Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com essential recording
Hippolyte et Aricie was Rameau's first surviving lyric tragedy and is perhaps his most durable, though you wouldn't know it from the decades we had to wait for a modern recording. Now there are two: this one, conducted by Marc Minkowski, and William Christie's version on Erato. Choosing between the two is tough. Minkowski uses a smaller and probably more authentic orchestra, and with the resulting leaner sound, the performance has more of a quicksilver quality accentuated by Minkowski's penchant for swift tempos. His cast is excellent. The central lovers in the title are beautifully sung by two truly French voices, soprano Véronique Gens and especially the light, slightly nasal tenor of Jean-Paul Fourchécourt. In the pivotal role of the jealous Phèdre, Bernarda Fink is perfectly good but not in the exalted league of Christie's Lorraine Hunt. So there's no clear front-runner, but anyone interested in French Baroque opera must have at least one. --David Patrick Stearns
Rameau - Hippolyte et Aricie / Fouchécourt, Gens, Fink, Feighan, Smythe, Naouri, Massis, Les Musiciens du Louvre, Minkowski, Music, Jean-Paul Fouchécourt, Jean-Philippe Rameau, Marc Minkowski, Véronique Gens, Bernarda Fink, Thérèse Feighan, Annick Massis, Laurent Naouri, Russell Smythe, Jean-Louis Meunier, Jacques Loiseleur des Longchamps, Jérôme Varnier, Sagittarius Vocal Ensemble, Les Musiciens du Louvre, Classical, Classical Music, French Baroque Opera, Opera
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