ARIADNE & ORPHEE
Michel Lambert (1610 - 1696) - Elisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre (1665 -1729)
Jean-Philippe Rameau (1683 - 1764) - Marin Marais (1656 - 1728)
Philippe Courbois (1705 - 1730)
Hasnaa Bennani: soprano
Domitille Gilon: violon
Anna Besson: traverso
Ronald Martin Alonso: viole de gambe
Vincent Fluckiger: théorbe
Thomas Soltani: clavecin
Cantatas, Airs de cour and instrumental sonatas.
During the first half of the eighteenth century, the musical scene in Europe was marked by the highpoint of the cantate. This new form, generally comprising restricted forces and with no theatrical display gave rise to a multifarious repertory. It reached a climax in France between 1680 and 1750: many composers attempted the genre with success, drawing inspiration from the often tragic destinies of mythological figures from Greek antiquity.
A woman abandoned by a man on the one hand, a poet confronting the Underworld in order to save his Eurydice on the other hand: though the dramatic strands of these two myths are in opposition, they nonetheless conjure up human anguish and its affects. This is how wounded love, anger and vengeance are elequently dressed with musical expression, bot by Jean-Philippe Rameau and Philippe Courbois.
The cantate Ariane, published in 1710, plunges us into an atmosphere coloured by anguish and melancholy, in the manner of a genuine lyrical tragedy. Rameau's cantata Orphée is a kind of miniature opera depicting Orpheus' descent to the kingdom of the underworld. Rameau and Courbois illustrate, each in his own way, the pain and passion of these characters, as well as the complex ambivalence between them. Their music presents a range of harmonies and melodies that is rich in colours, the dramatic expression being ever faithful to the text.
The two cantatas and the symbolic force of the myths they llustrate are accompanied by a Sonata in d minor by Elisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre, a composer in the service and the affections as well as the protection of the King Louis XIV himself! The fire and the tenderness lyrically portrayed by the violin and the viola da gamba in this seven-movment sonata are but echoes of the emotions felt when listening to the above-mentioned cantatas.
Parution le 30 octobre 2015: label Muso | harmonia mundi.