Anglebert Harpsichord Works and Airs after Lully

A fascinating juxtaposition of French operatic original and transcription

Record and Artist Details

Composer or Director: Jean-Baptiste Lully, Jean-Henri Anglebert

Genre:

Instrumental

Label: Alpha

Media Format: CD or Download

Media Runtime: 116

Mastering:

Stereo
DDD

Catalogue Number: ALPHA074

Tracks:

Composition Artist Credit
Pièces de Clavecin, Movement: Suite in G Jean-Henri Anglebert, Composer
Céline Frisch, Harpsichord
Jean-Henri Anglebert, Composer
Pièces de Clavecin, Movement: SUITE IN G: Jean-Henri Anglebert, Composer
Céline Frisch, Harpsichord
Jean-Henri Anglebert, Composer
Pièces de Clavecin, Movement: Suite in G minor Jean-Henri Anglebert, Composer
Céline Frisch, Harpsichord
Jean-Henri Anglebert, Composer
Pièces de Clavecin, Movement: SUITE I IN G MINOR: Jean-Henri Anglebert, Composer
Céline Frisch, Harpsichord
Jean-Henri Anglebert, Composer
Pièces de Clavecin, Movement: SUITE II IN G MINOR: Jean-Henri Anglebert, Composer
Céline Frisch, Harpsichord
Jean-Henri Anglebert, Composer
Cadmus et Hermione, Movement: Ouverture Jean-Baptiste Lully, Composer
Café Zimmermann
Jean-Baptiste Lully, Composer
Pablo Valetti, Violin
Roland Jean-Baptiste Lully, Composer
Café Zimmermann
Jean-Baptiste Lully, Composer
Pablo Valetti, Violin
Phaëton, Movement: Chaconne Jean-Baptiste Lully, Composer
Café Zimmermann
Jean-Baptiste Lully, Composer
Pablo Valetti, Violin
Phaëton, Movement: Air Jean-Baptiste Lully, Composer
Café Zimmermann
Jean-Baptiste Lully, Composer
Pablo Valetti, Violin
Armide, Movement: Air Jean-Baptiste Lully, Composer
Café Zimmermann
Jean-Baptiste Lully, Composer
Pablo Valetti, Violin
Armide, Movement: Passacaille Jean-Baptiste Lully, Composer
Café Zimmermann
Jean-Baptiste Lully, Composer
Pablo Valetti, Violin
(Le) Carnaval ou Mascarade de Versailles Jean-Baptiste Lully, Composer
Café Zimmermann
Jean-Baptiste Lully, Composer
Pablo Valetti, Violin
Atys Jean-Baptiste Lully, Composer
Café Zimmermann
Jean-Baptiste Lully, Composer
Pablo Valetti, Violin
(La) Naissance de Vénus, Movement: Sarabande 'Dieux des Enfers' Jean-Baptiste Lully, Composer
Café Zimmermann
Jean-Baptiste Lully, Composer
Pablo Valetti, Violin
(Le) Triomphe de l'amour, Movement: 2ième air (Acte4, scène 2) Jean-Baptiste Lully, Composer
Café Zimmermann
Jean-Baptiste Lully, Composer
Pablo Valetti, Violin
Pièces d'orgue, Movement: Fugue grave Jean-Henri Anglebert, Composer
Céline Frisch, Organ
Jean-Henri Anglebert, Composer
Pièces d'orgue, Movement: Fugue II Jean-Henri Anglebert, Composer
Céline Frisch, Organ
Jean-Henri Anglebert, Composer
Pièces d'orgue, Movement: Fugue III Jean-Henri Anglebert, Composer
Céline Frisch, Organ
Jean-Henri Anglebert, Composer
Pièces d'orgue, Movement: Fugue IV Jean-Henri Anglebert, Composer
Céline Frisch, Organ
Jean-Henri Anglebert, Composer
Pièces d'orgue, Movement: Fugue V Jean-Henri Anglebert, Composer
Céline Frisch, Organ
Jean-Henri Anglebert, Composer
This two-CD set includes performances of both Lully’s original opera orchestra music and Anglebert’s harpsichord transcriptions. To them, Céline Frisch has added two of Anglebert’s harpsichord suites and five organ fugues (based on the same theme) from his 1689 printed edition.

I began by listening to the second disc, containing Lully’s originals, and then turned to the first to hear Frisch playing Anglebert. It is cumbersome to switch back and forth but well worth the trouble. Frisch appears, in fact, in both sets of tracks. Café Zimmermann – a band of 20 – play with spirit and command of Lully’s theatrical idiom but without the lavishness of the large orchestras engaged to perform and record complete operas.

Interestingly, the harpsichord versions of Lully’s music seem tuneful by comparison with Anglebert’s suites; and the lush ornamentation the latter provides seems intended less to impress by its virtuosity than to evoke the greater resonance and variety of timbre of an orchestra. As a soloist, Frisch indulges in a greater degree of inégalité than an orchestra can afford, though her playing is never mannered. There are movements, such as the ‘Ritournelle des Fées’ from Roland, in which the orchestra has the upper hand by virtue of its greater capacity for colour and articulation. The really big movements, especially the overtures and the more ceremonial movements, like the ‘Air d’Apollon’ from Le triomphe de l’Amour, still come off best when played by an orchestra.

Frisch has nearly always taken her cue from the orchestral versions. The exception comes in the ‘Ouverture’ to Le carnaval ou mascarade. Café Zimmermann, under the leadership of Pablo Valetti, infuse their performance with a sense of excitement while Frisch’s take on Anglebert’s has an air of melancholy about it, underscored by the piquancy of the harpsichord tuning. I admired her perform- ances of the Sarabande ‘Dieux des Enfers’, the expressive gaillardes and the exuberant ‘Passacaille’ from Armide. These are musicians to watch out for.

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