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GRAMOPHONE ( 04 / 2019)
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Château de Versailles Spectacles
CVS001




Code-barres / Barcode : 3770011431007

 

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Reviewer: David Vickers

Charpentier’s pastoral entertainments Les arts florissans and La couronne de fleurs (1685) were commissioned by the Mademoiselle de Guise to celebrate Louis XIV’s recent military victories and the restoration of peace. They were performed by her household ensemble of about 15 musicians, whereas Gaétan Jarry and Ensemble Marguerite Louise field somewhat larger forces for a performance recorded in connection to an outdoor production at the palace of Versailles in summer 2017; photos of the dress rehearsal make one wish one had been there.

La couronne de fleurs is an adaptation of Charpentier’s prologue to Molière’s comédie-ballet Le malade imaginaire (1673). Concise extracts depict shepherds celebrating the return of peace after the horrors of war; a few more were recorded by Paul O’Dette and Stephen Stubbs with their Bostonians. Nevertheless, Jarry’s main attraction is a gently sensual interpretation of the idyll Les arts florissans – an allegorical divertissement in which Music, Poetry, Painting and Architecture proclaim how their respective arts glorify the Sun King. Its first recording for nearly 40 years has elegant sensuality, nowhere more so than in Music’s softly harmonious accompanied recitative ‘Que mes divins concerts’ (sung gorgeously by Maïlys de Villoutreys), and even the clamorous interruption of a chorus of warriors soon resolves into sweet relief at hearing Music’s ‘celestial melodious accents’. Likewise, Poetry (sung soothingly by Virginie Thomas) and the chorus observe that ‘It is better not to say anything than to say something feebly’. The disturbance generated by Discord (the extrovert baritone David Witczak) and the Furies expressing their bitter hatred of the happiness created by the king threatens everyone’s contentment until they are banished calmly by Peace (the ideally serene Cécile Achille). Poetry restores the blissful mood, celebrated by all four flourishing arts and the chorus in a lovely chaconne – suggesting that anything Lully can do well, Charpentier can do better.


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