Rameau: Symphonies for two harpsichords
Pierre Hantai (harpsichord), Skip Sempe (harpsichord)
The harpsichord sound is beautifully captured and the playing is beyond reproach. While there is much drama in Hantai and Sempe's playing, it might be best to take this magnificent collection...
Rameau: Symphonies for two harpsichords
Pierre Hantai (harpsichord), Skip Sempe (harpsichord)
Purchase product
The harpsichord sound is beautifully captured and the playing is beyond reproach. While there is much drama in Hantai and Sempe's playing, it might be best to take this magnificent collection...
About
The numerous instrumental pieces or 'Symphonies' found in the dramatic works of Rameau are remarkably effective on the harpsichord: the composer himself, with his transcription of 'Les Indes Galantes' invited other musicians to continue this tradition.
Seizing on the formidable array of material available in his operas: Platée, Zoroastre, Dardanus, Les Paladins, Pygmalion... Pierre Hantai and Skip Sempé, our finest exponents of this repertoire, take obvious pleasure in revealing, through the two harpsichords, the immense richness of this music, full of surprises and imagination.
Contents and tracklist
Awards and reviews
August 2012
The harpsichord sound is beautifully captured and the playing is beyond reproach. While there is much drama in Hantai and Sempe's playing, it might be best to take this magnificent collection a little at a time.
20th August 2012
it shouldn't really work to reduce Rameau's richly orchestrated dances to a pair of keyboards. Yet Hantaï and Sempé are so vivacious in their rhythms and so freewheeling in their improvisatory style, often filling in Rameau's outline with dazzling decoration, that this disc is huge fun.
