“It is not every day that one can experience the adventure of music with such force as when the L’Orfeo Baroque orchestra perform under Michi Gaigg. An unbelievable artistic event!”
Phoenix can offer yet another first class ensemble from the realm of Baroque and Early Music: the L’Orfeo Baroque Orchestra under Michi Gaigg. The orchestra is one of the leading ensembles for historically informed performance practice and has been awarded international prizes for its recordings such as Diapason, Pizzicato (Supersonic Award), Choc du Monde de la Musique and Radio Österreich 1 (Pasticcio-Prize).
The new CD is devoted to 18th Century French music. The recording of the overture, including the dance interlude from JEAN-PHILIPPE RAMEAU’s „Castor et Pollux“, first performed at the Académie Royale de Musique in 1737, captures the essence of the most performed opera of the 18th Century. Jean-Philippe Rameau was already 50 when he started composing for the stage and although he had a wealth of experience and theoretical knowledge the work of Jean-Baptiste Lully was an extremely hard act to follow.
JEAN-FÉRY REBEL’s dance symphony „Les élémens“ from 1737/38 is about chaos. All the notes in the opening key are in a “cluster” of dissonance. The bass represents the earth; the run of flutes, the course of water; the air is painted with restrained notes, followed by cadences of small flutes, and fire with the help of the dexterous runs of the violins.
The suite describes the state of nature before man’s arrival as seen very much through the eyes of the French late Baroque.
Jean-Féry Rebel - les éléments (suite)
Jean-Philippe Rameau - castor et pollux (suite)
Released 2008.