Jean Baptiste Lully: Alceste – Christophe Rousset

Christophe Rousset dirige avec énergie et finesse cette oeuvre où théâtre et musique s’accordent avec une harmonie jubilatoire.

Christophe Rousset dirigeert met energie en finesse dit werk waarin theater en muziek zich feestelijk in harmonie verenigen.

   in Opera Now (Apr, 2018)
Also combining gods with mortals is Lully’s Alceste in the expert hands of conductor Christophe Rousset. Composed for Louis XIV to celebrate his triumph against Franche-Comté, it follows Alceste’s self-sacrifice in taking her husband’s place in the underworld, selflessly rescued by Alcide who, despite loving her, restores her to marital bliss. Philippe Quincault’s libretto caused a bit of a stink in the 1670s by blending the heroic with the vulgar and comic, and – gasp – choruses, which were denigrated by none other than Corneille because they were distracting and ‘prevent the listener from relaxing’. To these ears the choruses prove one of Alceste’s main attractions in their invention and contrast, …