Le Concert des Nations/ Savall
(Alia Vox)
This is dance music of dizzying variety and instrumental colour from four of Jean-Philippe Rameau's operas, from Les Indes galantes of 1735 to the final (and unperformed in his lifetime) Les Boréades of 1764, traversing the move from high baroque to the time of Haydn and the young Mozart. There's lively, rumbustious playing from Le Concert des Nations; the drawback is that Jordi Savall doesn't do sensual, so some of the subtler rhythms are too bumpy. The angular contredanses with their quirky intervals, and the magnificent chaconnes, are splendid – the one for Naïs (1748), involving dancing athletes, boxers, runners and wrestlers, is made for the Olympics opening.
Nicholas Kenyon
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