Lully: Thésée

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CD

  • Release Date: 06/26/2007
  • Sales Rank: 83,966
  • Label: CPO RECORDS
  • UPC: 761203724024

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Track List
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Lully: Thésée

Disc 1
1LISTENThésée, opera, LWV 51: Pr / Jean-Baptiste Lully
2LISTENThésée, opera, LWV 51: Pr / Jean-Baptiste Lully
3LISTENThésée, opera, LWV 51: Pr / Jean-Baptiste Lully
4LISTENThésée, opera, LWV 51: Pr / Jean-Baptiste Lully
5LISTENThésée, opera, LWV 51: Pr / Jean-Baptiste Lully
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Disc 2
1LISTENThésée, opera, LWV 51: Ac / Jean-Baptiste Lully
2LISTENThésée, opera, LWV 51: Ac / Jean-Baptiste Lully
3LISTENThésée, LWV 51 / Jean-Baptiste Lully
4LISTENThésée, opera, LWV 51: Ac / Jean-Baptiste Lully
5LISTENThésée, opera, LWV 51: Ac / Jean-Baptiste Lully
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Disc 3
1LISTENThésée, opera, LWV 51: Ac / Jean-Baptiste Lully
2LISTENThésée, opera, LWV 51: Ac / Jean-Baptiste Lully
3LISTENThésée, opera, LWV 51: Ac / Jean-Baptiste Lully
4LISTENThésée, opera, LWV 51: Ac / Jean-Baptiste Lully
5LISTENThésée, opera, LWV 51: Ac / Jean-Baptiste Lully
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Editorial Reviews

Jean-Baptiste Lully, born Giovanni Battista Lulli in Florence in 1632, moved to France early in his career. By the time he turned 30, he had been named music master to the royal family and elevated to the nobility. Italian opera, particularly the works of Cavalli, had become hugely popular in France, and Lully took up the task of creating a tradition of native French opera. In 1775, in collaboration with librettist Philippe Quinault, Lully produced "Thésée," a "tragédie en musique," which marked a turning point in the synthesis of music, dramaturgy, and dance, and became the model for French opera for nearly a century, until the reforms of Gluck. CPO's splendid new recording of the opera finally gives listeners the opportunity to hear what made the opera so historic. "Thésée"'s plot is complex, but not incomprehensible or ridiculous -- the characters are distinctly drawn, motivated by simple hopes and fears with which any audience could easily identify. Lully's music aptly underlines the dramatic situations, and while he doesn't use anything as specific as leitmotivs, the various characters are associated with particular styles of music. His recitatives are naturalistically set and are more like arioso than secco recitative, and they flow easily into the set pieces. The music is strongly expressive, full of variety, and the orchestration is colorfully inventive. The performance by the orchestra and chorus of the Boston Early Music Festival, led by Paul O'Dette and Stephen Stubbs, is above reproach, bringing the music and drama fully to life. The soloists are uniformly jaw-droppingly accomplished, which is quite an achievement in an opera with over a dozen important roles. Each soloist sings with gorgeous tone, powerful, dramatic characterization, and complete assurance in the subtleties of period ornamentation. The sound quality is ideal -- natural sounding and also absolutely clean, with excellent balance. CPO's Thésée is easily one of the finest Baroque operas on disc; serious opera lovers deserve to treat themselves to this historic and revelatory recording. Stephen Eddins, All Music Guide



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