Reissued in 2007 to help re-launch Decca's Editions de L'Oiseau-Lyre line, the pairing of Jean-Féry Rebel's flamboyant ballet Les Élémens with a work of the same name by André Cardinal Destouches made this album a stunning success for
Christopher Hogwood and the
Academy of Ancient Music in 1978. Because no complete score survives, Rebel's music for this fanciful Baroque ballet has been reassembled from extant parts.
Musica Antiqua Köln satisfactorily recorded the work for Archiv in a different sequence and with alternate instrumentation, and
Marc Minkowski and Les Musiciens du Louvre turned in a rambunctious version for Erato; yet
Hogwood's performance stands as the most polished and convincing rendition. From the opening dissonance of "Le cahos" to the dramatic "Caprice," which anticipates Gluck, Rebel's imagination was at its peak, stimulated as much by eighteenth century scientific speculation as by the orchestral resources at his command. By representing the elements in four distinct styles and gradually disentangling the themes, Rebel depicted the settling of creation into its natural order. The ballet proceeds with several novelties of startling invention, most playing off the elemental scheme. The
Academy's colorful and resonant performance is superb, and through
Hogwood's reconstructive efforts, a masterpiece has been rescued from oblivion. The other Les Élémens by Destouches is not as daring as Rebel's; Baroque conventions are maintained in the Overture, which is followed by a suite of charming but modest dances. The
Academy plays with the same delicacy and flair it lavished on the previous work and gives this neglected ballet a handsome reading.