Customer Reviews

Lully - Armide / Laurens · Crook · Gens · Rime · Deletré · Ragon · Collegium Vocale · La Chappel Royale · Herreweghe

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

 

 

Lully's Armide is considered the highpoint of his collaboration with the librettist Quinault, and indeed all of France's Tragedie Lyrique. This recording really brings out Lully's genius. The structure is much different from Italian opera seria, for those of you who have gotten used to the endless alternation of recititative and aria--much more focus is put on the recitative aspect. When the arias do come, however, they pack an incredible dramatic wallop, beautifully illustrated in the end of act II with Armide's aria "Venez secondez me desires" subsequent to her famous monologue "Enfin, il ist en ma puissance." Herwegghe leads his ensemble in a virtually flawless and scintilating performance. The grand passacaile in act V is simply breathtaking. Guillame Laurens is incredibly powerful as the title role. This is a great recording. I highly recommend it for any fan of Baroque opera.

This is a great recording of a baroque masterpiece. The voices are superb and the instumentation really gives you the true baroque feeling, no holding back on the basso continuo. There are many great moments here. Armide really pours out her feelings in "Ah!, Si la liberte me doit etre ravie" and "Le perfide Renaud me fuit". There are also many powerful tracks like track 16 of CD 1 and tracks 4-6 of CD 2. New baroque recordings like this one sound much better than baroque recordings of the past. Anyone with a taste for French opera and baroque music must have this one!

This is a fascinating recording of Lully's masterpiece and nobody interested in French baroque should be without it. However, if you want to explore the Armida legend in various musical settings, listening to this set together with Gluck's opera of the same name may be particularly interesting. There are of course numerous musical "Armidas", but these two - by Lully and Gluck - share THE SAME LIBRETTO by Philippe Quinault. Here we have a rare occasion to hear the same text put to music by the composers representing two different operatic styles. Comparing these two works may be particularly fascinating for those who try to understand Gluck's 'reforms'. "Armida" is one of the reform operas and juxtaposing it with the 90 years older, 'traditional' setting by Lully is really illuminating. It would be hard to find a better time for such an undertaking - Marc Minkowski's wonderful recording released in 1998 on 'Archiv' with magnificent Mireille Delunsch in the title role will make the whole operation not only intellectually, but also musically rewarding.

Armide is Lully's last - and in my opinion, best - opera. So, why not 5 Stars? The music is first class; the singers are the best in French opera. If "le perfide Renaud me fuit" doesn't grip you, nothing will.

My problem is with Herreweghe's detached and lifeless direction; just 2 Stars for him. He approaches the opera as if it were performed in church: reverent, academic and stripped of emotions. Lully's music is passionate and erotic. Remember, this was the man, who crushed his own foot thumping the beat of the music with his staff! In Herrewghe's approach, the man might have dropped a wet rag. The French reviewer complained that the "northern fogs" cloud Herreweghe's interpretation of this work.

Armide is one of the best operas ever written (and although I love Gluck's version, it can't hold a candle up to Lully). I hope the opera will be re-recorded, with the same singers, but directed by Minkowski, Rousset or Niquet.

Many will probably now own the Minkowski recording of Gluck's Armide.

But I invite you to travel back in time nearly one hundred years to a very different world, a world without clarinets and Jean-Philippe Rameau. This is the world of the Sun King, Lully and his Tragédie Lyriques.

I cannot recommend this recording too highly. The cast is first class - Guillemette Laurens, Howard Crook, Véronique Gens, Bernard Deletré, Gilles Ragon and Noémi Rime are here. The incredibly beautiful and talented harpsichordist and conductor, Emmanuelle Haďm, is one of the four keyboardists in the continuo section.

This opera is not inferior to Gluck's later work in any way. In fact, some scenes - as in Acte II, Scène 3, "Plus j'observe ces lieux" - are actually superior to the same scenes in Gluck's setting of the same libretto. I think that this may be Lully's greatest opera.

I hope that this work is recorded on DVD one day. However, until that time comes, please seriously consider this superb recording of this opera.

Lully - Armide / Laurens · Crook · Gens · Rime · Deletré · Ragon · Collegium Vocale · La Chappel Royale · Herreweghe under the direction of Dr Phillipe Herreweghe is a magnificient recording. Harmonia mundi has created a very beautifull and informative book-let. It contains 110 pages and has many fine pictures, photographs of the performers and etchings inside. The painting on the cover is splendid. The photograph on the back looks nice. Phillipe Beaussant has written a very well-written and informative essay called "Armide, the high point of the 'Tragedie En Musique" and the second piece are short descriptions of each act and the prologue and all these have been translated by Derek Yeld. The lyrics are in 3 languages, these being, i.e., French, German and English.