Chamber Music Prom 3: Monday 1st August at 1.00 p.m. (French Baroque music)

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Presented by Catherine Bott

Christophe Rousset and his ensemble Les Talens Lyriques explore French Baroque music with an Italian flavour, taking the Italian-born naturalised Frenchman Lully as their inspiration. Couperin and Rameau blend the best of both countries in their vivacious and delicately poised instrumental works and Montéclair retells the classical story of the death of Lucretia in music of drama and passion.

Couperin: Les nations - La Piémontoise (excerpts)
Lully: Armida's monologue : "Ah, Rinaldo ! Dove sei ?" (from the ballet Les amours déguisés)
Rameau: Pièces de clavecin en concerts - Premier concert
Montéclair: Cantata "Morte di Lucrezia"

Les Talens Lyriques:
Eugénie Warnier (soprano)
Virginie Descharmes (violin)
Yuki Koike (violin)
Jocelyn Daubigney (flute)
Stefanie Troffaes (flute)
Isabelle Saint-Yves (viola da gamba)
Christophe Rousset (harpsichord/director)

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

The only music I immediately recognise here is the Rameau.

Well worth a listen this afternoon (if you're not at work).

[french frank]

The only music I immediately recognise here is the Rameau.

Well worth a listen this afternoon (if you're not at work).

Sounds just up Catherine Bott's street - do you think we'll get a duet?

[doversoul1]

This was a most enjoyable concert. It did make me feel like saying that nobody could perform French Baroque like French ensembles.

Catherine Bott was, as expected, very good. Nothing remotely like gushing but her excitement and pleasure were tangible even through the radio. Her questions to Christophe Rousset were amusing but all relevant. I do hope she won’t be made to present something worthless.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Catherine Bott was, as expected, very good. Nothing remotely like gushing but her excitement and pleasure were tangible even through the radio. Her questions to Christophe Rousset were amusing but all relevant.

Indeed. It is so refreshing when a presenter gets the balance right.

[pilamenon]

This was a most enjoyable concert. It did make me feel like saying that nobody could perform French Baroque like French ensembles.

Catherine Bott was, as expected, very good. Nothing remotely like gushing but her excitement and pleasure were tangible even through the radio. Her questions to Christophe Rousset were amusing but all relevant. I do hope she won’t be made to present something worthless.

Hi doversoul. Yes, this was one of my must-see Proms and it was excellent, wasn't it? The impressive M. Rousset and his crack team got better and better as the concert went on. The Couperin suite was on the slightly tedious side, though it had some lovely touches, and I preferred the Rameau pieces which were more varied, colourful and witty (and didn't go on so long). However, in my view the pièce de résistance was the least-known, the cantata by Montéclair. Absolutely gorgeous playing and singing (by the stunning Eugénie Warnier). It was getting its Proms première, and deserves to be heard more often, and if this is anything to go by, so does the music of Montéclair.

I can't agree with you about the presenter, as personable as she is. Her interview with M. Rousset told me absolutely nothing of interest, indeed she pursued an agenda in the questioning which he didn't seem to connect with at all, and to be honest neither did I really get what she was going on about. He looked slightly embarrassed. This is the one drawback of these concerts - they (and the applause) are stage-managed in a way that seems a peculiar obsession of Radio 3 and no other classical station that I have heard. So we have to stop applauding when she says so, and then once R3 are off air, the performers come back on to gain their due.

[MickyD]

Pilamenon, I've yet to give the concert a hearing, but if your senses were stirred by Mr. Montéclair, do try and get hold of Christopher Hogwood's set "Musique pour la Chambre du Roy, in which you will find two more Montéclair cantatas - "Le Trionfe de la Constanze" and "Pan et Syrinx", both nicely sung by Judith Nelson. Well worth getting to know!

[pilamenon]

Pilamenon, I've yet to give the concert a hearing, but if your senses were stirred by Mr. Montéclair, do try and get hold of Christopher Hogwood's set "Musique pour la Chambre du Roy, in which you will find two more Montéclair cantatas - "Le Trionfe de la Constanze" and "Pan et Syrinx", both nicely sung by Judith Nelson. Well worth getting to know!

Thanks for the recommendation, Micky. Let us know what you thought of the concert when you get to it.

[MickyD]

Hi doversoul. Yes, this was one of my must-see Proms and it was excellent, wasn't it? The impressive M. Rousset and his crack team got better and better as the concert went on. The Couperin suite was on the slightly tedious side, though it had some lovely touches, and I preferred the Rameau pieces which were more varied, colourful and witty (and didn't go on so long). However, in my view the pièce de résistance was the least-known, the cantata by Montéclair. Absolutely gorgeous playing and singing (by the stunning Eugénie Warnier). It was getting its Proms première, and deserves to be heard more often, and if this is anything to go by, so does the music of Montéclair.

I can't agree with you about the presenter, as personable as she is. Her interview with M. Rousset told me absolutely nothing of interest, indeed she pursued an agenda in the questioning which he didn't seem to connect with at all, and to be honest neither did I really get what she was going on about. He looked slightly embarrassed. This is the one drawback of these concerts - they (and the applause) are stage-managed in a way that seems a peculiar obsession of Radio 3 and no other classical station that I have heard. So we have to stop applauding when she says so, and then once R3 are off air, the performers come back on to gain their due.

I finally got round to listening, Pilamenon and thoroughly enjoyed the concert. Funnily enough, unlike your good self, it was the Couperin piece that I enjoyed the most! The Montéclair cantata was appealing, but the "Pan et Syrinx" one I mentioned yesterday strikes me as being the most attractive piece I've heard of his. Interesting that you thought Mr Rousset looked slightly embarrassed - I thought the whole interview came across as very natural and relaxed and I liked his remark about the music being sexily French as it was being played by French players! For me, Catherine Bott handled it very well as she usually does. But maybe it seemed different if you were actually there.

[pilamenon]

Cheers Micky, I did enjoy the Couperin, but will listen again anyway following your comments to compare it. M. Rousset is a rather amusing figure, and more than a match for the presenter. He obviously did a good job on radio of hiding what looked to me, in that uniquely Gallic way, like mild boredom/irritation/discomfort during the interview! I expect quite a lot of people enjoy the presentational aspects of chamber concerts on R3. I just wish the attempts at humour could be less contrived.

[MickyD]

By the way, if anyone fancies hearing all four of Couperin's "Les Nations", I heartily recommend the vintage recording by Jordi Savall and Hespérion XX.