Charpentier: Les plaisirs de Versailles, H. 480 & Les arts florissants, H. 487

Charpentier & BEMF Again at their Best. In 2015 our most recent Charpentier recording to date, La Descente d’Orphee aux Enfers with young soloists and the Boston Early Music Festival Chamber Ensemble, received the Grammy Award for the “Best Opera Production” of the preceding year and Gramophone’s “Editor’s Choice.” Our new album featuring two “mini-operas” by Charpentier again offers enthralling performances of this court music of charming dance character and elegance. In contrast to Charpentier’s other operas, Les Plaisirs de Versailles is directly associated with Louis XIV. The title of the manuscript score registers very clearly and unmistakably what is involved in this composition, and its equation of the “plaisirs,” the “pleasures,” with the king’s residence not only serves to reveal the subject but also the context: on the one hand, the work describes the pleasures that could be experienced in the royal palace; on the other hand, it itself is supposed to be one of these pleasures. Once again a beautiful and top-quality work from opera history is made available to listeners of the twenty-first century: “An important addition to the Charpentier discography” (Toccata).