Rameau: Ballet Suites
List Price:
Our Price: $5.77
You Save: $3.22 (36%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Category: Music CD
See more new music releases
Buy this Music CD at online store in your country
Canadian Music Store
Canadian Music Store
Music CD Cover
Composer: Jean-Philippe RameauConductor: Roy Goodman
Orchestra: European Union Baroque Orchestra
Edition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 2005-09-20
Music Label: Naxos
Soundtracks:
- Ouverture
- Air Pantomime
- Air De Ballet
- Orage
- Air Pour Des Fous Gais Et Des Fous Tristes
- Menuets I & II
- Rigaudons I & II
- Ouverture
- Les Differents Caracteres De La Danse (Gracieusement, Air Tres Lent, Gavotte Lent, Menuet, Gavotte Gaie, Chaconne Vive, Loure Tres Grave, Passepiet Vif, Rigaudon Vif)
- Sarabande Pour La Statue/Tambourin (For Et Vite)
- Marche
- Pantomime Niaise Et Un Peu Lente/Deuxieme Pantomime Tres Vite
- Air Gracieux Et Gai Et Contredanse
- Ouverture
- Marche Pour Les Differentes Nations
- Menuet
- Tambourins I & II
- Rigudons I & II
- Entree D'Iphise
- Air Gay En Rondeau
- Menuets I & II
- Tambourins III & IV
- Sommeil De Dardanus
- Chaconne
Free Music Notes for Rameau: Ballet Suites
Free Music Review: Rameau Orchestral Suites
Hit: 5 Stars
Jean Phillipe-Rameau (1683 -- 1764) turned to the composition of opera at the age of 50. For the remaining 30 years of his long life, he produced a succession of masterworks. The conventions of French opera have, until recently, discouraged the full staging of his works; but, fortunately his music can be explored through an increasing number of recordings.
Selections from Rameau's operas tend to focus on either the arias or on the instrumental interludes. An example of the former is the recent release (2007) on Naxos of the haute contre tenor Jean Fouchecourt performing a wide selection of works accompanied by the Opera Lafeyette, a period instrument ensemble from Washington D.C. conducted by Ryan Brown. This slightly earlier CD on Naxos (2005) which features Roy Goodman conducting the European Union Baroque Orchestra in a program of Rameau Orchestral Suites, might be viewed as a companion to the Fouchecourt CD. It includes orchestral suites derived from Rameau's operas Platee, Pigmalion, and Dardanus. The Fouchecort CD includes 5 arias from Platee together with an aria from Dardanus, thus giving the listener a good overview to these two works and to a sampling of several others.
As is virtually all the music of the French Baroque, the operas of Rameau are linked inextricably to the dance. Each of the three suites in this recording begins with an overture of about four minutes in length followed by a succession of dance movements. Rameau offers an excellent short overview of French dance in a selection called "Les differents caractieres de la danse" from Pigmailon. In the scope of seven minutes, Rameau gives short examples of ten major French dance forms seamlessly linked together. This is an exquisite introduction to what Rameau's music has to offer. Many listeners may associate the French Baroque with classicism and with formal, cold elegance. Rameau is elegant indeed, but his music is full of harmonic daring, strong rhythms, imaginative orchestration, and a wide range of emotion. It is clasicissm with passion.
The 33 minute suite from Dardanus is the longest on this CD and the highlight of the recording. The opening selections consist of a tribute to the power of erotic love over human affairs, especially the brief "Marche pour les differentes nations" in which "Mortals of all states and ages" pay tribute to Cupid. A solo for piccolo is featured in the minuet, and the suite concludes with a masterly chaconne. The dance movements include rigaudons, minuets, tambourins, and rondeaus together with a slow scene on the power of sleep, "Someil de Dardanus".
The Opera Platee is a comedy in which Jupiter pretends to fall in love with a frog nymph who flatters herself that Jupiter's attentions are genuine. This opera has received some attention in recent years with Fouchecourt performing it for the New York City Opera. The orchestral suite on this CD includes a storm scene called "orage" an "Air for the happy fools and the sad fools" together with a selection of pantomines, minuets, and rigaudons.
Roy Goodman is among the finest conductors of early music, and I have enjoyed his recordings of Haydn symphonies with the Hanover Band. The ensemble on this CD, the European Union Baroque Orchestra, is formed anew every year by promising young baroque musicians at an early stage of their careers. The recordings on this CD date from 1999, 2001, and 2004, and thus offer the listener the opportunity to hear Goodman conduct three ensembles with essentially different performers.
The music and the performances on this budget-priced CD are a delight. Together with the CD of Rameau arias by Fouchecourt, this CD will open the world of Rameau operas to the listener.
Robin Friedman
Classical Music CDs
Music Genres
Top music charts in Classical Music CDs
Winterscapesby London Philharmonic
Prophetic Voice; Published: 2000-07; Audio CD; Book
Best price: $2.74
Price in other shops:
The Queen, the Bear, & the Bumblebeeby Dini Petty
Children's Group; Published: 2001-03; Audio CD; Book
Best price: $13.40
Price in other shops:
Classical Kids - Beethoven Lives Upstairs CdrRelease date: 2000-04-05; Music CD
Best price: $25.98
Tchaikovsky (Life and Works (Naxos))by Malcolm Sinclair, Jeremy Siepmann
Naxos; Published: 2003-11; Audio CD; Book
Best price: $35.99
![Jose Carreras - Jubileum Concert [VHS] Image](/images/Jose-Carreras-Jubileum-Concert-VHS-1584481471-X.jpg){kind=small}
Jose Carreras - Jose Carreras - Jubileum Concert [VHS]Sling Shot; Release date: 2000-04-18; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $5.87
Price in other shops:
![Tchaikovsky - The Nutcracker / Nureyev, Park, Royal Ballet [VHS] Image](/images/Tchaikovsky-The-Nutcracker-Nureyev-Park-Royal-Ballet-VHS-156127092X-X.jpg){kind=small}
Tchaikovsky - The Nutcracker / Nureyev, Park, Royal Ballet [VHS]Kultur Video; Release date: 1997-09-09; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $29.94
Price in other shops:
![Lonely Town Lonley Street / Sergeant's Early Dream [VHS] Image](/images/Lonely-Town-Lonley-Street-Sergeant-Early-Dream-VHS-1561270857-X.jpg){kind=small}
Rambert Dance Company - Lonely Town Lonley Street / Sergeant's Early Dream [VHS]Kultur Video; Release date: 1997-10-28; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $24.99
Price in other shops:
Winter Music: Composing the Northby John Luther Adams
Wesleyan; Published: 2004-11-10; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $23.62
Price in other shops:
![Puccini - La Fanciulla del West / Santi, Domingo, Neblett, Royal Opera Covent Garden [VHS] Image](/images/Puccini-La-Fanciulla-del-West-Santi-Domingo-Neblett-Royal-Opera-Covent-Garden-VHS-0769720382-X.jpg){kind=small}
Puccini - La Fanciulla del West / Santi, Domingo, Neblett, Royal Opera Covent Garden [VHS]Kultur Video; Release date: 1999-05-25; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Price in other shops:
![Verdi - Falstaff / Giulini, Bruson, Ricciarelli, Nucci, Royal Opera Covent Garden [VHS] Image](/images/Verdi-Falstaff-Giulini-Bruson-Ricciarelli-Nucci-Royal-Opera-Covent-Garden-VHS-0769720358-X.jpg){kind=small}
Verdi - Falstaff / Giulini, Bruson, Ricciarelli, Nucci, Royal Opera Covent Garden [VHS]Kultur Video; Release date: 1999-05-25; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $12.95
Price in other shops:
Top Rated Albums
Lully: Les Divertissements de VersaillesRelease date: 2002-06-11; Music CD
Best price: $10.22
Price in other shops:
Lully: L'Orchestre du Roi SoleilRelease date: 2003-04-08; Music CD
Best price: $17.35
Price in other shops:
![Haydn: The "Sturm und Drang" Symphonies [Box Set] Image](/images/Haydn-The-Sturm-und-Drang-Symphonies-Box-Set-B00004SA85-X.jpg)
Haydn: The "Sturm und Drang" Symphonies [Box Set]Release date: 2002-10-08; Music CD
Best price: $24.95
Price in other shops:
Rameau: Harpsichord Music (Complete), Vol. 1Release date: 1995-03-21; Music CD
Best price: $5.30
Price in other shops:
![Telemann:Tafelmusik (Complete) [Box Set] Image](/images/Telemann-Tafelmusik-Complete-Box-Set-B0002IQBAS-X.jpg)
Telemann:Tafelmusik (Complete) [Box Set]Release date: 2004-06-29; Music CD
Best price: $13.54
Price in other shops:
Belder - Complete Harpsichord WorksRelease date: 2010-02-09; Music CD
Best price: $10.89
Price in other shops:
Rameau: Les Indes Galantes SuiteRelease date: 2006-11-14; Music CD
Best price: $7.39
Price in other shops:
Rameau: Les Indes GalantesRelease date: 2000-08-15; Music CD
Best price: $5.92
Price in other shops:
Rameau: Orchestral Suites Vol. 2 - Anacréon; Daphnis et EgléRelease date: 1997-05-13; Music CD
Best price: $5.63
Price in other shops:
Rameau: Orchestral Suites (vol. 1)Release date: 1996-12-17; Music CD
Best price: $6.06
Price in other shops: