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Reviewer: John
W. Barker This release requires more explanation than it deserves. It is several things all at once. It is the debut recording of baritone Degout. It is partly a collection of arias, choral segments, and orchestral pieces from four operas by Jean-Philippe Rameau and three French ones by Christoph Willibald von Gluck. The selections are organized along the format of a Requiem Mass, taking inspiration from an Anonymous Latin Mass composed in the later 18th Century using music from Rameau’s Castor et Pollox, from which four sections are included. Finally, it is a drama, where the selections are intended to portray the descent to the Underworld (Enfers) made by an invented character, Le Tragédien, with plot synopsis laid out.
Are you still with me? The idea seems to be a joint one of Degout and conductor Pichon. The Pygmalion ensemble here consists of 7 other singers in small solo bits, a choir of 21, and an orchestra of 39 period players. They are all excellent musicians, and the qualities of French Baroque style are secure. The sound is admirable. This comes in a bound CD-size album, with extensive notes and full texts with translations.
The question is: What purpose is served by all this expenditure of talent? To be sure, Degout is a mature singer, with a well-rounded tone and fine musicianship—he deserves to be heard in some real Baroque works. As for what else the listener derives from this, the liturgical format is a Procrustian Bed, and the “drama” is pointless (unless you are obsessed with death and damnation). So, you have been warned!
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