Les Arts Florissants perform Actes de Ballet by Jean-Philippe Rameau at Tullyscope, by Michael Miller

Rameau
Jean-Philippe Rameau (Dijon 1683- Paris 1764)

Les Arts Florissants perform Actes de Ballet by Jean-Philippe Rameau at Tullyscope
Saturday, March 12, 2011 at 7:30 pm
Les Arts Florissants
William Christie, conductor
Emmanuelle de Negri, soprano
Hanna Bayodi-Hirt, soprano
Ed Lyon, tenor
Alain Buet, bass

Two Actes de Ballet by Rameau
Anacréon
Pigmalion

Tully Scope has so far included a vast range of different kinds of music considered of especially vital interest today. On Saturday evening William Christie, the ebullient adoptive Frenchman from Buffalo and Les Arts Florissants introduced historically-informed performance to the mix, as well as another element that has been missing so far: light entertainment. It was about time for some music that was primarily designed to amuse...but to entertain intelligently, of course, because, as light and amusing as Rameau's balletic-operatic entertainments were, the wit of his librettists' manipulation of classical literature and myth was subtle and enlightening. The lightness of the proceedings was also apparent in the delightful moments when Mr. Christie's vigorous enjoyment of Rameau's dance measures recalled Sir Thomas Beecham's concoctions after Handel. Although here the orchestrations and the instruments were authentic and the understanding of baroque music far more sophisticated, these moments remind one that Sir Thomas, for all his anachronism and vulgarity, was often not too far off the mark in spirit.

Read the full review on the Berkshire Review, an International journal for the Arts!

Michael Miller