Recording location: Kingsway Hall, London, UK, 1966

A generous disc (nearly 80 minutes) of some of Raymond Leppard’s pioneering L’Oiseau-Lyre recordings of French Baroque music with the English Chamber Orchestra. The brilliant realisations of Rameau’s Temple de la Gloire suites have seldom been more strikingly realised. Le Temple de la Gloire was a theatrical entertainment to a text by Voltaire, written to celebrate a French victory and at the same time, of course, to glorify Louis XV.

Grétry was Belgian by birth but spent most of his working life in Paris. Since he wrote for the theatre, Grétry was used to making his work suit the ever-changing demands of each new production. So it is not surprising that the ‘interchangeability’ of this music makes for a very pleasing suite of balletic moments from his operas. Likewise, the ample balletic moments incorporated into his opera Médée are perfect fodder for Charpentier’s orchestral suite.

First release on CD.

‘…a very rewarding disc: splendid music, played with feeling and style, and finely recorded’ [Charpentier] Gramophone

‘Performances are excellent … Leppard splendidly catches the sense of wilfulness and quirky brilliance which lends his music its special colour’ [Rameau] Gramophone

‘an extremely pleasing record’ (Rameau: Suite 2 / Grétry) Gramophone