No opera composer of the Baroque era invested his stage works with more imaginative orchestral music than Jean-Philippe Rameau. The adventurous wind orchestration, rhythmic drive and variety, and complex interplay of voices found in his interludes, dances, and preludes are immediately striking to modern ears in a way that only the dedicated orchestral works of other Baroque masters can match (think
Handel's Royal Fireworks Music, for example). As a result, this program of orchestral excerpts from Dardanus and Le Temple de la Gloire re-creates the stir of excitement that those operas caused in their day without having to include a single bar of singing. It is a welcome and beautifully realized program that should appeal to anyone with a taste for eighteenth century orchestral music.
Tafelmusik's strings are crisp, energetic, and light, striking a compelling balance between cleanliness and warmth. The winds, and the horn players in particular, handle Rameau's wicked turns of phrase and demanding tessituras with graceful precision. The counterpoint between winds and strings, and often between different wind groups at the same time, is one of the most entertaining aspects of this music, and never easier to appreciate than it is here. For her part, conductor
Jeanne Lamon emphasizes elegance, rhythmic precision, and a careful layering of dynamics above all else, resulting in a sound that is less brash and driven than some readings of Rameau (listen to
Marc Minkowski's complete recording of Dardanus for comparison). But the result makes for a compelling program, and a convincing treatment of these short excerpts, which could sound disjointed and haphazard in the wrong hands; as it is, they jell nicely and reward both attentive and casual listening in equal measure.