Hervé Niquet resurrects Ariane et Bacchus (1696), using for the first time the exact performing forces and layout of the Paris Opéra orchestra in 1700 and thus giving us a historically informed version of this tragédie en musique by Marin Marais. The latter became a viol player at the Académie Royale de Musique in 1676, just as his mentor Lully’s Atys triumphed there. Lully subsequently initiated him into the skills of operatic composition, and Ariane et Bacchus was premiered nine years after the older man’s death. This production, made possible by the support of the Centre de Musique Baroque de Versailles, was performed in concert at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées to great acclaim in 2022, when Diapason wrote that the work was ‘deservedly rescued from oblivion’ and was ‘magnified by a sober and telling interpretation from Hervé Niquet and Le Concert Spirituel, in perfect consonance with a remarkable cast’, featuring such luminaries as Judith van Wanroij, Véronique Gens, Mathias Vidal, Hélène Carpentier, Marie Perbost, Matthieu Lécroart, David Witczak, Tomislav Lavoie and Philippe Estèphe.
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Reviews
International Classical Music Award 2024 Nomination in the Opera category
International Classical Music Awards 2024
“…Ariane has now been recorded for the first time, and it’s a splendiferous affair…”
Ralphe P Locke – The Arts Fuse.org – 14 September 2023
“… Ariane has now been recorded for the first time, and it’s a splendiferous affair…”
Ralph Locke – American Record Guide – July/August 2023
Performance **** Recording ****
“… Judith van Wanrojj is radiant in the title role … Mathias Vidal is consistently warm and seductive as Bacchus, while Véronique Gens appears as powerfully commanding Juno …”
John-Pierre Joyce – BBC Music magazine – July 2023
****
Michael Wersin – Rondo (Germany) – Issue 2 March/April 2023
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