Nicholas Kenyon 

Rameau: L’Orchestre de Louis XV – review

This dizzying dance music from four of Rameau's operas is both splendid and quirky, writes Nicholas Kenyon
  
  


This is dance music of dizzying variety and instrumental colour from four of Jean-Philippe Rameau's operas, from Les Indes galantes of 1735 to the final (and unperformed in his lifetime) Les Boréades of 1764, traversing the move from high baroque to the time of Haydn and the young Mozart. There's lively, rumbustious playing from Le Concert des Nations; the drawback is that Jordi Savall doesn't do sensual, so some of the subtler rhythms are too bumpy. The angular contredanses with their quirky intervals, and the magnificent chaconnes, are splendid – the one for Naïs (1748), involving dancing athletes, boxers, runners and wrestlers, is made for the Olympics opening.

 

Leave a Comment

Required fields are marked *

*

*