Dardanus

After the exploration of Bach's 'five' Missae Breves concluding with the success of the original version of the B minor Mass, Ensemble Pygmalion has recorded Rameau's Dardanus following a series of concerts unanimously hailed by the critics. Although superior from the dramatic point of view, this second version of Dardanus proposed by Pygmalion has never, until the present day, been resurrected, with the exception of the famous aria 'Lieux funestes' from Act IV. A new edition was carried out (by Gilles Rico) based on the 1744 edition, also incorporating the numerous variants integrated by Rameau between 1744 and 1760, as he constantly strove to enrich the music's emotional power. Originally stemming totally from the restrictive form of Lully's tragedie lyrique but also attesting to a pronounced taste for 'extraordinary stories', this work presents a more intimate, human sense of the drama, thereby tracing a very clear path towards the psychological explorations of the Classical era.