Charles-Hubert Gervais: Hypermnestre Purcell Choir, Orfeo Orchestra, Gyorgy Vashegyi Glossa GCD924007. 2CDs 74’32+71’27 Hypermnestre is a tragédie en musique by the almost totally forgotten French composer Charles-Hubert Gervais (1671-1744). It was first performed in 1716 at the Paris Opera (the Académie Royale de Musique) and was followed by several revivals. It sets a libretto by Joseph de Lafont based on … Continue reading Gervais: Hypermnestre
Francesco Bartolomeo Conti: Missa Sancti Pauli Purcell Choir, Orfeo Orchestra, György Vashegyi Glossa, GCD924004. 67’25 György Vashegyi and his Purcell Choir and Orfeo Orchestra take time out from their impressive series of recordings of music of the French Baroque for this CD of the grand 1715 Missa Sancti Pauli by the Italian Francesco Bartolomeo Conti … Continue reading Conti: Missa Sancti Pauli
Rameau: Les Indes galantes Purcell Choir, Orfeo Orchestra, György Vashegyi Glossa GCD 924005. 2CDs 60’45+62’56 CD I Prologue Première Entrée: Les Incas du Pérou CD II Deuxième Entrée: Le Turc généreux Troisième Entrée: Les Sauvages The place to go to hear fine performances of French Baroque music appears to be Budapest, Hungary, where the pan-European named … Continue reading Rameau: Les Indes galantes
Rameau: Naïs Purcell Choir, Orfeo Orchestra, György Vashegyi Glossa GCD924003. 2CDs 72’44 + 72’26 I have been looking forward to this CD ever since I heard this performance of Naïs in concert in the Béla Bartók National Concert Hall in Budapest’s Müpa arts centre on 4 March 2017 during a short early music festival. The recording dates for the … Continue reading Rameau: Naïs
Jean-Philippe Rameau: Les Fêtes de Polymnie Purcell Choir, Orfeo Orchestra, György Vashegyi Glossa GCD923502. 2CDs: 59’55+67’08 This is another in the series of recordings of French Baroque music directed by György Vashegyi with his own Purcell Choir and Orfeo Orchestra. It was recorded in Budapest’s Müpa concert hall alongside a performance given as the closing concert of the 2014 … Continue reading Rameau: Les Fêtes de Polymnie
Mondonville: Isbé Purcell Choir, Orfeo Orchestra, György Vashegyi Glossa GCD 924001. 3 CDs: 61’25+48’55+63’04 For many years the only way to hear French Baroque music performed with any degree of authenticity was by listening to French performers. Although that is still the case to an extent, the level of understanding of French performing techniques has … Continue reading Mondonville: Isbé
Johann Michael Haydn: Der Kampf der Buβe und Bekehrung Purcell Choir, Orfeo Orchestra, György Vashegyi Carus 83.351. 79’55 Despite being a lesser-known work by a lesser-known composer, the oratorio Der Kampf der Buße und Bekehrung (The Struggle for Penance and Conversion) is well worth getting to know. It is the second, and only surviving part, of a … Continue reading JM Haydn: Der Kampf der Buβe und Bekehrung
Mondonville: Grands Motets Purcell Choir, Orfeo Orchestra, György Vashegyi Glossa GCD923508. 43’20+52’47 De profundis (1748), Magnus Dominus (1734), Nisi Dominus (1743), Cantate Domino (1742) Jean-Joseph Cassanéa de Mondonville (1711-1772) was born in Narbonne in the south-west of France. He moved to Paris in 1733 and almost immediately came under the patronage of Madame de Pompadour, joining the Concert Spirituel and the Chapelle … Continue reading Mondonville: Grands Motets
Müpa Budapest Early Music Festival 27 February – 4 March 2017 Müpa Budapest is the sensibly shortened title of Művészetek Palotája, the national cultural centre situated on the Danube just south of the centre of the Pest side of Budapest. The building opened in 2005 (as the Palace of the Arts), and was designed by the young Hungarian … Continue reading Müpa Budapest: Early Music Festival
Andrew Benson-Wilson : Early Music Reviews + 