Leclair / Barath / Les Nouveaux Caracteres - Leclair: Scylla & Glaucus - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Jean-Marie Leclair, a pure product of the 18th century, was at the crossroads of styles, cultivating a virtuosic art combining melodies à la française and Italian virtuosity stemming from Corelli and Vivaldi. He was 49 when he undertook his first (and only) lyric tragedy Scylla et Glaucus. In the greatest French tradition, this work combines sumptuous numbers of sentimental outpourings with frightening scenes of fury and terror, in which the orchestra, with forceful passages, plays a dazzling role. A veritable masterpiece, revealing the obvious influence of Rameau, Scylla et Glaucus left a strong mark on French opera. First performed at the Académie Royale de Musique in 1746, this opera, which had a run of 17 performances and enjoyed great success, was only rediscovered in the 1980s (by John Eliot Gardiner in Lyon). For this re-creation, recorded at the Royal Opera and featuring in the Alpha/ Château de Versailles collection, Sébastien d'Hérin, a connoisseur of Rameau and that era, has surrounded himself with top-notch performers, including the promising amorous duo of Anders Dahlin and Emöke Barath, for a resurrection of what the great musicologist Cuthbert Girdlestone considered 'probably, along with those of Rameau et Gluck, the finest French opera of the century'. Album Tracks 1. Ouverture 2. Reine de la Nature 3. Sarabande 4. Air Gracieux 5. Quel Bruit Soudain 6. Redoutable Vénus 7. Quel Tonnerre 8. Symphonie Pour la Descente de Vénus 9. Pour Vous Dont Je Reçois Et L'encens Et Les Voeux 10. Des Nations Il Triomphe Sans Peine! 11. Dans Un Auguste Fils 12. Gigue 13. Venez, Qu'amour Vous Couronne 14. Passepied 15. Votre Zèle Pour Moi Brille Assez 16. Non Je Ne Cesserai Jamais 17. Que Votre Empressement 18. Marche Des Bergers Et Des Silvains 19. Aimez, Nymphe Charmante 20. Air Des Sylvains 21. Musette 22. Nos Bois Save