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Notes
György Vashegyi and his Orfeo Orchestra and Purcell Choir offer up a recording of Boismortier’s Les Voyages de l’Amour of which this 1736 opéra-ballet has been in sore need, a score long and unjustly neglected. For this latest dramatic extravaganza on Glossa, Chantal Santon Jeffery takes on the title role of lovesick Cupid, and the soprano is joined by two further widely experienced stars of the French Baroque opera revival in Katherine Watson (as the god of love’s sidekick and factotum Zéphire) and Judith van Wanroij as the shepherdess Daphné, smartly resistant to the god’s charms (until the end of the fourth act). By 1736, Joseph Bodin de Boismortier had become well-known in Parisian musical circles for his entertaining instrumental and vocal music and in his booklet essay Benoît Dratwicki (of the Centre de Musique Baroque de Versailles) explains how this fashionable composer came to have his first production for the Paris Opéra cast into the shadows, how the roles for Cupid and Zéphire may have originally been written for two prominent dessus of the time but were replaced by male singers for the première and how this new recorded edition aims to provide a performance as the composer would have wanted it. Katia Velletaz, Éléonore Pancrazi and Thomas Dolié also contribute to this lively entertainment, with this release also containing two differing versions of the second act about the arrow-firing god of love’s travels through village, city and court in search of true love for himself.
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Reviews
Editor’s Choice – Opera
“… among the series of tiny vignettes – airs, duets, dances and choruses – there is plenty to beguile. Using a wide palette of instrumental colours, including a hurdygurdy, Boismortier has a delicate sense of the picturesque ...That avid explorer of French operatic rarities, György Vashegyi, directs his Hungarian forces with his usual zest (the pacing of the dialogues seems spot on) and feeling for colour. The many instrumental solos, not least the gurgling bassoons, are first-rate, while the Purcell Choir are spirited in attack and always alive to the words… If you fancy a varied dose of Gallic mellifluousness, performed with charm and style, pleasure is guaranteed.”
Richard Wigmore - Gramophone magazine - December 2020
“… The performers on this recording have long been attuned to each other. The soloists as well as the Purcell Choir and the Orfeo Orchestra have already performed together. The conductor György Vashegyi, like the two ensembles, is from Hungary. Vashegyi uses a moderate approach in his interpretations. Thus he chooses tempos that give the sound time to blossom and reveal details. Whoever is looking for groovy music making, for a gripping performance, will not be rewarded. Instead, the interpretations convince through intense interpretations. The Purcell Choir is a flexible group, the orchestra is no less convincing. Once again Chantal Santon Jeffery sings very well as L’Amour, but Katherine Watson as Zéphire is in no way inferior to her, nor is Judith van Wanroij in the role of Daphne. Still to be mentioned is the only singer of the cast, Thomas Dolié. He is really good a performer in various roles. Also the supporting roles are convincingly cast. And so we truly can recommend this recording.” ****
Uwe Krusch – Pizzicato.lu – 30 October 2020
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