011
One of the first operas deserving of the name, Didone is our first surviving musical version of the famous episode in Virgil's Aeneid where the Trojan hero loves and then cruelly leaves the noble Dido. Cavalli learnt at the feet of Monteverdi, and his dramatic transformation of the story is all the more expressive for its intimacy, worthy of the examples set by his master. At the centre of this bold and simple staging – the first opera production by comic actor Clément Hervieu-Léger – is the Queen of Carthage herself, sung with uncompromising intensity by Anna Bonitatibus. William Christie and his singers and players show themselves entirely attuned to the world of Cavalli, where meaning and music fuse. Running time: 176 minutes Subtitles: EN/FR/DE Sound format: 2.0LPCM + 5.1(5.0) DTS “With a small orchestra of solo strings, continuo and a couple of woodwind, the focus is very much on the declamatory skills of the singers. Anna Bonitatibus is outstanding, especially in her confrontation, impassioned but dignified, with Aeneas...elegant, well-paced conducting from William Christie.” Gramophone Magazine, Awards Issue 2012 “It's a fascinating piece. Cavalli treats Giovanni Busenello's libretto with dignity in a responsive setting...So, too, does Hervieu-Leger, capturing its complex narrative and emotional interaction with flair...there are no weak links in the cast, who impress as a real ensemble of actors...as always, Les Arts Florissants perform with enormous style.” BBC Music Magazine, November 2012 ***** “Anna Bonitatibus as Dido is first-class; her powerful mezzo voice is as resplendent as her wonderful name and Krešimir špicer’s Æneas is hardly far behind...Christie’s direction can almost be taken to guarantee a fine performance and that’s the case here...If you wish to have only one Cavalli recording in your collection, this would vie strongly for that honour” MusicWeb International, October 2012  BBC Music Magazine
DVD Choice - November 2012 |
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| |  | Marc-Antoine Charpentier: Deux Oratorios
Marc-Antoine Charpentier's Latin oratorios rise to the zenith of French music of the Grand Siècle, at a time when oratorio was as little appreciated in France as it was extolled in Italy. Charpentier discovered the genre while studying with Carissimi in Rome but what he did with it went way beyond a mere schoolroom exercise! These two oratorios, composed between 1672 and 1698, are superb examples of Charpentier's individual qualities: an acute sense of the word and an unprecedented dramatic effectiveness.This title was released for the first time in 1980. | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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For the first time in 317 years, Les Arts Florissants brought together in 1990 the complete score of 'Le Malade imaginaire' as it was originally conceived by Charpentier to accompany Molière's final comedy. And now, for the first time on CD, you can hear, in its entirety, this legendary recording by William Christie. This title was released for the first time in 1990. “A delightful work. Christie knows exactly how to make the music leap off the page and Charpentier's airs and dances are full of elegance and charm.” BBC Music Magazine, January 2013 ***** | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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The culmination of a three-year Monteverdi project led by conductor William Christie and director Pier Luigi Pizzi at Madrid’s Teatro Réal, L’incoronazione di Poppea brings a potent blend of sex and politics, high drama and comedy. Leading the cast are Danielle de Niese as Poppea, Philippe Jaroussky as Nerone, Max Emanuel Cencic as Ottone and Anna Bonitatibus as Ottavia. William Christie – the French-based American conductor, best known for his work with his ensemble Les Arts Florissants – started 2012 at New York’s Metropolitan Opera, conducting The Enchanted Island, a spectacular new pastiche featuring music by Handel, Vivaldi and other composers,. Here, he conducts an operatic performance recorded in 2010 at Madrid’s Teatro Réal: Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea, with its potent Ancient Roman blend of sex and politics, high drama and comedy. “William Christie’s achievement with Les Arts Florissants is enormous,” wrote Spain’s leading newspaper, El País. “With 17 musicians playing period instruments, he evoked a veritable orgy of nuances, subtly created atmosphere and showed a perfect sense for the accents of the piece.” Poppea proved an apt culmination to Christie’s three-year project mounting Monteverdi’s three operas in Madrid with the Italian director Pier Luigi Pizzi, whose productions are always notable for their elegance and beauty. Performed in a new edition of the Venetian version of the opera by the musicologist Jonathan Cable, Poppea features a starry cast. Playing the upwardly mobile temptress of the opera’s title is the glamorous American soprano Danielle de Niese, who, in the words of the New York Times, is “seductive enough to woo gods as well as mortals”. She made her international breakthrough at Glyndebourne as another legendary siren of the First Century AD – Cleopatra (in Handel’s Giulio Cesare). In an interpretation described as “overwhelming” by El País, the capricious Emperor Nero (Nerone) is embodied by French countertenor Philippe Jaroussky – in a role very different from the last operatic Roman he took on for Christie, the titular saint in Landi’s Sant’Alessio (Virgin Classics DVD 5099951899998). The brilliant Croatian countertenor Max Emanuel Cencic is a frequent sparring partner for his French colleague – not least in a recent Virgin CD of duetti da camera conducted by William Christie – and in Sant’Alessio he played Jaroussky’s mother (!); here he plays Nerone’s rival for Poppea’s love, Ottone, while Nerone’s discarded wife, Ottavia, is sung by the Italian mezzo soprano Anna Bonitatibus, described by Forumopera as “an incandescent Ottavia who vouchsafed a superb example of singing and of theatre”. | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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With William Christie and Les Arts Florissants, relive Christmas Eve as it was celebrated in the France of Louis IV. | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Duetti da Camera: Philippe Jaroussky & Max Emanuel Cencic
Two star countertenors, Philippe Jaroussky and Max Emanuel Cencic, join William Christie and Les Arts Florissants, for a programme of chamber-scale duets and arias by Italian composers of the early 18th century. As Jaroussky says, these are “duets of great beauty, where the two voices entwine in a way that is sometimes very sophisticated, but also very sensual.” The contrasting and complementary talents of two star countertenors, Philippe Jaroussky and Max Emanuel Cencic, come to the fore in this programme of chamber-scale duets and arias by Italian composers of the early 18th century: Porpora, Mancini, Bononcini, Marcello, Conti and Alessandro Scarlatti. Two instrumental items by Corelli are also included in this richly filled programme, based on concerts presented by Jaroussky, Cencic and Les Arts Florissants under William Christie’s direction in France and Spain in early 2011. Both countertenors are virtuosic performers, but Jaroussky is especially famed for the gracefulness of his vocalism, whether in brilliant castrato arias or his Virgin Classics album of belle époque song, Opium, while Cencic favours a more assertive and athletic style, which served him well in his breathtaking recital of Rossini arias for Virgin Classics. “Each singer brings his own individual vocal and expresive qualities to the fore in a solo cantata: Jaroussky is sweetly beguiling in Francesco Mancini's 'Quanto mai saro piu bello'...whereas Cencic's theatrical talent for gutsier declamatory coloratura takes centre stage in Porpora's 'Ecco che il primo albore'. The intuitive duet-singing works charmingly, not least becuase the adaptable Cencic sings intimately and softly in order to match Jaroussky's gentler timbre.” Gramophone Magazine, January 2012 “What is startling in this recording is the power of initmacy, as entwining voices and instruments ensnare the listener...Jaroussky's sense of nuance is especially fine: he caresses words and gestures with a painterly delicacy...when singing with Jaroussky, Cencic allows their vocal timbres to blend gorgeously...Above all, the artists collectively adhere to the sine qua non of performing this repertory: seeming effortlessness.” BBC Music Magazine, January 2012 **** “the contrast between the two is wonderfully exploited in the duets by Bononcini and the cantatas by Conti, Marcello and Alessandro Scarlatti, in which Cencic calibrates his naturally more powerful sound to balance the dimensions of Jaroussky's voice. Christie, it almost goes without saying, organises perfectly judged accompaniments” The Guardian, 12th January 2012 **** “how well Cencic and Jaroussky work together...Their respective abilities in producing their tone and dispatching it through the intricate music are on a par with each other. The five instrumentalists...make attractive sounds, adding to the pleasure given by the singers.” International Record Review, February 2012 | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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Bernard Richter (Atys), Stéphanie d’Oustrac (Cybèle), Emmanuelle de Negri (Sangaride), Nicolas Rivenq (Célénus), Marc Mauillon (Idas), Sophie Daneman (Doris), Jaël Azzaretti (Mélisse), Paul Agnew (Le Sommeil) & Cyril Auvity (Morphée) Danseurs Compagnie Fêtes galantes & Les Arts Florissants, William Christie (conductor) & Jean-Marie Villégier (director) Carlo Tommasi (designer) Patrice Cauchetier (costumes) Francine Lancelot, Béatrice Massin (choreography) William Christie: "There were a number of important moments in the history of the Arts Florissants, but there's one moment that obviously stands out - and that's the moment when we produced Atys." Christie had been approached by the director of the Paris Opera, Massimo Bogianckino, to think about putting on a Lully opera. Christie was advised by the Opéra-Comique's Thierry Fouquet that Quinault's libretto for 'Atys' would demand an extraordinary stage director - Jean-Marie Villégier took this role and he, together with Christie, created 'Atys'. The production marked the renaissance of Baroque Opera in France. The American philanthropist Ronald P. Stanton has funded this 2011, Opera Comique production that has been described as 'one to see before you die', and it is clear that the magic of this show is still intact. Villégier has concentrated the tragedy in a unique backdrop of black marble, marked by furniture from the State Apartments of Versailles, and sumptuous costumes designed by Patrice Cauchetier with graceful choreography by the late Francine Lancelot revived by Béatrice Massin. The fabulous musicians and choir of Les Arts Florissants and the Jardin des Voix need no introduction here. Last, but not least, we have the powerfully-projected Atys of Bernard Richter, admired mezzo, Stephanie d'Oustrac as Cybele, rival to the vibrant Sangaride, sung by soprano Emmanuelle de Negri. Discover this masterpiece of Lully magnified by the combined talents of William Christie and Jean Marie Villégier. “Lully's music shines and dances in the hands of the now-veteran William Christie and his superbly understanding singers and players, but what will astonish those who doubt the drama of baroque opera is the sheer emotional power of the plot. The filming is formal rather than fluid. A triumph of postmodern authenticity.” The Observer, 19th February 2012 “this visually sumptuous production will satisfy the most diehard traditionalist. It's true that the sets and costumes are far removed from ancient Phrygia; but they do evoke the time of Louis XIV, Lully's patron. Bernhard Richter finds plenty of passion as Atys...Chorus, orchestra and conductor are first-class.” Gramophone Magazine, March 2012 | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Lamentazione
The singers of Les Arts Florissants, “a golden choir” under the direction of tenor Paul Agnew, perform elaborate unaccompanied sacred works by Alessandro and Domenico Scarlatti, Leonardo Leo and Antonio Caldara, recorded in the Benedictine abbey at Ambronay in eastern France. Les Arts Florissants, one of the most influential and prolific ensembles in the world of historically informed performance, was founded in 1979 by William Christie, who now regularly shares conducting duties with Paul Agnew, best known for his achievements as a tenor – not least with Les Arts Florissants. In September 2010, as part of the annual festival at Ambronay in eastern France, not far from the Swiss border, Agnew directed the singers of Les Arts Florissants in a concert at the village’s 9th-century Benedictine Abbey. It presented a number of masterpieces of church music by Italian baroque composers: the Neapolitans Alessandro Scarlatti (1660-1725), Domenico Scarlatti (1685-1757) and Leonardo Leo (1694-1744), and the Venetian Antonio Caldara (1670-1736), who took charge of music at the imperial chapel in Vienna. The younger Scarlatti’s Stabat Mater forms the lynchpin of this programme of sorrowful, a cappella pieces, which was recorded at Ambronay prior to the concert. It evokes the rigorous period of Lent, when, with the theatres shut, the public was deprived of operatic pleasures. Music-lovers could find compensation in this religious music since, as the regional newspaper Le Progrès reported in its review of the Ambronay concert, the composers produced: “sensual, richly ornamented music which places considerable demands on the singers and, above all, on the conductor, who must ensure its polyphonic contours and the transparency of the vocal lines.” Under the headline “A golden choir”, the review went on to say that: “The choir fulfilled its role perfectly. Beyond the quality of the voices, often in the soloist class, and the supple and appealing tonal blend, the fluidity of the transitions and the precision of articulation proved that the ensemble … has few (if any) rivals in this repertoire.” “Paul Agnew's direction throughout is exemplary, rendering Domenico Scarlatti's "Stabat Mater" with poise and piety, and expertly navigating Leonardo Leo's ingenious interplay of choirs and plainsong in his "Miserere a due cori".” The Independent, 16th September 2011 **** “Paul Agnew here makes a stunningly successful recording debut as conductor...this disc's unusual blend of authority and intimacy sets Agnew apart from Christie...this performance's bravura makes it a benchmark, and flags the advent of an exciting new recording career.” BBC Music Magazine, November 2011 “Fabulous pile-ups of dissonances and a polychoral lushness characterise most of the music, sung with exemplary clarity and expression by Les Arts Florissants under the British tenor, Paul Agnew. The astringency of the upper voices gives more bite to those spine-shivering discords.” The Times, 8th October 2011 **** “Regardless of occasional flaws inevitable from a live recording, textural transparencies resonate around the lovely Ambronay acoustic. The Choir of Les Arts Florissants is on exceptionally good form...Leo's Miserere (1739) is sung with the boldness, authority, lamentation and soft compassion that the composer variously demands...Agnew and his choir deserve plaudits for a masterly and valuable recording.” Gramophone Magazine, December 2011 | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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Gramophone Magazine
Gramophone Awards 2012