Rameau: Dardanus Ensemble Pygmalion & Raphaël Pichon

• 1 Ouverture 04:13
• 2 Régnez, Plaisirs, régnez 01:57
• 3 Air gay et gracieux - Air pour la Jalousie et sa suite 00:59
• 4 Je veux que sous mes lois - Plaisirs, enchainez-les 02:36
• 5 Air vif pour les Plaisirs 01:06
• 6 Quel calme! 00:57
• 7 Brisez vos fers 01:01
• 8 Nos mains forgent les traits 01:31
• 9 C'en est trop ! Gardez-vous d'empoisonner vos traits 00:46
• 10 Troubles cruels, soupçons injurieux 01:22
• 11 Quand l'aquilon fougueux 02:24
• 12 Mortels, venez jouir des biens que je dispense 00:20
• 13 Marche pour les différentes nations - Par tes bienfaits, signale ta puissance 03:23
• 14 Menuet tendre en rondeau 01:18
• 15 Premier tambourin - Deuxième tambourin 01:38
• 16 Pour célébrer ce jour heureux - Par tes bienfaits, signale ta puissance 03:21
• 17 Cesse, cruel Amour 04:10
• 18 Ma fille, enfin le ciel seconde mon courroux 01:52
• 19 Par des nœuds solennels - Manes plaintifs, tristes victimes 02:17
• 20 Par des jeux éclatants 02:58
• 21 Entrée pour les Guerriers 02:26
• 22 Air vif - Allez, jeune guerrier 02:50
• 23 Il est temps de courir aux armes (Quatuor avec le chœur) 01:55
• 24 Mars, Bellone, guidez nos - leurs coups - Guerriers, je remplirai bientot votre espérance - Mars, Bellone, guidez nos - leurs coups 02:05
• 25 Je cède au trouble affreux 00:54
• 26 Entrée pour les Guerriers 01:21
• 27 Ritournelle - Tout l'avenir est présent à mes yeux 02:14
• 28 On vient... c'est Dardanus 05:07
• 29 Entendez ma voix souveraine - Hatons-nous, commencons nos terribles mystères 03:00
• 30 Suspends ta brillante carrière 00:51
• 31 Air vif 01:10
• 32 Nos cris ont pénétré jusqu'au sombre séjour 01:27
• 33 C'en est fait 00:47
• 34 Obéis aux lois des enfers 02:07
• 35 Je viens vous confier le trouble de mon coeur 02:33
• 36 Je la vois, quels transports ont passé dans mon ame 03:15
• 37 D'un penchant si fatal 01:09
• 38 Dieux ! Qu'exigez-vous de mon zèle 02:38
• 39 Elle fuit !... Mais j'ai vu sa tendresse 00:55
• 40 Air vif 01:37
• 41 Prélude O jour affreux! 03:35
• 42 Dardanus est captif 01:39
• 43 Dardanus gémit dans nos fers 01:31
• 44 Où courrez-vous? - Livrez-nous Dardanus - Si c'est un bien si doux pour vos coeurs sanguinaires 01:18
• 45 Ah, c'est en trop 01:58
• 46 Que l'on chante, que l'on s'empresse! 02:04
• 47 Menuet tendre 02:03
• 48 Volez, plaisirs volez! 02:22
• 49 Premier tambourin - Deuxième tambourin 01:27
• 50 Chantons tous, un sort plus doux tarit nos larmes 01:05
• 51 Lieux funestes 04:52
• 52 Quel sons mélodieux ? Quelle clarté nouvelle? 03:22
• 53 Viens écouter nos vœux, vole dans ce séjour 03:11
• 54 Ariette Amour, Amour, quand tu veux nous surprendre 02:38
• 55 Première gavotte - Deuxième gavotte 01:34
• 56 Quel transport me saisit 02:35
• 57 Puis-je à ce prix affreux vouloir sauver mes jours? 04:08
• 58 Cruel ! Quel bruit, j'entends des armes! 00:43
• 59 Tes soldats dans nos murs ramènent le carnage 02:04
• 60 Bruit de guerre 01:38
• 61 Ciel ! Quelle horreur règne de toutes parts! 01:25
• 62 Belle Princesse, enfin pour arriver à vous 01:24
• 63 Quel odieux secours, cessez troupe inhumaine 03:37
• 64 Mais quels concerts se font entendre ? - C'est le bruit flatteur de leurs ailes 02:34
• 65 Pour célébrer les feux d'un fils qu'il aime 00:48
• 66 Menuet 00:59
• 67 Que vos flambeaux éclairent nos rivages! 01:42
• 68 Chaconne 06:19
• Total Runtime 02:25:05

Info for Rameau: Dardanus

After the exploration of Bach’s ‘five’ Missae Breves concluding with the success of the original version of the B minor Mass, Ensemble Pygmalion has recorded Rameau’s Dardanus following a series of concerts unanimously hailed by the critics.

Although superior from the dramatic point of view, this second version of Dardanus proposed by Pygmalion has never, until the present day, been resurrected, with the exception of the famous aria ‘Lieux funestes’ from Act IV. A new edition was carried out (by Gilles Rico) based on the 1744 edition, also incorporating the numerous variants integrated by Rameau between 1744 and 1760, as he constantly strove to enrich the music’s emotional power.

Originally stemming totally from the restrictive form of Lully’s tragédie lyrique but also attesting to a pronounced taste for ‘extraordinary stories’, this work presents a more intimate, human sense of the drama, thereby tracing a very clear path towards the psychological explorations of the Classical era.

Bernard Richter (Dardanus)
Gaëlle Arquez (Iphise)
João Fernandes (Isménor)
Benoit Arnould (Anténor)
Alain Buet (Teucer)
Sabine Devieilhe (Vénus, une Phrygienne)
Emmanuelle De Negri (Amour, une Phrygienne)
Romain Champion (Arcas)
Ensemble Pygmalion
Raphaël Pichon, conductor

Ensemble Pygmalion
Founded by Raphaël Pichon in 2006 for the Europa Bach Festival, Pygmalion was born from the encounter between a choir and an orchestra playing historical instruments. Their repertoire is set to reflect the heritage extending from Bach to Mendelssohn, from Schütz to Brahms, or else from Rameau to Glück or Berlioz.

After the Missae Breves, the Mass in B minor in its original 1733 version, and the Magnificat, in original programmes combining cantatas and contemporary creations, in 2011 Pygmalion set about further exploring the work of Johann Sebastian Bach by creating the first full reconstitution of the Köthener Trauermusik BWV 244a.

In 2011, Pygmalion also inaugurated a partnership with the Festival of Beaune and the Bordeaux and Versailles Operas around the unpublished revised versions of Jean-Philippe Rameau’s tragic operas: Dardanus, Hippolyte & Aricie, and then Castor & Pollux in 2014. At the same time, with its choir, Pygmalion initiated an independent project focused on the German romantics, beginning in 2011 with the sacred music of Brahms and Bruckner at the Folle Journée in Nantes, before moving on to Schubert, in particular at the Easter festival in Aix-en-Provence and Roque d’Anthéron.

Pygmalion’s first recordings for Alpha, devoted to four Missae Breves BWV 233-236 and the Missa 1733 by Johann Sebastian Bach then Dardanus (live) received a Diapason d'Or, a Diapason Découverte, a ffff from Télérama, as well as being the Editor’s Choice in Gramophone and named the “Cd des Monat” by Opern Welt.

Since 2014, Pygmalion has been recording for Harmonia Mundi: Bach’s Köthener Trauermusik BWV won a Victoire de la musique 2015 (recording of the year), a Choc from Classica and a ffff from Télérama; we are now awaiting the release in May 2015 of their live recording of Jean-Philippe Rameau’s Castor & Pollux, as well as their first recordings of Mozart alongside the soprano Sabine Devieilhe (Erato-Warner Classics).

Pygmalion’s plans for 2015 are based around two major stage projects: Trauernacht with the work of Bach directed by Katie Mitchell, premiered at the Festival of Aix-en-Provence before going on tour, as well as a new production of Rameau’s Dardanus, directed by Michel Fau at the Bordeaux and Versailles Operas.

Around these projects, Bach, Mozart & Brahms have a predominant place, and are taking Pygmalion to the Philharmonie of Paris, Bordeaux, Toulouse, St Denis, Amsterdam, Essen, Frankfort, Royaumont, Versailles, Metz, Caen, the Chaise-Dieu festival, and the Abbey of Lessay.

Since January 1st 2014, Pygmalion has been the ensemble in residence at the Opéra National of Bordeaux and been subsidised by the Direction régionale des affaires culturelles in Aquitaine and the town of Bordeaux.

Pygmalion also receives the support of the EREN Group, the Mécénat Musical Société Générale, the Foundation Orange, as well as the Ile-de-France region. Pygmalion is in residence at the Fondation Royaumont, the festival of Saint-Denis and the Fondation Singer-Polignac.

Pygmalion’s choir was awarded the 2014 Choral Prize from the Fondation Bettencourt-Schueller.

Raphaël Pichon
Born in 1984, Raphaël Pichon started his musical life in the children’s choir of the Petits Chanteurs of Versailles, before studying singing, violin and piano at the Conservatoire de Rayonnement Régional and the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique in Paris. Starting out as a young countertenor, his career led him to sing under the direction of Jordi Savall, Gustav Leonhardt and Ton Koopman, but also Geoffroy Jourdain with whom he initiated work on contemporary creation.

In 2006, he founded and took the helm of the ensemble Pygmalion, a choir and orchestra devoted to a repertoire using authentic instruments. Their repertoire is set to reflect the heritage extending from Bach to Mendelssohn, from Schütz to Brahms, or else from Rameau to Berlioz. With this ensemble, which is now associated with the Opera of Bordeaux, he has been invited to the festivals of Chaise-Dieu, Beaune, Saint-Denis, Radio-France Montpellier, Ambronay or Saintes, and has had considerable success with his interpretation of the repertoire of Johann Sebastian Bach’s sacred choral music, as well as the cycle of tragedies Dardanus, Hippolyte et Aricie and Castor et Pollux (Jean-Philippe Rameau). The ensemble is a regular guest of the Opéra de Bordeaux, the Salle Pleyel in Paris, the Opéra Comique, the Bozar of Brussels, the Versailles and Rouen Operas, the Fondation Royaumont, the Grands Interprètes of Toulouse, but also the Palau de la Música Catalana in Barcelona, as well as the Musikfest in Bremen and the Philharmoniker of Hamburg.

Raphaël Pichon’s initiation into the operatic repertoire was marked in 2010 by Opera Seria (Florian Leopold Gassmann) in Nantes, then by a stage production of the St John Passion (Bach) with the Holland Baroque Society in Amsterdam. Since 2012, he can be found at the Stavanger Symfonikorkester, the Orchestre National de Montpellier, the Orchestre Symphonique et Lyrique of Nancy, the Violons du Roy in Québec or else the Chamber Orchestra of Lausanne. He has thus developed his repertoire by taking on Noces (Stravinsky), the Great Mass in C minor (Mozart), a German Requiem (Brahms) or else Elias (Mendelssohn). In 2014, he premiered at the Festival of Aix-en-Provence with Trauernacht, directed by Katie Mitchell.

His recordings with Alpha include the four Missae Breves and the Mass in B minor (Bach) as well as Dardanus (Rameau), which received a Diapason d'Or, a Diapason Découverte, a ffff from Télérama, was named the “Cd des Monat” by Opern Welt as well as being the Editor’s Choice in Gramophone. In 2014, he joined Harmonia Mundi, who in autumn 2014 released the Köthener Trauermusik (Bach), which won the prize for the recording of the year at the Victoires de la Musique in 2015, as well as a Choc from Classica and 4FFFF from Télérama. Castor & Pollux will be released in 2015, and also his first recordings of Mozart alongside the soprano Sabine Devieilhe (Erato).

2015 is being marked by first performances at the Philharmonie of Paris, the Grand-Théâtre de Provence, in Amsterdam (DNO and Muziekgebouw), Lisbon (Gulbenkian Foundation), Metz (Arsenal), Caen (Théâtre), Essen (Philharmonie), Rio and Sao Paulo, as well as a first operatic production at the Bordeaux and Versailles Operas (Jean-Philippe Rameau’s Dardanus, directed by Michel Fau).

Booklet for Rameau: Dardanus