Rameau: Ballet Suites

• Main performer: Roy Goodman
• Booklet languages: English
• Time: 75:34
• Release Date: 2005

Review

Glorious music brilliantly played and vividly recorded, this recording of suites from three of Jean-Philippe Rameau's operas by Roy Goodman and the European Union Baroque Orchestra is as fine a disc of French Baroque orchestral music as has ever been issued. The wit and élan that Goodman and his Orchestra bring to Rameau is infectious. The listener finds himself smiling at Pigmalion's Les différence caractéres de la danse and laughing at Platée's Air pour des fous gais et de fous trietes. Even better is the color and power they bring to Dardanus' Chaconne, making the listener appreciate the greatness of Rameau as a composer. Made up of superb period instrument players from across Europe, the Orchestra's style is unified by the expert conducting of Roy Goodman. While Goodman started out as a boy soprano, he has matured into a conductor as at home in Bach as Berwald and, apparently, Rameau, who sounds here like a composer equal to any in Europe at the time. Well worth hearing for Rameau's fans as well as for listeners who don't know a note of his music, this disc is another triumph for Goodman. Naxos' sound is crisp, detailed, and very present. ~ James Leonard, Rovi

Performances

Composer	Title	Time
Jean-Philippe Rameau	Platée ou Junon jalouse, opera (Suite: Ouverture)	4:23
Jean-Philippe Rameau	Platée ou Junon jalouse, opera (Suite: Air pantomime)	2:57
Jean-Philippe Rameau	Platée ou Junon jalouse, opera (Suite: Air de ballet)	3:15
Jean-Philippe Rameau	Platée ou Junon jalouse, opera (Suite: Orage)	1:16
Jean-Philippe Rameau	Platée ou Junon jalouse, opera (Suite: Air pour des fous gais et des fous tristes)	3:48
Jean-Philippe Rameau	Platée ou Junon jalouse, opera (Suite: Menuets I & II)	4:01
Jean-Philippe Rameau	Platée ou Junon jalouse, opera (Suite: Rigaudons I & II)	2:44
Jean-Philippe Rameau	Pygmalion, acte de ballet (Suite: Ouverture)	4:26
Jean-Philippe Rameau	Pygmalion, acte de ballet (Suite: Les différents caractères de la danse)	3:17
Jean-Philippe Rameau	Pygmalion, acte de ballet (Suite: Sarabande pour la Statue / Tambourin)	4:09
Jean-Philippe Rameau	Pygmalion, acte de ballet (Suite: Marche)	2:01
Jean-Philippe Rameau	Pygmalion, acte de ballet (Suite: Pantomime niaise et un peu lente / Deuxième Pantomime très vite)	3:22
Jean-Philippe Rameau	Pygmalion, acte de ballet (Suite: Air gracieux et gai et contredanse)	2:31
Jean-Philippe Rameau	Dardanus, tragédie en musique (Suite: Ouverture)	4:07
Jean-Philippe Rameau	Dardanus, tragédie en musique (Suite: Marche pour les différentes nations)	1:18
Jean-Philippe Rameau	Dardanus, tragédie en musique (Suite: Menuet)	3:03
Jean-Philippe Rameau	Dardanus, tragédie en musique (Suite: Tambourins I & II)	1:48
Jean-Philippe Rameau	Dardanus, tragédie en musique (Suite: Rigaudons I & II)	3:39
Jean-Philippe Rameau	Dardanus, tragédie en musique (Suite: Entrée d'Iphise)	3:14
Jean-Philippe Rameau	Dardanus, tragédie en musique (Suite: Air gay en rondeau)	1:29
Jean-Philippe Rameau	Dardanus, tragédie en musique (Suite: Menuets I & II)	4:05
Jean-Philippe Rameau	Dardanus, tragédie en musique (Suite: Tambourins III & IV)	2:30
Jean-Philippe Rameau	Dardanus, tragédie en musique (Suite: Sommeil de Dardanus)	4:24
Jean-Philippe Rameau	Dardanus, tragédie en musique (Suite: Chaconne)	3:47

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