JOSEPH BODIN DE BOISMORTIER Daphnis et Chloé
Le Concert Spirituel Hervé Niquet
GCD 921618
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Performing artists
Gaëlle Méchaly, soprano Marie-Louise Duthoit, soprano François-Nicolas Geslot, high tenor Till Fechner, bass Alain Buet, bass Renaud Delaigue, bass Arno Guillou, bass
Production details
Recorded at the Grande Salle of the Arsenal de Metz, France, in December 2001 Engineered by Manuel Mohino Produced by Dominique Daigremont Executive producer: Carlos Céster
Design: Valentín Iglesias (00:03:00) Booklet essay: Stéphan Perreau English Français Español Deutsch
This recording was first released in 2002 as Glossa GCD 921605
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Commercial release sheet (PDF)
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JOSEPH BODIN DE BOISMORTIER
Daphnis et ChloéPastorale. Paris, 1747
CD I 45:38
Prologue Acte Premier
CD II 55:44
Acte Deuxième Acte Troisième
About this CD
Following on from Callirhoé (André Cardinal Destouches), Sémélé (Marin Marais) and Proserpine (Jean-Baptiste Lully), three important tragédies lyriques rescued from oblivion by Hervé Niquet and Le Concert Spirituel, Glossa is now restoring to the catalogue and within its collection of French Baroque opera, a recording made in Metz in December 2001: Daphnis et Chloé, the work which was to add Joseph Bodin de Boismortier to the roll call of the history of music in a most determined fashion.
First performed in Paris in 1747 – a time when the tragédie lyrique, the genre which Lully had brought to its peak, was already in evident decline – Daphnis et Chloé is a pastorale within which lurks a ballet with a bergère storyline, and which is blessed with a plot which, although mythological in content, is of great lightness; this neatly matched the taste of the nobility of the time and even more so that of Madame de Pompadour with its recreation of an idealized pastoral world. From the very beginning the music is reminiscent of that series of rural settings painted by Boucher for the king’s favourite, crammed full of smitten shepherds and besotted shepherdesses jostling for space on the canvas whilst big-bottomed and chubby-cheeked cupids are hanging about in the clouds… In just a few years time, in 1753, Paris was to become the setting for the flaring up of the notorious Querelle des Bouffons, with the supporters of the French tradition confronting the partisans of the Italian opera buffa. By then the taste for Boismortier’s music had gone stale... until now!
Hervé Niquet is far less interested in being known as a Baroque music specialist than for his passionate interest in all of French music, especially its vocal and lyrical compositions and nowadays he is as liable to be found directing a symphony orchestra as his own period instrument ensemble Le Concert Spirituel. It may come, for some, as a surprise to find Niquet teaming up with the Brussels Philharmonic to record Debussy but this future release will mark the inauguration of a new adventure for Niquet and Glossa focusing on the music associated with the Prix de Rome competition which drew in scores of leading French composers all the way from 1803 through 1968. [read more...]
Taking a leading role in the revival of tragédies lyriques (or tragédies en musique), the best of the French Baroque opera tradition, is a long, daunting (and expensive) challenge but one which Hervé Niquet has been keen to accept. Present as a singer in the chorus of Les Arts Florissants in 1987 when William Christie put on Lully’s Atys, Niquet formed his own ensemble, Le Concert Spirituel that same year. Since that time he has balanced his own endeavours to stage (and record) key French tragédies with his other musical interests, which extend from Monteverdi to Purcell and Handel (soon to be reissued – now on SACD – is Niquet’s recording of the Fireworks and Water Music suites) right the way through to later composers such as Schumann, Gounod and d’Indy.[read more...]