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16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Superb entertainment - frogs' chorus and all, July 13, 2003
This review is from: Rameau - Platée / Ragon, Smith, de Mey, Les Musiciens du Louvre, Minkowski (Audio CD)
Even the most committed Rameau addict may admit that some of his (mythological, pastoral, supernatural, etc.) plots are less than gripping for today's audiences, however richly he served them in musical terms. Platée, however, is a wicked comedy that has kept its bite, and that Rameau appears particularly to have relished setting to music. It has in abundance everything that's most engaging in this most engaging of composers: invention, colour, pathos, wit, charm and surprise. Marc Minkowski seems to have something of a Midas touch. He has given us some of the best available performances of Händel and Rameau and - who knows, prompted perhaps by the sending-up of Olympus in Platée - has gone on since to give us an excellent Belle Hélène, indeed with one or two of the same singers in a successful new take on "crossover." This set is, in my opinion, one of the finest ever recordings of baroque opera and should be snapped up while it's still available. Jennifer Smith's performance as La Folie alone is worth the price, and is just one of an abundance of musical and comic gems, from a love song to an owl ("le plus beau des hiboux" - Jupiter in disguise, of course) to a chorus of enquiring frogs.
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9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Magic Minkowski, August 22, 2003
This review is from: Rameau - Platée / Ragon, Smith, de Mey, Les Musiciens du Louvre, Minkowski (Audio CD)
It seems that Marc Minkowski and his Ensemble Vocal Francoise Herr accompanied by Les Musiciens Du Louvre are incapable of putting on a poor performance. If you have a penchant for Rameau, this recording is one of Minkowski"s best. The soloists are all superb and the music inspired The ensembles are a particular delight. Well recorded.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Best Platée available on CD, September 10, 2008
This review is from: Rameau - Platée / Ragon, Smith, de Mey, Les Musiciens du Louvre, Minkowski (Audio CD)
Marc Minkowski's CD recording of Rameau's great 'Ballet Bouffon' in the best available - alas, there aren't many!
However, it is a first class interpretation and the conductor exhibits a deep understanding of the opera. The pace is energetic and yet natural. The orchestra is colourful and stylish and the cast is superb.
Gilles Ragon is a fine haute-contre singer and he is excellent in this 1990 recording. Monsieur Ragon seems to have retired from recording.
Jennifer Smith is in fine form and she sings two roles, that of La Folie ("Madness") and Thalie. Only Petibon could be better in the role, I think. However, Mireille Delunsch was fabulous in Minkowski's DVD recording of this work.
The rest of the cast reads like a "who's who" of the modern French Baroque opera scene - Guy de Mey, Guillemette Laurens, Bernard Deletré, Véronique Gens and Vincent le Texier.
William Christie and his Les Arts Florissants never recorded this work, to my knowledge, and given that many of Minkowski's cast are LAF regulars, it is hardly surprising.
An excellent CD not to be missed by any serious lover of Rameau and, if you like it, why not consider the DVD with Paul Agnew in the title role?
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