Thanks to the little baroque festival in Arles at the moment, I have just had the pleasure of seeing the preview of a 90 minute documentary on Rameau, with the director, Olivier Simmonet, in the audience. No dry as dust academia here, but a fascinating and enjoyable biography of the composer and his works, with an actor playing the role of the composer and who bears the most astonishing likeness to the portraits. It features generous extracts from the operas, performed wonderfully by the likes of Christophe Rousset, Mark Minkowski, Les Talens Lyriques, Ensemble Pygamalion and Karin Gauvin. Plus the surprising discovery (by Rameau scholar Sylvie Buissou) that Rameau not only wrote drinking songs in his free time to be performed at a gentleman's club, but also that he has been revealed as the actual composer of 'Frère Jacques'!
As far as I know, the documentary is to be screened on Arte in 2016 - I guess it will never make it to the UK, sadly, but I'll keep my eyes peeled to see when it is on and if it can be viewed for free later online. It really is well worth watching - the joy of the artists performing Rameau's works is palpable. I haven't enjoyed a documentary so much in years.
As far as I know, the documentary is to be screened on Arte in 2016 - I guess it will never make it to the UK, sadly, but I'll keep my eyes peeled to see when it is on and if it can be viewed for free later online. It really is well worth watching - the joy of the artists performing Rameau's works is palpable. I haven't enjoyed a documentary so much in years.
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