Rameau - Hippolyte et Aricie
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Label: Australian Eloquence
Cat No: ELQ4829394
Format: CD
Number of Discs: 2
Genre: Opera
Release Date: 12th April 2019
Contents
Artists
Robert TearAngela Hickey
Janet Baker
John Shirley-Quirk
Sylvia Rhys-Thomas
Patricia Blans
Rae Woodland
Edgar Fleet
Gerald English
Roger Stalman
John Whitworth
Keith Erwen
John Noble
Nigel Rogers
Jill Gomez
Christopher Keyte
Thurston Dart (harpsichord)
St Anthony Singers
English Chamber Orchestra
Conductor
Anthony LewisWorks
Hippolyte et AricieArtists
Robert TearAngela Hickey
Janet Baker
John Shirley-Quirk
Sylvia Rhys-Thomas
Patricia Blans
Rae Woodland
Edgar Fleet
Gerald English
Roger Stalman
John Whitworth
Keith Erwen
John Noble
Nigel Rogers
Jill Gomez
Christopher Keyte
Thurston Dart (harpsichord)
St Anthony Singers
English Chamber Orchestra
Conductor
Anthony LewisAbout
As director of an annual series of staged operas at the Barber Institute in the University of Birmingham, Lewis conveyed to first a local audience, and then a more international one with these Decca and Argo recordings, that Baroque opera should no longer be the preserve of scholars but contained as much lively and powerful drama as the works of Mozart and Puccini.
Rameau’s place in the pantheon of Baroque composers alongside Bach and Handel is now assured, but only thanks to the persuasive force and intensity of recordings such as Hippolyte et Aricie, which was made in Decca’s West Hampstead studios in July 1965, a few months after the Barber Institute staging. The plot describes Phaedra’s incestuous love for her son Hippolytus, his equally hopeless love for Aricia and much violent divine intervention and retribution.
Even the usually sober Grove dictionary praises it as ‘a powerful and committed performance’. In fact this Classical-themed tragedy never enjoyed the reputation of other stage works by Rameau during his lifetime, but it is now recognised (again, not least, thanks to Lewis’s efforts) as one of the peaks of the composer’s output.
‘A model of how Baroque music ought to be revived, being stylish without pedantry, passionate without excess ... this performance does almost everything that can be done for the music.’ - The Musical Times, May 1966
‘Instrumental and choral work is a constant source of pleasure ... Dart’s contribution at the harpsichord is immeasurably inventive and expressive ... the players convey a sense of truly enjoying themselves.’ - High Fidelity, July 1966
Cast:
- Aricie: Angela Hickey
- Hippolyte: Robert Tear
- High Priestess: Sylvia Rhys-Thomas
- Phèdre: Janet Baker
- Œnone: Patricia Blans
- Diane: Rae Woodland
- Arcus: Edgar Fleet
- Thésée: John Shirley-Quirk
- Tisiphone: Gerald English
- Pluto: Roger Stalman
- Fate I: John Whitworth
- Fate II: Keith Erwen
- Fate III: John Noble
- Mercury: Nigel Rogers
- Priestess: Jill Gomez
- Neptune: Christopher Keyte
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