Chorégraphie: Music for Louis XIV's dancing masters [Import]

Jean-Henri d'Anglebert (Composer), Andre Campra (Composer), Jean-Baptiste Lully (Composer), Ennemond Gaultier (Composer), Anonymous (Composer), Marin Mersenne (Composer), William Brade (Composer), Andrew Lawrence-King (Composer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Composer: Jean-Henri d'Anglebert, Andre Campra, Jean-Baptiste Lully, Ennemond Gaultier, Anonymous, et al.
• Audio CD (March 20, 2007)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: Harmonia Mundi Fr.
• ASIN: B000N6U1AU
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #323,258 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Chorégrapie was a book by Raoul-Auger Feuillet published in 1700 that depicted dance movements using symbols rather than mere words, and it changed the way choreographers approached their art. Motions could be recorded for all time showing the movement of feet within bar-lines indicating tempos, and symbols stood for leaping, turning, pointing the toe, arm positions, etc. More than 300 dances were notated, and this allowed courts all over Europe to emulate what was going on in the Royal Court of France, the dance center of the world. This information is fascinating but unnecessary for enjoying the music played here. Mostly by Lully and Campra, the music was chosen by Feuillet to show off the various styles in use at Court, and Andrew Lawrence-King on the Baroque triple harp plays it all with such skill and love that the mind reels. Graceful and dynamic by turns, virtuoso Lawrence-King gets the most astonishing collection of sounds out of one instrument: the CD is never boring or repetitive. There are knock-down percussive moments, graceful arpeggios, and everything in between. The dynamics can sound rich and dark or ethereal. A piece by Marin Marais will be familiar to fans of that composer even in this arrangement, and a Passacaille from Lully's Armide sounds, oddly, like a Boccherini fandango. This is a wonderful surprise. --Robert Levine

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of my new favorite CDs, August 7, 2007

By 

Gwinna (Virginia, U.S.A.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Chorégraphie: Music for Louis XIV's dancing masters (Audio CD)

This CD consists of music published in _Choregraphie_ by Raoul-Auger Feuillet (1700), the first dance instruction book to depict dance movements symbollically rather than with words. It is divided into five (unequal) sections: Entrée, Suite, Passacaille, A l'Espagnole, and Chaconne. Most of the music comes from Lully and Campra, with a few pieces by Gaultier, Mersenne, Brade, and D'Anglebert, who also arranged much of the operatic music for solo instruments. In addition, the CD includes some very interesting and informative liner notes, with illustrations, placing the music in the context of Louis XIV's court.

I'm no music expert, but as far as I can tell, Andrew Lawrence King performs marvellously - really, it's amazing what he can do on the baroque triple harp. There is a wide variety of music here, some of it exciting and some relaxing, but always interesting.

I've never reviewed a classical CD before (or any CD for that matter), so I'm not quite sure what to say... I just thought there should be another review than the one complaining about our uncertainty of the tempi. The editorial review above puts it much better than I ever could though. In any case, I greatly enjoy listening to "Choregraphie," particularly since the harp is one of my favorite instruments and I like Baroque dance music, but really, I think anyone would enjoy this fascinating and unique CD. I'm glad I bought it and I highly recommend it.

[P.S., in case anyone cares, the disc is packaged not in a jewel case like most CDs, but in a kind of cardboard case that opens like a book. I do not see this as a drawback but thought I would mention it just so people know.]

3 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars tempest on tempo, May 14, 2007

By 

Catherine Turocy "The New York Baroque Dance ... (New York City) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Chorégraphie: Music for Louis XIV's dancing masters (Audio CD)

This recording is very valuable to anyone working with the notations in Choregraphie, regardless of opinions on tempi. However, I am surprised with many of the tempi for the dances and I ask myself, " How can such basic questions still be in the air after all the research and all the practice of current scholarship and performance?" Such an important recording as this illuminates the lack of communication among dance practioners in the early dance field.