Le Roi Danse (movie)

 

Corbiau repeats the Farinelli formula, artistic rivalry and social private drama expressed in dazzling, sometimes excessively lavish baroque scenery, music and costume, but this time in its ultimate setting: Versailles. There are two protagonists - first the title character, Louis XIV, the French sun-king who has two passions, establishing absolute rule over the realm -after decades of religious/civil wars- by divine right and artistic brilliancy as a dancer (like Nero wrote and performed musical poetry), and starts asserting himself against the entourage of his Medici mother, the regent during his minority, by building his palace complex and launching a 'fitting' new, mainly musical display of baroque show. Secondly the musical genius Gianbattista Lulli ('Jean-Baptiste') Lully, a Florentine upstart of unbridled ambition, quickly gains the king's absolute trust, despite the nationalist and aristocratic opposition to a low-born Italian, and thus turns the normally socially humble post of court composer into a 'ministerial portfolio of culture' of Cabinet rank, complete with a monopoly which kills of his artistic rivals in operatic theater. The script also weaves a complex web of court scheming for individual power and social interests, and even a sadistic but accidental murder on a young valet, producing a sensuous and sumptuous drama too complex for this format, ending in a freakish but fatal accident. Written by KGF Vissers

Musica Antiqua Koln, Reinhard Goebel - Chaconne

Release Date: March 11, 1997 Label: Archiv Number of discs: 1 Composer:Marini, Corelli, Purcell, Blow, Lully, Muffat, Pezel, Mayr Performer: Goebel, MAK cd info/ buy

Review:

This disc was nominated for the 1998 Grammy Award for "Best Small Ensemble Performance." ‘The innocent purpose of this anthology is solely and simply to fill the general listener’s cup with an hour of harmonious pleasure in 3/4 time and to open the door, for the connoisseur, to the 17th-century composer’s workshop.’ This, then, in the words of Reinhard Goebel, director of Musica Antiqua Köln, is the raison d’être of the present disc. Nine consecutive chaconnes may sound a little too much of a good thing, but the wonderfully varied melodic patterns that skilful composers could develop over an ostinato or ground bass fully justify the programme. Only one of the pieces here, Purcell’s Chacony Z730, will be immediately familiar to listeners other than specialists; for the rest, Goebel has explored some of the byways of the 17th century, omitting the great examples of the late Baroque chaconne by Bach and Rameau in favor of seldom-heard examples by Marini, Mayr, Pezel and others. The Cologne musicians’ carefully prepared menu begins with one of the noblest pieces on the disc, a chaconne with oboes and bassoon from Lully’s opera Phaëton; thereafter the exclusively string textures diminish and swell almost palindromically to reach a climax with a finely sustained chaconne by Georg Muffat. Disciplined and animated playing make the release stimulating and entertaining.-- Nicholas Anderson, BBC Music Magazine

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Lully - Divertissements - Laurens, Sempe, Capriccio Stravagante

 

Release Date: December 3, 1992 Label: Deutsche Harmonia Mundi Number of discs: 1 Composer: Jean-Baptiste Lully Performer: Laurens, Skip Sempe, Capriccio Stravagante cd info/ buy

Review:

Let it be known that this is one of the best recordings of Lully's music that has been made, and I have heard a lot of them. It even stands proud among the almost infinite number of recordings of Baroque music. OK, that is a bit of an over-statement, but if we exclude Baroque opera and purely instrumental music, and, say, limit ourselves to recordings of French Baroque music, this record can certainly stand with the best. Why? Well, for this reviewer, I am a lover of viola da gamba, and this recording is dominated by the viola da gamba sound -- very gut-string-centered, very mellow, very relaxed, very profound. Music to die to, I would say. Totally different in feeling from the more heavily Lully-ish "Divertissements de Versailles" recording of Les Arts Florissants, which puts more emphasis on the vocals and the beat. Something else to mention is the quality of the harpsichord playing by Skip Sempe (and all of the instrumentalists in the many instrumental tracks), and of course the quality of the soloists singing the French lyrics -- with a definite Monteverdian touch in several of the pieces. The style of the music is very similar to the Lament style that dates from Monteverdi at the latest and influenced the great French viola da gamba composers that Jordi Savall has introduced to the world. But this compositions by Lully dates from before Sainte-Colombe and Marin Marais -- and now I know where a lot of their inspiration came from. Lully's operas are sometimes pretty hard to get into, and we have all read the standard lukewarm or negative evaluations of his music in the older music reference books, but I think it has been fully revealed in recent years that Lully was not unworthy of the incredible trust and incredible resources that the Sun King invested in him.--Amazon

 

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