Customer Reviews

L'Orchestre Du Roi Soleil

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Alert, committed performances of some fun and involving music: if you enjoy baroque orchestral works such as Bach's Brandenburg concerti, you're going to like this as well.

Jordi Savall and his fine orchestra, Le Concert des Nations, are fully versed in the French baroque style and are quite adept at bringing out the emotion that lies just beneath the deceptively elegant surfaces of this music. The disc features three extended orchestral suites taken from Lully's operas. The inventiveness of Lully's orchestration creates a constantly shifting kaleidoscope of sounds, rhythms, emotions, and instrumental combinations.

Warmly recorded, masterfully performed by one of the richest-sounding "period instrument" ensembles around. The wind and percussion sections are especially impressive.

This a lively, lovely disc you'll find yourself playing quite often.

I was cluless as to what I was getting into with the purchase of this CD but I have to say that this is a truly amazing CD. I had been searching for music similar to that of the "Restoration" soundtrack and I had found that the Purcell CD's I had purchased, although wonderful, were in different arrangements and not quite the same.

I found this CD by happenstance and read a little mit about Jean-Baptiste Lully and decided since I love anything to do with Louis XIV I would take a chance and purchase it.

I adore this CD, I have nothing bad to say about it. It is the epitome of baroque next to Teleman although, lighter..airy.

If you close your eyes, you are transported to the court of the Sun King!

Worth every single penny!

Vive La Lully!

As the main reviewer mentions, the French Baroque style is completely original in its sound so that even one with little familiarity in Baroque styles will recognize instantly. Jean-Baptiste Lully's music is probably the most regal, warm, and literally gay of all the Baroque music composed in France, but also one of the least performed. Lully is actually a very underrated composer and this album is probably the best example of how underrated he has remained which is unfortunate because his work is highly original and as complex as any other contemporary Baroque work. Jordi Savall and Le Concert Des Nations are undisputably a very few the very best performers of French Baroque pieces and each use 17th-18th century authentic instruments. The recording quality of this album is also stupendous. This album is a gem for anyone looking to expand their horizons in Baroque music or curious about French Baroque specifically.

Jean-Baptiste Lully was actually of Italian origins and his French style was influenced in some parts by his native Italy but mostly by French Late Renaissance and very early Baroque folkloric styles. Lully was active in the mid-17th century in the court of Louis XIV, The Bourbon Sun King and founder of Versailles who, in addition to having reigned for about 75 years, was the greatest patron of the arts and sciences in Europe during his time. This is of course music for the Sun King and so the pieces usually have a regal Baroque weightiness to them in trying to portray the absolute monarch as the mighty Jove who appeared as thunder but who moved on in his royal procession as regally and lightly as a cloud. Such techniques in the strings were mostly imitated and refined by contemporaries and used in later German Baroque concerto works such those of Bach, Telemann, and Handel. This regal weightiness is also carried by a lot of brass but Lully always presents his brass arrangements lightly unlike his heavier German and especially English Baroque counterparts. Accentuating its classicist themes, the music simultaneously conveys both the typical aristocratic fluff of the Bourbon court as well as its weighty Olympian pageantry demonstrated in his Turkish procession. In other parts, some of the ballad pieces make one feel as if they have just left the stuffy aristocratic halls of Versailles to join some jovial musketeers merrily drinking in a common nearby tavern instead. Lully's music is highly unique, expressive, and generally jovial with a lot of tonality: he uses a lot of period dances for his pieces such as sarabandes, gavottes, etc. There's also a lot more use of the viola da gamba, lute, and various percussion than other contemporary Baroque pieces but somewhat typical in French ones. The most moving pieces in these arrangements might just be those for solo Baroque violin and lute or a small accompaniment: they are very expressive and as hauntingly beautiful and divine as any of Biber's comparable works or those of Marais. Lully was simply a genius in very evocative music that seemed to defy its own excess demands for pomp and frivolity. He is certainly one of the most innovate composers of the Baroque period. Lully is actually the main founder of both modern ballet and opera as forms of art which he first performed in the court of Versailles as distinctive musical repertoires incorporating theatrical and dance forms. Louis XIV was indeed so enamoured with Lully's majestic works that he ignored Cardinal Mazarin's resentments and France's own capital laws against homosexuality so that he could keep him under the patronage of his court. Although tragic, Lully's death is somewhat ironically as fatalistic as many of the classicist subjects of his ballets and operas: as if he had been a gifted muse who rendered Apollo jealous and so was struck down by Fate. While passionately conducting a piece using a heavy set staff weighing several pounds, he accidentally crushed his foot and died of gangrene soon after. He was an artist who died from his passion in a true sense and this is always a touching end for an artist in terms of posterity. He was replaced by Marin Marais as court composer whose pieces are also exquisitely performed by Jordi Savall solo on the viola and with Le Concert Des Nations for his orchestral works.

Lully was definitely an accomplished master of music and very original. A composer who is more obscure simply for the fact that he's not played as much as Bach or Vivaldi and that the French Baroque is not as common in performance circles. Lully however was certainly no less accomplished in his genius than any other of the great Baroque masters. Although many French composers such as Marais and Rameau would imitate his expressive style throughout the 18th century particularly in their operas and ballets, none of them could ever match it. In terms of French Baroque, I strongly recommend you get every piece you can by Jordi Savall and Le Concert Des Nations as they are few of the very foremost experts on performing in the French style. Another decent group is Les Arts Florrisants who have done various French Baroque performances. There are few other groups and artists that perform Lully or any French Baroque besides the latter anyway and most of them that do don't even compare to them. Their CDs are typically more expensive than the common labels and might have to be ordered but the quality of the performances and the recordings are really worth every penny believe me. Many of Savall's earlier performances are also starting to become hard to find.

This recording is best a very good starting point for those that are not familiar, with an orchestra of early instruments. The reason I say this is because of fact that every section of the orchestra has a prominent part; from the trumpets and drums, to the lutes and guitars. An orchestra such as Le concert des Nations, is well suited for the task, because of their clarity. The music feature in this recording is all by Jean Baptiste Lully, and it was written in particular for for the enjoyment of the royals. So, when you listen to this music, it's OK to fell like if you are a Queen or King.

Although I used to study music and I knew his name, I hadn't listened Jean-Baptiste Lully's music. I listened to music of Ramaeu, Vivaldi, Purcell, J.S.Bach, and Handel but no Lully's.
First time I listened his music was from French film "Le Roi Danse" which was a story about Lully's life with Louis XIV and Moliere. Music impressed me so much that even I thought it was not by Lully, but it was.

So I bought this CD to listen in a complete way to "la musique pour le roi-soleil (the music for the sun king)". I would say, the music is like as gorgeous as Château de Versailles. The first suit "Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme (The Bourgeois Gentleman)" is called as the masterpiece of Lully and Moliere collaboration. I love fourth piece, Marche pour la C?r?monie turque (March for the Turkish ceremony)" which was also used in the film, and 13th melancholy piece is also my favorite.

My impression of Lully's music is swing, suppose French baroque style upright swing. Lully himself danced balley and he composed many pieces for ballet for Louis XIV dances. "Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme" is also a ballet, a comedy-ballet. Listening to his music, tapping feet, I wonder the ballet at that time focused on jump rather than turn, step, or movement.
Performance by Le Concert De Nations is also impressive and commentary by Philippe Beaussant is interesting as a view of music history.

One another I like about this CD is the package. It is paper three-fold and put the music score inside, very fashionable. The front picture if the King family is gorgeous too. Usually I drop packages to change to thin plastic cases but I will keep this package.

I am not as familiar as some with the music of Lully, but enough to know where Handel must have taken some of his points when he himself became the master splendour and majesty in music!

The music is astounding to say the very least. Though I am still quite partial to the 'Handelian' brand of grandeur, Lully also seems to have stolen my heart with this most royal and dignified collection of pieces, a fascinating and important compilation. I commend warmly the performers and conductor for an astounding example of excellence in interpretation, and recommend highly this recording to all.

I have recently become interested in the life and work of Jean-Baptiste Lully. An Italian dancer who works his way up the ladder of creative artists in the court of Louis XIV, Lully was multi-talented. Lully was able to gradually transform French court music, making it less predictable and more vigorous. He became a favorite of Louis XIV and had a royal patron who was much interested in music and ballet, which Lully strengthened. Lully collaborated with Moliere to create comic opera for the king's entertainment. Interestingly, Louis XIV gave up dancing, causing Lully to have to venture into compositions of more maturity and seriousness. Lully was married and had 3 sons but he reportedly also had male lovers. These affairs appear to have known to Louis XIV.
I first purchased Lully: Les Divertissements de Versailles by William Christie and Les Arts Florissants. This CD was fantastic. I then order this CD, L'Orchester du Roi Soleil by Jordi Savall and his fine orchestra, Le Concert des Nations. This CD is very good but the William Christie product is absolutely great. That being said, The CD by Jordi Savall and Le Concert des Nations has much to offer. It is a wonderful example of the French baroque played to full capacity through use of both period instruments and some more modern instruments. As compared to the CD by William Christie which contains selections from various Lully operas by outstanding singers, the Jordi Savall CD is fully instrumental with a focus on the music behind the symphonies, overtures, and airs of Lully.
At times Lully seems somewhat predictable and highly structured and yet there are surprises and haunting melodies of great beauty. The work is elegant and yet has an undercurrent of melancholy. The orchestration is superb on this CD, making the most of Lully's tendency to `turn on a dime' in some of his compositions.
I recommend this CD. It is exceptionally well performed. However, the William Christie CD with its combination of orchestration and vocals is a masterwork.

The 17th century was a fascinating era, particularly in the court of Louis XIV where Baroque architecture, painting and sculpture thrived in which figures seemed to be flying across long walls and high ceilings in great palaces. It was an age where the modern and the medieval mingled. Sciencitific scholarship was beginning to take hold, historical scholarship was finding new voices, and artists and writers were finding new venues for their works. And yet, monarchy was still the predominant governing system. King Louis XIV of France was undoubtedly the greatest patron of the arts of his age, employing musicians, painters, and architects to build and adorn the greatest of all Baroque palaces, Versailles. Under his wings two performing artists whose collaborations would become some of the most celebrated of Western Europe flourished: Moliere and Jean-Baptiste Lully. The biting wit of Moliere's plays fused with the music of Lully, Louis XIV's favorite composer, created a new genre called the ballet-comedie.

In the present CD, Jordi Savall and Le Concert des Nations have recorded many of the great highlights of Lully's music, particularly Le Bourgeois Gentilehomme whose original play was written by Moliere, Le Grand Divertissement Royal de Versailles, and Alceste. Savall has proven he is the grand master of early music, wielding his magic to produce some of the most memorable recordings of music from the late medieval, renaissance and baroque periods. But there is something more. Savall has an indescribable means of taking you back to the era, of making the listener feel like he or she is not just listening to nice music. The listener is brought back to the 17th century, transported to the halls of Versailles where music and plays were written as great acts of homage and glory for their patron and monarch, King Louis XIV. Savall has captured the essence of this homage in his performance. You almost feel like you can see the ancient gods and goddesses flying across the ceilings and hear the footsteps of the Sun King just around the corner, slowling taking in the wonders of the Baroque Age. An outstanding CD by any standard.

I defer to the general spirit of these reviews. I just could not resist mentioning that Lully's music is turned on it's head in that great 1959 Bresson movie, The Pick Pocket.

His arranger adapted this grand music into a funereal dirge for Bresson's dark masterpiece. The movie is the anti-baroque. The anti gentile homme.

It makes great art for the movie and so nice to come home to Jordie Savall after the final curtain. Give it a try.

This is a marvellous introduction to the French Baroque music, 17th century music and the music from the operas of Jean-Baptiste Lully. I bought this CD because I love Lully and because I am a fan of Jordi Savall and his Concert des Nations.

So what is on this CD?

Well, for your money you get some excellent recordings of orchestral movements from the operas of Jean-Baptiste Lully. These movements are in the various dance forms popular in the French court in the 17th century. The music is colourful, rhythmic and stylish. Lully was a great tunesmith and he had a great feel for dance.

Please, if you buy no other CD of Lully's music in your life, please consider this one.