Lemoyne: Phèdre Purcell Choir, Orfeo Orchestra & György Vashegyi

• Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne (1751 - 1796): Acte I:
• 1 Phèdre, Acte I: Ouverture 05:33
• 2 Phèdre, Acte I: Récit "Le jour paraît, déjà l'aurore" 01:26
• 3 Phèdre, Acte I: Air avec choeur "Ô Diane, chaste déesse" 02:34
• 4 Phèdre, Acte I: Récit "Ô grand Thésée, ô mon auguste père" 01:26
• 5 Phèdre, Acte I: Choeur "Déesse des bocages" 00:52
• 6 Phèdre, Acte I: Récit "Seigneur, avec sa cour" 02:12
• 7 Phèdre, Acte I: Choeur "Divine Cythérée" 02:30
• 8 Phèdre, Acte I: Marche pour les prêtresses 01:33
• 9 Phèdre, Acte I: Air avec choeur "Vénus !" 03:56
• 10 Phèdre, Acte I: Danse religieuse No. 1 (Andante) 00:30
• 11 Phèdre, Acte I: Danse religieuse No. 2 (Allegretto) 01:48
• 12 Phèdre, Acte I: Récit et air avec choeur "Ô toi, dont la présence allume" 05:07
• 13 Phèdre, Acte I: Air avec choeur "Ah ! suivons le dieu qui m'entraîne" 02:51
• 14 Phèdre, Acte I: Récit "Qui peut de la déesse" 03:10
• 15 Phèdre, Acte I: Air "Si vous résistez à mes pleurs" 01:20
• 16 Phèdre, Acte I: Récit "Tu le veux, apprends donc le comble des horreurs" 03:24
• 17 Phèdre, Acte I: Air et récit "Ô jour cher et terrible" 02:28
• 18 Phèdre, Acte I: Air "Je crois voir... ciel !" 02:05
• 19 Phèdre, Acte I: Choeur et scène "Ô destin déplorable !" 01:45
• 20 Phèdre, Acte I: Scène finale "Au nom de votre fils, reprenez la puissance" 04:41
• Acte II:
• 21 Phèdre, Acte II: Duo "Enfin les dieux sont touchés de vos larmes" 04:48
• 22 Phèdre, Acte II: Air et duo "Le doux accent de la nature" 04:15
• 23 Phèdre, Acte II: Récit et air "Il va venir... c'est Phèdre qui l'attend" 03:27
• 24 Phèdre, Acte II: Récit "Hippolyte se rend aux ordres de la reine" 05:18
• 25 Phèdre, Acte II: Air "Je ne sais quelle erreur, fatale à mon repos" 01:26
• 26 Phèdre, Acte II: Air "Sur le trône allez vous asseoir" 01:54
• 27 Phèdre, Acte II: Récit "Ô ciel, vous oubliez le nom de votre époux !" 02:43
• 28 Phèdre, Acte II: Duo "Frappe toi-même, venge un père" 01:34
• 29 Phèdre, Acte II: Récit "Ô coup inattendu !" 01:10
• 30 Phèdre, Acte II: Scène "Malheureuse ! tu m'as perdue" 00:55
• 31 Phèdre, Acte II: Choeur "Ah ! quel bonheur !" 03:16
• 32 Phèdre, Acte II: Récit et air avec choeur "Je les revois, ces lieux chers à mon coeur" 04:17
• 33 Phèdre, Acte II: Récit "Peuple, je suis sensible aux preuves de tendresse" 01:48
• 34 Phèdre, Acte II: Duo avec choeur "Permettez que marchant" 03:01
• Acte III:
• 35 Phèdre, Acte III: Récit "Ô jour affreux ! Ô destin déplorable" 05:01
• 36 Phèdre, Acte III: Invocation "Neptune, seconde ma rage" 04:25
• 37 Phèdre, Acte III: Récit "Le voici. Qui croirait à cet air d'assurance" 03:42
• 38 Phèdre, Acte III: Air et duo avec choeur "Si votre amitié m'est ravie" 04:13
• 39 Phèdre, Acte III: Récit "Grands Dieux ! quelle est ma destinée !" 01:49
• 40 Phèdre, Acte III: Air avec choeur "Restez pour détromper mon père" 04:11
• 41 Phèdre, Acte III: Récit "D'un époux menaçant la voix s'est fait entendre" 04:51
• 42 Phèdre, Acte III: Récit et air "Hippolyte succombe, et c'est moi qui l'opprime" 04:30
• 43 Phèdre, Acte III: Tempête "Ah ! Neptune ! Apaise ton courroux !" 04:10
• 44 Phèdre, Acte III: Choeur et récit "Affreuse destinée" 04:33
• 45 Phèdre, Acte III: Air et récit "Jeune héros, qui dans mon âme" 02:19
• 46 Phèdre, Acte III: Choeur "Fiers enfants du soleil, race illustre et coupable" 01:39
• Total Runtime 02:16:26

Info for Lemoyne: Phèdre

The myth of Phaedra and Hippolytus, as terrible as it is fascinating, has been retold by many artists over the centuries, including composers. This recording presents the first performance of Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne’s opera in its complete form since the premiere. It reveals a work whose classical surface conceals a style that is vehement, exalted and threatening by turns, a thrilling testimony to the bubbling energy of pre- Romanticism. Served by the total commitment of the Orfeo Orchestra and Purcell Choir under the direction of György Vashegyi, the drama closes in on the inescapable destinies of Phèdre, Hippolyte and Thésée, movingly sung by Judith van Wanroij, Julien Behr and Tassis Christoyannis.

Still brimming with youthful high spirits, the librettist François-Benoît Hoffman (1760-1828)—who later penned the libretto for Cherubini’s brilliant Médée in 1797—completely transformed the text of Racine’s Phèdre, retaining only a few striking passages. It was popular at the time to condense classical plots (here it was shortened from five acts to three). The main alteration was to remove the character of Aricie, focusing the spectator’s attention on the title role. The music composed for this compressed storyline was influenced by experiments carried out by Gluck between 1770-1780. Short orchestral phrases, unpredictable modulations, sudden melodic shifts and even silences add intensity to a particularly expressive and dramatic discourse. Lemoyne uses several effects which make his “style” easily recognisable and, in this regard, highly personal. This is particularly true of the orchestral unisons, which create an unsettling sense of mystery every time Phèdre appears. The score also successfully uses the “frenetic” style developed in particular by Cherubini and Méhul (Berlioz saw in this the unquestionable sources of early Romanticism), a style which enabled Mademoiselle Saint-Huberti—for whom the principal role had been written—to showcase her full dramatic potential and all the power of her voice.

Judith van Wanroij, soprano (Phèdre)
Julien Behr, tenor (Hippolyte)
Tassis Christoyannis, bass (Thésée)
Melody Louledjian, soprano (Œnone)
Ludivine Gombert, soprano (La Grande Prêtresse)
Purcell Choir
Orfeo Orchestra
György Vashegyi, conductor

Purcell Choir
The Purcell Choir was founded in 1990 in Budapest by György Vashegyi for the performance of Purcell’s Baroque opera Dido & Aeneas. Few suspected at the time that the group would become the most respected choir in Hungary fifteen years later. All of the choir members are excellent professional singers, musicians and instrumentalists, and some of them are also members of other choirs and orchestras. The core repertoire of the Purcell Choir ranges from works by Gesualdo to Mozart, but the ensemble also performs works by more modern composers. The Purcell Choir is a regular participant at the Haydn Festivals in Hungary; for example, the choir performed with the Capella Savaria Ensemble in 2004, conducted by Nicholas McGegan. The Purcell Choir and the Orfeo Orchestra are closely connected as performing partners and together they have taken part in a large number of TV, CD and concert recordings in Hungary.

Orfeo Orchestra
The Orfeo Orchestra was founded in Budapest in 1991 by György Vashegyi, taking its name from Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo, after the ensemble presented the first complete performance of this opera in Hungary. The orchestra consists of professional musicians with experience in Hungary as well as on the international scene, either as members of the orchestra or as instrumental soloists. The Orfeo Orchestra is the most authentic exponent of classical music in Hungary and it has given many first performances on period instruments under the baton of György Vashegyi. Between 2002 and 2007 the ensemble performed the first eighty symphonies composed by Haydn as part of Mr. Vashegyi’s own concert series (at Esterházy Palace), enabling these to be heard there for the first time since the 18th century with the same number of musicians, on period instruments, as Haydn himself used to perform them. The names of the Orfeo Orchestra and the Purcell Choir have now become inseparably linked with that of Mr. Vashegyi, who can rightly be described as the outstanding exponent of classical and early music in Hungary and the person who has revitalized these works this country.

György Vashegyi
was born in Budapest in 1970 and began his musical studies as an instrumentalist: he played the violin, flauto dolce, the oboe and the harpsichord. At just 18 he became a student of conducting under Ervin Lukács at the Ferenc Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest, obtaining his diploma with distinction in 1993. He was a frequent participant in the conducting master classes of John Eliot Gardiner and Helmuth Rilling and from 1994 to 1997 he was a student in the continuo master class of John Toll in Dresden, where he also studied chamber music with Jaap ter Linden and Simon Standage. He has performed as a continuo player in leading Hungarian chamber orchestras such as the Ferenc Liszt Chamber Orchestra and Concerto Armonico. In 1990 he founded the Purcell Choir in Budapest and one year later the Orfeo Orchestra. In 1991 Vashegyi made his operatic debut with Gluck’s Orfeo together with the Budapest Chamber Opera. He undertook successful tours with Orfeo in France, Switzerland and Luxembourg. In his concerts (mostly in Budapest) he has conducted many important works of the 17–18th centuries which until then had never been performed in Hungary, including Buxtehude’s Membra Jesu Nostri, Purcell’s The Fairy Queen, Funeral Anthem and Theodora by Handel, and the Requiem by Kraus. Nevertheless, he primary emphasis is on the research and performance of 18th century works by Hungarian composers which are still unknown internationally. He works primarily with his own ensembles but also gives concerts with other early music groups, including Concerto Armonico, Capella Savaria and Musica Aeterna, as well as with modern symphony orchestras and chamber orchestras as a guest conductor. He made his debut at the Hungarian State Opera of Budapest (with the Orfeo Orchestra) in August 2000 with Haydn’s L’infedeltà delusa; this was the first opera performance with period instruments in the history of the Hungarian State Opera. Since 2001 he has conducted regularly at the State Opera. In 2004 he conducted the Prague Chamber Orchestra in Würzburg (at the Mozart Fest) and Kloster Eberbach (at the Rheingau Festival).

Booklet for Lemoyne: Phèdre