Rebel: Les Elements / Rameau: Castor et Pollux suite

Many fans of French music of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries surely must have been disappointed when this CD now being rereleased on cpo was removed from the market some time ago. Our close cooperation with the L'Orfeo Baroque Orchestra has enabled us to obtain the existing matrix. The orchestra, performing under its proven conductor Michi Gaigg, offers compelling interpretations of Jean-Féry Rebel's Les Eléments and Rameau's Suite from Castor et Pollux. Other recordings of these works indeed do exist, but »with her L'Orfeo Baroque Orchestra Michi Gaigg joins this illustrious company with firm resolve and animated tempos, fully exploring all the astringent elements and tonal metamorphoses in this score. She marks clear accents and savors rests while gradually creating an ordered universe out of chaos. The suite very nuancedly instrumented by Rebel with dance movements and fantasy pieces here meets with an interpretation of the finest sort: the first loure, ›La Terre et l'Eau‹, is compellingly rendered by the balanced polarity of weight and lightness. Astonishing, powerfully charged energy and complete and generous sound development form strengths in this orchestra. However, Michi Gaigg also knows how to phrase very subtly and how to spread enchantment with tone colors of extraordinary manifoldness.« This is what was to be read in Diapason following the first release, when it bestowed its highest rating on this recording.