Search - Jean-Marie Leclair, John Eliot Gardiner, English Baroque Soloists :: Leclair: Scylla Et Glaucus

Wonderful forgotten gem

John Weretka | Melbourne, Australia | 08/27/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is a recording I have known since it came out and 16 years later, I am still coming back to it. Wonderful stylish playing and beautiful singing from everyone including the chorus. It's criminal that this opera remains off the radar even for buffs of French opera of the eighteenth century. The instrumental set pieces and ariettes are marvellously tuneful in a Ramellian way. While this work may lack the powerful harmonic and dramatic gifts and musical scenography of the best of Rameau, this is in many ways a worthy successor to Rameau's legacy in his efforts to unite the best of French and Italian music of the Baroque period. Highly recommended."

The forgotten link. . .

Zaida | Bremerton, WA | 09/13/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"'Scylla et Glaucus' is one of those operas that may well be considered a "link" between Rameau and Gluck. Although it is much closer to Rameau, it still has those moments of Italianate lyricism found in Gluck's Paris operas. That is not surprising, considering that Leclair spent some time in Italy, studying under several minor composers there. Although lacking the more sophisticated elements found in works by Rameau, this is nonetheless quite worth hearing. It also makes for an interesting contrast to the collaborations between Francoeur and Rebel, who were only a couple of years younger than Leclair. However, they wrote completely in the French style, without those 'Italinisms' which permeate Leclair's only venture into the tragédie lyrique."