Charpentier: La Descente d'Orphee aux Enfers

During recent years cpo releases of the baroque operas Ariadne by Conradi and Thésée and Psyche by Lully have been nominated for Grammys in the category of the »Best Opera Production.« And that is not all: Thésée and Psyche were nominated for Gramophone Awards in the category of »Baroque Vocal Works« in 2008 and 2009, respectively. Again in cooperation with the Boston Early Music Festival, cpo is now releasing two more baroque operas: compositions by Marc-Antoine Charpentier also proving to be both complex and highly entertaining. Charpentier wrote an impressive number of sacred works suitable for almost all the magnificent feasts and ceremonial rites of the Roman Catholic Church. Although the quantity of his secular works is considerably smaller, what he composed for the stage reveals a variety similar to that of his sacred oeuvre. Among his arias, operas, and incidental works, the symbolic and somewhat cryptic La Couronne de Fleurs (The Crown of Flowers) and the ambitious but fragmentary La Descente d’Orphée aux Enfers (The Descent of Orpheus to the Underworld) are genuine standouts. The BEMF once again presents a marvelous cast of young soloists for the interpretation of these two vibrant operas.