ANDRÉ-ERNEST-MODESTE GRÉTRY Andromaque Tragédie lyrique. Paris, 1780
Le Concert Spirituel Hervé Niquet
GCD 921620 2 CDs
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Performing artists
Karine Deshayes, soprano Maria Riccarda Wesseling, mezzo-soprano Sébastien Guèze, tenor Tassis Christoyannis, baritone
Production details
Recorded at Salle Henry Le Bœuf, Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels, in October 2009 Engineered by Manuel Mohino Produced by Dominique Daigremont Executive producer: Carlos Céster Materials prepared by the Centre de Musique Baroque de Versailles (CMBV) Design: Valentín Iglesias Booklet essay: Benoît Dratwicki (CMBV) English - Français - Deutsch - Español
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Commercial release sheet (PDF)
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ANDRÉ-ERNEST-MODESTE GRÉSTRY (1741-1813)
Andromaque
CD I
Ouverture Acte Premier
CD II
Acte Deuxième Acte Troisième
About this CD
Working in collaboration with the Centre de Musique Baroque de Versailles and the Palazzetto Bru Zane (Centre de Musique Romantique Française), Hervé Niquet and Le Concert Spirituel carry on with their journey of rediscovering forgotten operatic works, this time pitting themselves against music from the close of the Age of Enlightenment, in Andromaque (1778), the single tragédie lyrique written by André-Ernest-Modeste Grétry (1741- 1813). Known above all for his light opéras- comiques, at the end of his career the composer turned towards an increasingly heroic style in the vein of Méhul and Cherubini.
The work reflects the tendency of an age of changes which was torn between a nostalgia for the times of the reign of Louis XIV and the cult of modernity and progress. Thus, it overlays on the barely- altered Jean Racine text of Andromaque (1667) a music already suffused with Romantic aspirations where literally unheard-of tones and accents clothe the passions of the Classical Greek age in a new guise. Never performed again after its initial production Andromaque today reveals all the modernity of the French school on the eve of the French Revolution and imposes itself without doubt as one of the most singular and unexpected links between the Baroque and Romanticism.
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...]