Special offer. Gretry: L'Épreuve Villageoise
Sophie Junker (Denise), Talise Trevigne (Madame Hubert), Francisco Fernández-Rueda (André), Thomas Dolié (La France)
Opera Lafayette, Ryan Brown
It is all delightfully done by Opera Lafayette
Special offer. Gretry: L'Épreuve Villageoise
Sophie Junker (Denise), Talise Trevigne (Madame Hubert), Francisco Fernández-Rueda (André), Thomas Dolié (La France)
Opera Lafayette, Ryan Brown
Purchase product
It is all delightfully done by Opera Lafayette
About
L’épreuve villageoise (The Village Trial) – which, in its original form as Théodore et Paulin, was first performed before Marie Antoinette at Versailles – was one of André-Ernest-Modeste Grétry’s most popular works. For a century after its 1784 première it enjoyed huge acclaim across Europe and even travelled to the New World, where it captivated audiences in New York. Grétry was a master of eighteenth-century opéra comique and this crisp and lively farce centres on a clever farmer’s daughter and her two competing suitors. Employing divergent stylistic registers – finesse and naiveté, music reminiscent of popular song, and extended ensembles – Grétry fashioned a score of sophisticated wit and huge charm.
Contents and tracklist
- Sophie Junker (soprano), Talise Trevigne (soprano), Thomas Dolié (baritone), Francisco Fernández-Rueda (tenor)
- Opera Lafayette Orchestra, Opera Lafayette Chorus
- Ryan Brown
- Recorded: 25-26 January 2015
- Recording Venue: Dekelboum Hall, The Clarice, University of Maryland, USA
Awards and reviews
February 2017
It is all delightfully done by Opera Lafayette
13th February 2017
Wholly delightful
April 2017
Sophie Junker's light lyric soprano Denise contrasts nicely with Talise Trevigne's darker, more sensual Madame Hubert, sustaining the action perfectly and making plenty use of the text, as does Thomas Dolié's warm if somewhat wooly baritone. Given Ryan Brown's relaxed yet sprightly drirection and the band's witty execution of Grétry's lightly luminous scoring, this valuable rediscovery provides refreshment for heart and mind alike.
Classical Ear December 2016
it carries itself with a becoming wit and brio well framed here in nimbly idiomatic playing by the period-instrument American ensemble Opera Lafayette…Junker excels as the bright and enchanting Denise…Fernández-Rueda’s light tenor makes much of the timorous André…Dolié brings a pleasing baritonal flourish to the philandering La France…Trevigne’s characterful mother adding a welcome touch of gravity…a lively farce with a witty score of surprising sophistication and charm
