charpentier, marc-antoine
Le malade imaginaire / les arts florissants, william christie

Comentario Vendedor :
Charpentier: Le Malade Imaginaire / Christie, Les Arts Florissants

Release Date: 07/10/2012
Label: Harmonia Mundi Catalog #: 501887 Spars Code: DDD
Composer: Marc-Antoine Charpentier
Performer: Jean-Francois Gardeil, Dominique Visse, Howard Crook, Jérôme Corréas, ...
Conductor: William Christie
Orchestra/Ensemble: Les Arts Florissants
Number of Discs: 2
Recorded in: Stereo


Works on This Recording

1. Le malade imaginaire, H 495 by Marc-Antoine Charpentier
Performer: Jean-Francois Gardeil (Baritone), Dominique Visse (Countertenor), Howard Crook (Tenor),
Jérôme Corréas (Bass), Alain Trétout (Spoken Vocals), Isabelle Desrochers (Soprano),
Noémi Rime (Soprano), Monique Zanetti (Soprano), William Christie (Spoken Vocals),
Howard Crook (Spoken Vocals), Claire Brua (Mezzo Soprano)
Conductor: William Christie
Orchestra/Ensemble: Les Arts Florissants
Period: Baroque
Written: 1672-1673; France


Notes and Editorial Reviews

"...As the Charpentier scholar, H. Wiley Hitchcock, remarks in his essay accompanying Christie's version, the musical history of Le ma/ode imaginaire is not a simple one. Lully's various ordinances obliged Charpentier not once, but at least three times, to revise his score, paring it down on each subsequent occasion to meet the ever more outrageous demands of Lully's "dictature musicale". From a mass of surviving material Hitchcock prepared a critical edition which provides the basis of Christie's performance. More recently, however, as I remarked in my review of Minkowski's version, another American scholar, John S. Powell, discovered an eighteenthcentury copy of the missing music of the first interméde and of the petit opéra impromptu. Since both of these are included in Christie's performance the Harmonia Mundi recording must be regarded as the more complete of the two..."

- Gramophone, (April, 1991) Read less

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AllMusic Review by Blair Sanderson [-]
Due to legal complications engineered by Jean-Baptiste Lully and effected by Louis XIV, Marc-Antoine Charpentier's brilliant incidental music for Molière's final comedy, Le Malade imaginaire (1672-1674), was subjected to two drastic revisions. Despite the composer's usual precautions and careful maintenance of his manuscripts, the work's ordering became confused and scores of two important sections -- the "Premier intermède" and the "Petit opéra impromptu" -- lost. Thanks to the work of musicologists John S. Powell and H. Wiley Hitchcock, the full work has been reconstructed from surviving parts and restored for performance. The 1990 recording by William Christie and Les Arts Florissants is the most complete and authoritative version available; but if that makes it seem stuffy and dry, then hearing the performance will come as a glorious surprise. Charpentier's score is simply splendid in its color, humor, variety, and panache, and even the most casual listener will be drawn to the music, even without knowing the play. The story of Le Malade imaginaire would be more intelligible if the libretto -- presented here in the original French, Italian, and macaronic Latin -- had been translated for the liner notes, but a synopsis in English outlines Molière's farce. This Harmonia Mundi release restores a valuable Baroque gem to the catalog and deserves high marks for its delicious music, lively acting, and excellent sound quality.

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BBC Music MagazineJanuary 2013
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.
*****
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Rezensionen

E. Pinter in FonoForum 6 / 91:"William Christie und sein perfekt singendes, musizierendes und agierendes Ensemble 'Les Arts Florissants' bieten eine gelungene Unterhaltung."

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